Some have said that our future depends on our actions, and that we have free will, but that our time of death is fixed. Lets explore this idea.
The Possible Options
One theory is that humans have an exact fixed time of death, such that there is nothing they can do to move it forward or back. This sounds problematic, as it seems to suggest that God will always engineer a persons death in a “Final Destination” style. Of course it could be possible that God has created the universe such that this happens.
3|145|No soul can die except by God’s leave, at a predetermined time. Whoever desires the reward of the world, We will give him some of it; and whoever desires the reward of the Hereafter, We will give him some of it; and We will reward the appreciative.
3|154|Then after the setback, He sent down security upon you. Slumber overcame some of you, while others cared only for themselves, thinking of God thoughts that were untrue—thoughts of ignorance—saying, “Is anything up to us?” Say, “Everything is up to God.” They conceal within themselves what they do not reveal to you. And they say, “If it was up to us, none of us would have been killed here.” Say, “Even if you Had stayed in your homes, those destined to be killed would have marched into their death beds.” God thus tests what is in your minds, and purifies what is in your hearts. God knows what the hearts contain.
3|144|Muhammad is no more than a messenger. Messengers have passed on before him. If he dies or gets killed, will you turn on your heels? He who turns on his heels will not harm God in any way. And God will reward the appreciative.
3|142|Or do you expect to enter Paradise, before God has distinguished those among you who strive, and before He has distinguished the steadfast?
3|185|Every soul will have a taste of death, and you will receive your recompense on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever is swayed from the Fire, and admitted to Paradise, has won. The life of this world is merely enjoyment of delusion.
21|35|Every soul will taste death. We burden you with adversity and prosperity—a test. And to Us you will be returned.
3|166|What befell you on the day the two armies clashed was with God’s permission; that He may know the believers.3|167|And that He may know the hypocrites. And it was said to them, “Come, fight in the cause of God, or contribute.” They said, “If we knew how to fight, we would have followed you.” On that day they were closer to infidelity than they were to faith. They say with their mouths what is not in their hearts; but God knows what they hide.3|168|Those who said of their brethren, as they stayed behind, “Had they obeyed us, they would not have been killed.” Say, “Then avert death from yourselves, if you are truthful.”
3|156|O you who believe! Do not be like those who disbelieved, and said of their brethren who marched in the land, or went on the offensive, “Had they stayed with us, they would not have died or been killed.” So that God may make it a cause of regret in their hearts. God gives life and causes death. God is Seeing of what you do.
4|78|Wherever you may be, death will catch up with you, even if you were in fortified towers. When a good fortune comes their way, they say, “This is from God.” But when a misfortune befalls them, they say, “This is from you.” Say, “All is from God.” So what is the matter with these people, that they hardly understand a thing?
6|148|The polytheists will say, “Had God willed, we would not have practiced idolatry, nor would have our forefathers, nor would we have prohibited anything.” Likewise those before them lied, until they tasted Our might. Say, “Do you have any knowledge that you can produce for us? You follow nothing but conjecture, and you only guess.”
The argument here by the polytheists is that God has not willed for them to be good, therefore it is not their fault. Their argument is as follows, either God is all powerful in which case can simply will them, or engineer a scenario that means they are good people, if the matter is left with them, then their can not be a God. This kind of predestination type of belief seems rife in the disbelievers, there are many examples of this type of rhetoric. For example, Satan says something very similar.
15|39|He said, “My Lord, since You have made me fail, I will glamorize for them on earth, and I will lure them all away.”
Satan is essentially saying, you have made me this way, and I had no choice but to be bad. This appears to go against Divine Justice. So if Satan was given the option, then he chose to be bad, then the matter is more like, we are created with attributes that are predetermined, however our heart, our inclinations and decisions are not predetermined. They can still be known by God, this is of course the case, Allah’s knowledge is a completely separate matter, and there is no doubt that God has complete knowledge of everything that will happen. The reality appears to be, we are made, and we have to recognise the truth from God, then accept that and act upon it.
7|43|We will remove whatever rancor is in their hearts. Rivers will flow beneath them. And they will say, “Praise be to God, who has guided us to this. Had God not guided us, we would never be guided. The messengers of our Lord did come with the truth.” And it will be proclaimed to them, “This is the Garden you are made to inherit, on account of what you used to do.”
H 395, Ch. 30, h4 Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from Isma‘il ibn Marrar from Yunus ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman who has said that abu al-Hassan al-Rida, recipient of divine supreme covenant, said to me the following: “O Yunus do not say what pre-determinists say. The predeterminists do not say what people of paradise say or what people of hell say or what Satan says. The people of paradise say, ‘. . . all praise is due to Allah for His guiding us. We could never have been guided without Allah’s guiding us.’ (7:43) The people of hell say, ‘Lord, our misfortune overwhelmed us and we became lost,’ (23:107) and Satan said, ‘My Lord for your making me to rebel . . .’ (15:39) “I then said, ‘I swear by Allah that I do not say what they say but I only say that there will be nothing unless Allah will want, will, measure and decree.’ The Imam, recipient of divine supreme covenant, said, ‘O Yunus, it is not that, ‘there will be nothing unless Allah will want, will, measure and decree.’ O Yunus, do you know what is want?’ I said, ‘No, I do not know.’ The Imam said, ‘It is the first mention of something. Do you know what is will?’ I said, ‘No, I do not know.’ The Imam said, ‘It is the intention to do something. Do you know what measurement is?’ I said, ‘No, I do not know.’ The Imam said, ‘It is the figure, the position, the limits of survival and extinction.’ “The Imam further said, ‘The decree is the readiness and the production of substance.’ I then asked permission to kiss his head and said, ‘You just opened for me something of which I was unaware.’”
But what about the a Humans lifespan, is it fixed or not?
The question that still remains, is the exact moment of death predetermined? Do we have a sand timer counting down, and one way of the other something will kill us at the moment the time runs out? This kind of predestination does not sit comfortably with me, and although possible, seems somewhat counter to level of free will we have been given. However ,this maybe the case, it maybe that just like our birth, genetics, family, time, etc are all out of our control, our lifespan may also be predetermined. The two verses that stand out are as follows:
3|145|No soul can die except by God’s leave, at a predetermined time. Whoever desires the reward of the world, We will give him some of it; and whoever desires the reward of the Hereafter, We will give him some of it; and We will reward the appreciative.
3|154|Then after the setback, He sent down security upon you. Slumber overcame some of you, while others cared only for themselves, thinking of God thoughts that were untrue—thoughts of ignorance—saying, “Is anything up to us?” Say, “Everything is up to God.” They conceal within themselves what they do not reveal to you. And they say, “If it was up to us, none of us would have been killed here.” Say, “Even if you Had stayed in your homes, those destined to be killed would have marched into their death beds.” God thus tests what is in your minds, and purifies what is in your hearts. God knows what the hearts contain.
The determination or decree is of two types. The certain, which is Gods knowledge, and the conditional, which is what is passed on to angels, messengers etc. The decree with Allah is unchanging, the other decree we can think of as a destiny, like if someone walks with their eyes closed, they are likely to bang into something.
The first verse is linked to the following verse :
35|11|God created you from dust, then from a small drop; then He made you pairs. No female conceives, or delivers, except with His knowledge. No living thing advances in years, or its life is shortened, except it be in a Record. That is surely easy for God.
The verse literally says nothing ages or has less age , except it is recorded. My understanding is that the definite time and age are fixed , in Allah’s knowledge. This show that the life‑span of a person is liable to be increased or decreased , but the decree, the knowledge of Allah does not change.
8 – حدثنا علي بن عبد الله الوراق، وعلي بن محمد بن الحسن المعروف بابن مقبرة القزويني قالا: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، قال: حدثنا الهيثم بن أبي مسروق النهدي، عن الحسين بن علوان، عن عمرو بن ثابت عن سعد بن طريف عن الإصبع بن نباته، قال: إن أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام عدل من عند حائط مائل إلى حائط آخر، فقيل له، يا أمير المؤمنين أتفر من قضاء الله؟ فقال: أفر من قضاء الله إلى قدر الله عز وجل .
8. `Ali ibn `Abd al-Warraq and `Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan known to be Ibn Maqbarah alQazwini both said: Sa`d ibn `Abd Allah said: al-Haytham ibn Abu Masruq al-Nahdi said, on the authority of al-Husayn ibn `Ulwan, on the authority of `Amr ibn Thabit, on the authority of Sa`d ibn Tarif, on the authority of al-Asbagh ibn Nabatah that The Commander of the Faithful (AS) moved from a wall that was tilted to another wall so it was said to him, “O Commander of the Faithful! Are you fleeing from the destiny of Allah?” He (AS) replied, “I am fleeing from the destiny of Allah to the Divine Decree of Allah, the Mighty and High.”
Al-Tawḥīd, Predestination, Divine Decree, Trials, Means of Sustenance Rates, and Restricted Powers, Hadith #8
It seems in the above example, Imam Ali AS was challenged, that if his time of death was predestined, then there is no escape, so why run away from a falling wall? His reply gives explains the nuance. He says he went from the قضاء الل, the Qathar, to the Qadar. From the fate to the decree, the decree, the qadar has many warning associated with it, in the sense that it is a level of knowledge that humans just simply can not reach.
The Fate, or Qadtha, is like the consequence, for example, if you jump into an ocean and cant swim, then you drown and die. This is the fate of the person that did this. The Qadar, or decree, the knowledge of this was known with Allah always, and in reality was always going to happen.
24. Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ahmad ibn Yunus al-Laythi said: Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Sa`id al-Hamdani freed slave of the Hashimites said: al-Harith ibn Abu Usamah reported to us in reading, on the authority of al-Mada’ini, on the authority of all three `Uwanah ibn al-Hakm; `Abd Allah ibn al-`Abbas ibn Sahl al-Sa`idi and Abu Bakr al-Khurasani freed slave of the Hashimites, on the authority of al-Harith ibn Hasirah, on the authority of `Abd al-Rahman ibn Jundab, on the authority of his father and others that The people came to al-Hasan ibn `Ali (AS) after the death of `Ali (AS) to pay allegiance to him. So he (AS) said: All praise is for Allah over what He destined in matter, specified in merit, generalized in affair and glorified in well-being, a praise with which He completes over us His bounties and we require His pleasure. Verily, this world is an abode of tribulation and mischief. Everything that is initiated has a decline. Allah has informed us of that so that we may take a lesson. Therefore He preceded with a threat to us so that there is no evidence for us after warning. So be ascetic in what is to perish and desirous in what is to remain. Fear Allah in privacy and in open. Verily, `Ali (AS) in life, death and the rising lived with a measure and died with the time. Verily, I shall accept your allegiance on that you will make peace with whom I make peace with and fight with whom I fight with.Thus, they all paid allegiance to him on that basis. Muhammad ibn `Ali ibn al-Husayn, the Compiler of this book says: The ajal is the death of a human and the time of his death. And the ajal of his living is the time of his living. That is the meaning of the word of Allah, the Mighty and High: So when their (appointed) time comes they shall not delay it even an hour, nor shall they go before. If a human dies a natural death on his bed or is killed then verily the ajal of his death is the time of his death. It is possible that if a murdered person was not killed, he would have died in that instance anyway. It is also possible that if he was not killed then he would have lived on. The knowledge of that is unseen for us. Allah, the Mighty and High, has said; Say: Had you remained in your houses, those for whom slaughter was ordained would certainly have gone forth to the places where they would be slain. He has also said: Say: Flight shall not do you any good if you fly from death or slaughter. If a group of people are killed at the same time, it is possible to say that all of them died at their time and even if they were not killed they would have died in that instance. For, it is possible that a disease would have occurred in all of them and would have killed them all in that instance. It is not possible to say that they all died without the time of their death. As a whole, the ajal of a person is the time of his death that Allah, the Mighty and High, knows that he will die in that hour or will be killed. The word of al-Hasan (AS) concerning his father (AS) that “he lived with a measure and died with the time? Is a confirmation of what we have said about this matter. Allah is the Granter of Direction to the correctness with His Favor.
Al-Tawḥīd, Predestination, Divine Decree, Trials, Means of Sustenance Rates, and Restricted Powers, Hadith #24
https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/14/2/60/24
4. It is narrated from Muhammad ibn Yahya from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from ibn Faddal from ibn Bukayr from Zurara from humran from abu Ja‘far (a.s.) who has said the following. “I asked the Imam about the words of Allah, “It is He who has created you from clay to live for a life-time and the span of your life is only known to Him. . .” (6:2) The Imam said, “There are two appointed times. One is is a definite time and the other is the conditional one.”
Al-Kāfi – Volume 1, Chapter on al-Bida’, Hadith #4
https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/1/3/24/4
6|2|It is He who created you from clay, then decided a term and a term determined by him. Yet you doubt.