Allah, Islam and Voluntarism

When we speak of the forgiveness and justice of God, the bible is clear about God’s nature; God is love (1 Jn.4:8, 16) and God is just (Dt.32:4, Isa.45:21). And God cannot change (Mal.3:6) because he inhabits eternity (Isa.57:15, Psa.90:2) and change involves time. Moreover mercy rejoiceth against judgment (Jam.2:13) and so God cannot judge us and forgive us simultaneously. For he "will not at all acquit the wicked" (Nah.1:3) and "cannot deny himself" (2 Tim.2:13). And so God prescribes- Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.(Rom.3:24-6). God brings his justice and love together like a man and woman in marriage and new life emerges.
   

 And so God’s nature and immutability (cannot change) becomes the foundation of logic and morality and science. God does not determine what is just or righteous or logical on a whim. If he could it would undermine the foundation of all science, logic and morality. Many ignorant of Christian theology think God decides what is good or bad, rational or irrational, and could have chosen the opposite. Therefore he is not bound by anything and is purely arbitrary. That his will is supreme over his nature and not bound by it. This creates a voluntaristic problem in epistemology (how knowledge is possible). For God could change logic and delude us and we’d have no basis to trust our thoughts or logical and mathematical laws or he might even decide good is evil and evil is now good. In short, if this was the Christian God you could not be certain of it or anything because you couldn’t trust your thoughts, for the foundation, namely God himself, might change (or have already changed) all the rules unbeknownst to you. This is the Euthyphro dilemma presented to tradition by Plato.

Enter Islam and a tradition within it of a voluntaristic and occasionalistic view of God or Allah. We see this view of God in the Quran, for example:

Surah 5:17. Surely, in disbelief are they who say that Allah is the Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary. Say (0 Muhammad) "Who then has the least power against Allah, if He were to destroy the Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary), his mother, and all those who are on the earth together?" And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them. He creates what He wills. And Allah is Able to do all things.

18. And (both) the Jews and the Christians say: "We are the children of Allah and His loved ones." Say: "Why then does He punish you for your sins?" Nay, you are but human beings of those He has created, He forgives whom He wills and He punishes whom He wills. And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them; and to Him is the return (of all).

6:12. Say (0 Muhammad)"To whom belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth?" Say: "To Allah. He has prescribed Mercy for Himself.

3:30. On the Day when every person will be confronted with all the good he has done, and all the evil he has done, he will wish that there were a great distance between him and his evil. And Allah warns you against Himself (His punishment) and Allah is full of kindness to (His) slaves. 31. Say (0 Muhammad): "If you (really) love Allah then follow me (Le. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur'an and the Sunnah), Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." 32. Say (0 Muhammad) "Obey Allah and the Messenger (Muhammad) But if they turn away, then Allah does not like the disbelievers.

11:114 … surely good deeds take away evil deeds this is a reminder to the mindful.

4:116 Allah forgiveth not (The sin of) joining other gods with Him; but He forgiveth whom He pleaseth other sins than this: one who joins other gods with Allah, Hath strayed far, far away (from the right).

 Allah can forgive sin out of an act of will or he can destroy Christ and Mary. He prescribes mercy for himself. (Some might think this holds similar meaning to Rom.9:15, but his mercy is reconciled to his justice in the offering of Christ on the cross; thus flows from his immutable nature and not a pure arbitrary will.) The basis for forgiveness is simply Allah’s will, for if your good works are more than your evil he will just forgive and eliminate sin by choice. Yet if he so wills to destroy the righteous he will do whatever he wills. If the pure unaided will of Allah can decide to do what he wills then voluntarism and occasionalism spring forth and destroy the entire system; for logic or math or morality might be changed at a moment. This doctrine appears to have stultified rational and scientific development in Islamic history.

 Here is a very enlightening consideration of the history of the problem of logic and science in Islam:

Islam and the Problem of Rationality - http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2006/12/islam_and_the_problem_of_ratio.html

Also see here:

Islamic ethics tends toward extreme theological voluntarism - http://gypsyscholarship.blogspot.com/2007/11/islamic-ethics-tends-toward-extreme.html