Free choice and compulsion

الاختيار والقهر

Sha'rawi holds that God compels the orders of creation as He wills, while the human is free in belief and obedience. Love cannot be compelled, so God left choice to humans to know who comes to Him by love and who by force 1 2.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
Review
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Worship and the pillars

Summary

Sha'rawi holds that compulsion governs bodies, while true faith is chosen. So God left belief and obedience to choice 2.

Compulsion and love

He says humans are compelled in many bodily matters and events, but love cannot be compelled. He gives the image of a gun forcing a man to bow, which cannot force love 2.

Iblis

He cites Iblis's oath by God's might. He holds that had God willed all to obey, none could disobey. He wanted to know who comes willingly, so that the servant lives between fear and hope 3.

Not yet checked

This is Sha'rawi's reading. The kalam discussions of qadar and kasb, the academic view and any non-Sunni view have not been checked. See qadar.

People and things also explored

The ruling on one who abandons prayer· Ada' (performance of an obligation within its time)· Adhan (the call to prayer: its ruling, wording, conditions, recommended features and the muezzin)· Bone (adhm): purity, use and retaliation· The adornment of desires and the goods of this world· The people of the bench (ahl al-suffa)· The earth made a place of prayer and purity· Spending in the way of God (infaq)

Sources

  1. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1075
  2. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1076
  3. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1077
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Free choice and compulsion”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/free-choice-and-compulsion/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Related

The ruling on one who abandons prayer

Al-Sallabi quotes Ali: whoever does not pray is an unbeliever. He then reports from al-Nawawi the dispute over one who neglects prayer while believing it obligatory: the majority (Malik, al-Shafi'i) hold him a sinner to be asked to repent, others hold him an unbeliever, a view ascribed to Ali; Abu Hanifa and the Kufans hold him not an unbeliever but to be disciplined.