Absolute Divine Providence and its Relation with Human Volition, with an Emphasis on Allāmeh Ṭabāṭabā’ī’s Thought

The issue of divine providence and its relation with human volition is among the issues which dates back to the advent of human kind and has been raised as an essential issue of humans for a long time and much is written and said about it in the works of tradition, dialectical theology, philosophy, and exegesis of Islamic scholars. The verses of the Noble Qur’ān are of two types regarding the providence and volition of God, human volition, and the extent of God’s direct or indirect interference in the being and creation system: one type of verses, obviously, attributes all diverse affairs and phenomena of the universe directly to God and is in such a way that has considered God as the only effective factor in the genesis of beings and the management of human and other creatures’ affairs. The second type emphasizes the volition and the unique role of human in the creation system, specially his fate, and attributes the acts of natural agents, especially humans, to human himself, and holds him responsible for his acts; As a result, God has specified duties for him and has given him promises. The study at hand has focused on explaining verses and proposing and comparing different viewpoints and opinions of Islamic tradition scholars, theologians, philosophers, and especially Allāmeh Ṭabāṭabā’ī’s viewpoint to reach a common ground between these two types.

Keywords:

Divine volition , Human volition , determinism , The Noble Qur’ān , Allāmeh Ṭabāṭabā’ī.