What is the Islamic belief with regards to destiny (Qadar)?

Belief in divine destiny is the sixth and last pillar of faith. Some of the principles related to our belief in divine destiny are:

• To believe in destiny is to believe in the good of it and the evil of it. Whenever Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) mentioned belief in destiny as a pillar of faith, he always added, “khairihi wa sharrihi” (the good of it and the evil of it), because it is easy for people to accept the good of destiny but it’s difficult for them to accept the evil of destiny.

• The completeness of Allah’s knowledge: Allah describes Himself as “Al-Aleem, Allaamul Ghuyoob” (the All-knowing, who knows the unseen). To deny destiny is to deny the completeness of Allah’s knowledge. There are many verses in the Qur’an that talk about the completeness of Allah’s knowledge. One such verse is verse 5 in Surah Aal Imran:

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَخۡفَىٰ عَلَيۡهِ شَىۡءٌ۬ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَلَا فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ

“Indeed nothing in the earth, nor in the skies is hidden from Allah.”

This is unique to Allah alone. Even Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) did not know the unseen except what Allah allowed him to know. When he told us about the time to come, about the signs of the Last Day, he didn’t deduce that knowledge. It was the knowledge that Allah revealed to him, and without the revelation he was like anyone else.

• Nothing takes place without the will of Allah and nothing occurs in this world which is not in accordance with His will. So whatever happens is by His Permission. However, just because Allah permits something to happen does not necessarily mean it is right and pleasing to Him. In other words, if we commit a murder, Allah has permitted us to commit that murder, but we cannot justify murder saying that if Allah has permitted it, it must be okay to do it. That is incorrect. It was okay relative to Allah, but not okay relative to us. We will be judged according to the choices that we make. Allah will not be judged according to His choices because He is The Judge and He is Just. So Allah’s knowledge and the writing of His will are the basic concepts that we must understand to be able to grasp the significance of destiny in our lives.
• A principle which is an extension of all things happening in accordance with Allah’s will is that everything besides Allah is created. Everything is a part and parcel of His creation and Allah has complete control over it all.

The understanding of these basic principles helps us to reflect and accept that whatever takes place in our lives is according to the will of Allah. It took place because He created the circumstances for it to take place. It was written before the creation of this world and it is all known to Allah.