Daniel J. Pipes

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Allah and free will

Reader comment on item: Pope Benedict Criticizes Islam
in response to reader comment: Response

Submitted by Plato (United Arab Emirates), Jan 5, 2007 at 23:55

Salman, let me butt into your conversation with dhimmi no more. I have been having an argument with another Muslim, who like you seemed eager to correct the misconceptions of infidels like me in another blog but he seems to have gone silent for the moment. I found something interesting in your post of Dec 28, which says:

Dhimmi no more has already put paid to free will in Islam by quoting from the Koran. I know zilch of Arabic and so cannot comment. But let me approach free will from another angle, a purely logical one.

Salman, have you given the idea of free-will any serious thought? Consider this. You are given several alternatives to choose from. And if I have a giant computer which can always predict accurately BEFORE you made the decision which alternative you will choose what would be your reaction be? And this computer can do it time and again whatever situations you are confronted with. Do you have free will? Think about it.

Can you spot any difference between this computer and Allah?

Also you say 'free-will' has been bestowed on humans for a reason. Could you elaborate a bit more?

God isn't asking anyone to kill anyone else (matters of war, self-defense not withstanding). In addition to that, to answer you question about why God doesn't just turn people's hearts, humans have been given free-will for a reason.

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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