His Car Breaks Down

And sometimes Allah saves a person. Such a person has done some good deeds or whatever it may be, and has made a decision to go and do something wrong: a friend is going to pick him up, and they are going to go to the pub or the club, or he is going to go out with so-and-so. He is already all dressed up; he has called his friend; the friend is coming — and his car breaks down. The plan is missed. And then, two years afterwards, the person thinks: alḥamdulillāh, that is what happened that day, because had he done what they were hoping to do on that day, he would have messed his life up. It was Allah who was bountiful at that time: despite what was wanted, He saved him.

Allah does not mislead anybody. He does not have to. The attraction in the world is such that if Allah just leaves us alone for a while, and does not have a protective cover over us, then people will stray because of the attraction. So yuḍillu man yashāʾ is better translated as: He allows to deviate whom He wishes — as opposed to: He causes them to deviate. Because otherwise there is this question of accountability: if He is causing a person to deviate, then how should that person be accountable? He does not have to push anyone to do that; He just has to remove His protective covering, His guidance. And the prophets have the best of this guidance, which is called ʿiṣmah, or infallibility. And the awliyāʾ have the second best, which is special protection. The closer we are to Allah, the more protection we have.

So, from our perspective, we definitely have some free will; but looked at from Allah's perspective, everything is in His control. Beyond that, trying to understand the intricacies, it seems, gets really complicated. But again, that is dealt with in a lot more detail in a later section, in shāʾ Allāh.