Is it permissible “to lay on a person a burden greater than he has strength to bear?”

Dear Brother / Sister,

Taklif ma la yutaq means “laying on a person a burden greater than he has strength to bear”. To order a camel to fly and a bird to swim is taklif ma la yutaq each.

This issue is included in Kalam books due to the following verse at the end of the chapter of al-Baqara:

لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللّٰهُ نَفْسًا اِلَّا وُسْعَهَاۜ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْۜ

رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذْنَٓا اِنْ نَس۪ينَٓا اَوْ اَخْطَأْنَاۚ

رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنَٓا اِصْرًا كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُ عَلَى الَّذ۪ينَ مِنْ قَبْلِنَاۚ

رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِه۪ۚ

“On no soul doth Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns.

Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error!

Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us!

Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear!” (al-Baqara, 286)

The Quran stated that Abu Lahab and his wife would not believe and that they would enter fire of blazing flame (Hell). In fact, both of them were to believe. It is not appropriate to regard it as “taklif ma la yutaq” because both of them could have believed. That they did not believe was not a compulsion or pressure; it was their own preference. Man is to be free. Since he is free, he will be held responsible for his preferences.

What Allah lays on us is actually as much as we can bear. However, some people may find it hard to bear since they do not fulfill what they need to do. In that case, such a person himself will be held responsible. For instance, an earthquake happens; some people are killed; houses collapse; animals perish. Some of the people who survive say “Al-hukmu lillah (the decree belongs to Allah); He is the one that gives and takes.” Thus, they accept what happens with submitting. However, some people fall into despair and become wretched since they cannot display such submitting.

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