Belief in Qadar E17: Is man a prisoner of Qadar? (CHAPTER 4)

KNOWLEDGE IS DEPENDENT ON THE KNOWN (4)

Example 6:

Think of a commander. With his camera, he is controlling the soldiers keeping guard and he sees that two soldiers are sleeping during their duty. And the commander records them. In this event, knowledge is the recording in the camera and the knowledge of the commander about the conditions of these soldiers. The thing known is their sleeping.

Our question is the same again: "Did the soldiers sleep because the commander recorded them; that is, is the known (the soldiers' sleeping) dependent on knowledge? Or did the commander record them because of their sleeping; that is, is knowledge (the knowledge of the commander and his recording them through the camera) dependent on the known?  Doubtlessly, the knowledge of the commander and the camera recording is dependent on the known, namely, the conditions of the soldiers. The cause of their sleeping is not the knowledge of the commander and the camera recording that was made by him. On the contrary, the commander knew it because he saw that they were sleeping during the duty and recorded them.

If the commander calls these soldiers the next day and he shows the camera recording to them and says to them, "Why did you sleep during the duty and why did you disobey the law of the military service? This is a crime. You are going to be punished." Can the soldiers who were reprehended by the commander say, "We committed this crime because of you. You forced us to commit the crime because you recorded us with the camera. If you had not recorded us with the camera we would have not slept." Doubtlessly, they cannot say so because our rule was this: The knowledge of the commander is dependent on the known (the soldiers' sleeping). Let us repeat it once more. The cause of their sleeping is not the knowledge of the commander. The commander knew it because he saw that they were sleeping; so he recorded them with the camera. If they had not slept like the other soldiers, the commander would have known them as "awake" and he would have recorded them as "awake".

Now, suppose that this commander is also a spiritual commander and he can travel in time. That is, he can travel to tomorrow and other days whenever he wants; so, he knows the events in the past and in the future before the present. Suppose that this commander travels to one month further in the future and he records the soldiers’ sleeping during the duty with the camera and then he returns to the present day. One month later, these soldiers slept as the commander saw and recorded them with the camera. Namely, the knowledge of the commander about the future came true. He called these soldiers to his room and he showed the camera recording which he had made one month ago and he said to them: "Look! I knew a month ago that you would sleep during the duty; I even recorded your state with the camera." Can these soldiers have the right to say to the commander: "Commander! Then, you are guilty. Why did you not record us when we were awake?  If you had not known this state of ours and if you had not recorded us when we were sleeping, we would have not slept; so we do not accept the punishment." Doubtlessly, they cannot say so because the knowledge of the commander is knowledge and it is dependent on the known (the soldiers' sleeping). The soldiers did not sleep because the commander knew and recorded about their situation; on the contrary, the commander travelling in time went to one month further, saw their state and recorded them. In other words, the cause of their sleeping is not the knowledge of the commander. On the contrary, the knowledge of the commander is dependent on their preference of sleeping and their sleeping. If they had not preferred sleeping, the commander would have not recorded them like that.

Likewise, Allah, the commander of pre-eternity and post-eternity, is free from time and place; so, He sees and knows all events at all times as if they are taking place now. We had analyzed this issue in the issue of the "pre-eternity of Allah."

Allah recorded our all deeds that we will do in the future with our partial free will. That is, He recorded them in the book of qadar, which is a title of His knowledge. If a sinner, like the soldiers in our example, says: "The cause of my sins is the knowledge of Allah. It is the fault of the knowledge of Allah. If He had not known, I would have not sinned", does he not fall into a foolish situation like the soldiers in the example?

A person can easily understand that the commander in the example did not force the soldiers to sleep and that he is not guilty. It is surprising how a person can try to blame the writing and the knowledge of Allah, who is the commander of the universe instead of blaming or himself!