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Philosophy of Religion

Human Acts in Islamic Philosophy

Are our actions really free or are they determined by God’s will? Imadaldin Al-Jubouri on a controversy that divided Muslim philosophers.

Among the questions that preoccupied Muslim philosophers during the Middle Ages was whether human actions are optional or compulsory. Advocates of determinism looked at human will as being powerless, because God made our actions and choices eternally. The chief of the Muslim determinists, Jahm ibn Safwan (d. 745) said: “Man, like a feather in the wind, cannot have will, ability or choice. All events and human acts are created by God.

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