Article

One Risālah on the Free Will (al-Irāda al-Juzʾiyya) and Qadar: Sayyid Khalīl al-Sırrī ibn Ibrāhim’s “Risālah fī masʾalah al-qadar fī afʿāl al-ʿibâd” Critical Edition, Examination and Translation

Abstract

The aim of the study is to bring the risālah of Sayyid Khalīl al-Sırrī ibn Ibrāhim (d. 1303/1886) named Risālah fī masʾalah al-qadar fī afʿāl al-ʿibād into the literature by making critical edition, analyzing and translating it. It is known that a great writing tradition has been formed under human acts throughout the history of Islamic thought, and it is obvious that this writing tradition continued its vitality in the Ottoman intellectual world. This risālah, which is the subject of our study, is one of the products put in this intellectual medium. Khalīl al-Sırrī, in the risālah based on religious texts, is to say that all human situations and actions are by the destiny of God. After expressing jabr (compulsion) and tafwīz approaches in his work, the author places his opinion between these two. On the one hand, the author tries to prove that human beings are not under force and jabr in their volitional actions, and on the other hand, as Muʿtazila claims, he is not independent in bringing about human acts. Thus, the risālah attempts a solution without posing a problem both to the responsibility of the human being in his own actions and to the creativity of God. It is noteworthy that the risālah deals with the issues of fate and will together and tries to justify the issue based on religious texts, and examines the issue without referring to the Ashʿarī and Māturīdī traditions. In addition, the work presents a concise structure written without deep analysis, without entering into the details of the issue and discussion points.

Keywords

Free will Qadar Human actions Tafwīz Jabr Khalīl al-Sırrī.