Allah the Exalted said: “And We have placed coverings over their hearts, preventing them from understanding it…” Does this verse indicate compulsion?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Allah the Exalted said: Some people detect a scent of compulsion in it. What is your opinion?

The Shaykh : This “making” is a cosmic making. To understand this, it is necessary to explain the divine will. The divine will is divided into two categories: legislative will and cosmic will. Legislative will is everything that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has legislated for His servants and encouraged them to perform, from acts of obedience and worship, varying in their rulings from obligatory to recommended. Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) wills these acts of obedience and worship and loves them. As for cosmic will, it may sometimes be of what Allah has legislated and loves for His servants, and it may sometimes be of what He has not legislated but has decreed. This will is called cosmic will, derived from His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): “Shay” is an indefinite noun encompassing everything, whether it be obedience or worship. That only comes about by His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He) “Be,” meaning by His will, decree, and divine decree. Once we understand this cosmic will, which encompasses everything, whether it be obedience or disobedience, we must return to the topic of divine decree and destiny. His saying (Glorified is He): means that this one to whom He said “Be” was made a decreed, inevitable reality. Thus, we have discussed divine decree and destiny repeatedly and have said that everything with Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is by decree. This includes both good and evil. However, what concerns us, the two burdened creatures—humans and jinn—who are accountable and commanded by Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He)—we must look at what we do. Either it is done purely by our will and choice, or it is done against our will. This second category involves neither obedience nor disobedience, and its outcome is neither Paradise nor Hellfire. Rather, the first category is what the rulings of the Shari'ah revolve around. Accordingly, the reckoning of a person, whether for Paradise or Hellfire, is based on what a person does by his will, striving for it through his earning and choice. That is what a person is held accountable for. If it is good, it is good; if it is evil, it is evil. This is the reality: that a human being is a chooser in a large portion of his actions. This is a reality that cannot be debated, neither by Shari'ah nor by reason. As for the Shari'ah, the texts of the Book and the Sunnah are mass-transmitted regarding the command for a person to do what he is ordered to do and to leave what he is forbidden from doing. These are too numerous to mention. As for reason, it is clear to every person who is free from desire and purpose that when he speaks, when he walks, when he eats, when he drinks, and when he does anything that falls within his choice, he is a chooser in that and is not compelled at all. Here I am speaking to you now; no one is compelling me, naturally. But it is decreed. So the meaning of my speech, while being decreed, is that it is decreed along with my choice of what I am saying and speaking about now. I am continuing the conversation and not remaining silent, but I am able to remain silent. To clarify to anyone who is in doubt about what I am saying that I am a chooser in this speech: here I am remaining silent now, even for a few moments, because I am a chooser. Therefore, the choice of a human being, in terms of reality, does not accept discussion or debate. Otherwise, the one who debates such a matter is merely sophistering and doubting self-evident truths. If a person reaches this stage, conversation with him is cut off. Thus, the actions of a human being are of two types: voluntary and compulsory. Regarding compulsory actions, we have no discussion, neither from the perspective of the Shari'ah nor from the perspective of reality. The Shari'ah concerns voluntary matters. If we focus this reality in our minds, we can understand a verse like the previous one: This making is cosmic. You must remember the previous verse: It is cosmic, but it is not against the will of the one upon whose heart Allah has placed coverings. It is not against his will. Here is an example from the material aspect: when a human being is created, he is created with his flesh tender and fresh. Then, as he grows and grows and grows, his flesh hardens and his bones become strong. But people are not all equal in this; there is a very large difference between a person who is bent on a type of study and knowledge. What strengthens in him? His mind strengthens, his brain strengthens, in the aspect he is occupied with and to which he devotes all his efforts. But in terms of the body, his body does not strengthen, his muscles do not grow. And the opposite is exactly the opposite: a person focused on the material aspect, who engages in physical exercises every day, as they say today. His muscles become strong, his body becomes strong, and he takes on a form as we sometimes see in reality and sometimes in pictures. These athletes, for example, their bodies become all muscle. Was he created this way, or did he acquire this strong build with many muscles? This is something he reached through his earning and choice. That is the example of the person who strays in his misguidance, stubbornness, disbelief, and denial, until he reaches the rust, these coverings that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) places over their hearts. Not by compulsion from Allah and necessity imposed on them by Allah, but because of their earning and choice. This is the making, the cosmic making that these disbelievers acquire, until they reach this point where the ignorant imagine that it was imposed on them. The truth is that it was not imposed on them, but rather it is by what your hands have earned, and Allah is not unjust to the servants.