In the insurance industry, an ‘Act of God’ refers to an uncontrollable and unpreventable event outside of human control– typically a natural disaster or severe weather event. The adoption of this name for the event class leaves a great deal to be desired, but the term is way too prevalent in the insurance industry for anybody to do anything about it now.
The insurance industry, like many others, is best left to its own devices. What God does and does not do, however, is a question with profound implications for any metaphysical picture that has anything to do with morality. In one sense, everything that ever happens is an act of God. For whatever event comes to pass (or fails to do so) must strictly depend on the laws enacted by God. Despite what many people believe, it does not follow, however, that God is necessarily pleased with all events. Nor that man is merely a puppet that cannot do anything of his own accord. That would make a joke of moral accountability. Man has an important and unmistakable part to play in his moral decisions.
The physical causes of events are always there, which it is often profitable to analyse for the sake of future improvement. On another level however, every event can be traced back to God, whose sanction (‘Be’) is a necessary condition for anything to ever happen. The chemical reaction between cigarette smoke and the lung tissue is based on Divine law. But the smoker brings the damage to himself by the act of smoking. From the point of view of responsibility one may (and often does) apportion blame and praise to individuals. But all events ultimately can be attributed to God. It is not a this-or-that question.
Consider a man who gets hanged. The answer to the question ‘Who hanged him?’ depends on the point of view. The hanging could be attributed to the hangman who tied the noose around his neck; to the jury who convicted him; to the judge who sentenced him; to the prosecutor who successfully pleaded the case; to the state that sanctioned capital punishment; to the murderer himself for having committed the crime; and to God who ultimately approves and brings into effect all deaths– natural or otherwise.
The inability to understand this has some extremely unfortunate consequences. Atheists frequently cite and object to verses of the Quran to the effect that God guides whom He will and misguides whom He will, or He guides some and misguides others by the same verse. What with the lack of focused thought and attention on their part, it never occurs to them that their objection is not as unanswerable as they like to think it is. Many theists, being equally guilty of mental laziness, find themselves stumped by it, and end up being defensive and apologetic for their belief. There is much more confusion on either side than there needs to be.
Picture a man who has realized his potential by welcoming and internalizing all or a significant part of the guidance that comes his way. From one point of view, he is a deserving recipient of wisdom, having sincerely and tirelessly strived for it. From another, it is God who has guided him. Both statements are true, though a wise human being is apt to shy away from claiming the credit and to attribute his success to God’s infinite mercy instead.
There is no denying that God does guide many and misguide many. Similarly, He gives wisdom to some but not to everybody. But is it all arbitrary? Certainly not! When man sincerely looks for guidance and heeds it wherever he finds it, God gives him more and more of it. Being guided, then, is not an event, but a process– a process that continues till death, and in which man plays an important role. Similarly, losing one’s way is also a gradual process. Every man comes across truth and wisdom along the way but as he continues to choose to ignore or outright reject it, he strays more and more from the straight path. To the extent that finally it is as if he loses the ability to even hear the truth. This is the scary predicament the Quran describes as God having set a seal on somebody’s heart and hearing and caused a covering to fall over his eyes.
While this sealing of the heart is attributed to God, it is the consequence of man being indifferent to guidance that came his way– his punishment for refusing to value truth and wisdom consistently and over extended timeframes. This is God’s immutable law of guidance and misguidance, by which He guides some and misguides others: Namely, whosoever sincerely strives for guidance will get it; and whosoever disregards it will certainly go astray. There is no escaping from God’s laws. The Quran insists that the characteristic way in which God deals with men (His Sunnat) never changes.
Anthropomorphic tendencies in men is the cause of much of the confusion on this issue, as on many others. How God guides men and moves them is not how a chess player moves pieces on the board. Instead, man is moved indirectly. Just like a soccer player has his eyes set firmly on the goalpost, the man who sincerely seeks guidance has God’s approval as his aim. With that consciousness and purpose, he battles away; where another man, with no such motivation, would be completely indifferent. Man plays a significant role when it comes to being guided or otherwise. While man can get numerous things haphazardly, guidance is not one of them. Wisdom is too precious a prize to be had by chance.
Picture a man who has realized his potential by welcoming and internalizing all or a significant part of the guidance that comes his way. From one point of view, he is a deserving recipient of wisdom, having sincerely and tirelessly strived for it. From another, it is God who has guided him. Both statements are true, though a wise human being is apt to shy away from claiming the credit and to attribute his success to God’s infinite mercy instead.
