رسالة في لغة أبي علي بن سينا
لسان العرب
القضاء و القدر

Ibn Sina’s Terminologies  
The Language of the Arab

Al-Qadhā (Primordial Decision, Decree) & Al-Qadar (Immutable Destiny, Fate)


Discussion   Join



See Also:

http://www.untiredwithloving.org/prehension.html 
http://www.untiredwithloving.org/satr.html  
http://www.untiredwithloving.org/harf_lam.html  
http://www.untiredwithloving.org/ibnsina_ish_nafs.html  
http://www.untiredwithloving.org/sina_ish_div_4_27.html  
http://www.untiredwithloving.org/sina112.html
   



Content
Apercu  




Note: There are two books called Lisanul Arab (The Language of the Arab). Primary one is a dictionary of Arabic language by Ibn Manzour Afriqi and the other is this treatise of Ibn Sina again called Lisanul Arab. So I have redundantly mentioned the names of the authors so there would be no confusions.






Al-Qadhā (Primordial Decision, Decree) & Al-Qadar (Immutable Destiny, Fate)

"Allah’s Qadha is Allah’s Awwal (Primordial) Hukm (Decision), the Wahid (1 with no 2 or alike) that encloses every Shai’ (Object) and every object branches out of it (Qadha), coupled with the passage of time.

And Allah’s Qadar (Immutable Destiny) is the ordering/sequencing of the effusive emanation of 'Ashia’ (Objects) out of that Qadha (Primordial Decision), one Shai’ (Object) after another Shai’ (Object), as Allah said: "And We did not send it down except with the 'given' pre-determined Qadar (Immutable Measure, Destiny)."



رسالة في لغة أبي علي بن سينا
لسان العرب
القضاء و القدر
قضاءُ الله هو حكمُهُ الاوَّلُ الواحدُ الذي يشتملُ على كلِّ شىءٍ يتفرَّعُ عنه كلُّ شىءٍ على مَمَرِّ الدَّهر
و قدرُهُ ترتيبُهُ اِنبِعاثَ الاشياءِ عن ذلك القضاء الاوَّل شيئاً بعد شيءٍ كما قال :و ما نُنَزِّلَهُ الا بقدرٍ معلوم


Dara
Qadha is the Primordial Decision dealing with the objectification and attributes of an object in this world. It is non-cognitive and free from the intervention of any intellect. Any decision we make is nothing but an image/reflection of this singleton Primordial Decision in Qidam.

The term Awwal (Primordial) is related to the term Qidam.


Lisanul Arab
Ibn Manzour Afriqi
“It was stated that: Al-Wahid is what cannot be divided into parts and cannot be duplicated, and nothing is similar to it. Only Allah the Almighty possesses those two characteristics “

Definition: Wahid is something that the number ‘1’ can be applied to it, yet there is no ‘2’ applicable to, does not decompose,  cannot be divided into portions and has no facsimiles similar to it. 


لسان العرب  ابن منظور 
 قال أَبو منصور وغيره: الفرق بينهما أَن الأَحد بني لنفي ما يذكر معه من العدد، تقول ما جاءَني أَحد، والواحد اسم بني لِمُفْتَتَح العدد، تقول جاءني واحد من الناس، ولا تقول جاءني أَحد؛ فالواحد منفرد بالذات في عدم المثل والنظير، والأَحد منفرد بالمعنى؛ وقيل: الواحد هو الذي لا يتجزأُ ولا يثنى ولا يقبل الانقسام ولا نظير له ولا مثل ولا يجمع هذين الوصفين إِلا الله عز وجل؛ وقال ابن الأَثير: في أَسماء الله تعالى الواحد، قال: هو الفرد الذي لم يزل وحده ولم يكن معه آخر؛ قال الأَزهري: وأَما اسم الله عز وجل أَحد فإِنه لا يوصف شيء بالأَحدية غيره؛ لا يقال: رجل أَحَد ولا درهم أَحَد كما يقال رجل وحَدٌ أَي فرد لأَن أَحداً صفة من صفات الله عز وجل التي استخلصها لنفسه ولا يشركه فيها شيء؛ وليس كقولك الله واحد وهذا شيء واحد؛ ولا يقال شيء أَحد وإِن كان بعض اللغويين قال: إِن الأَصل في الأَحَد وحَد؛


Ibn Sina’s phrase above: ‘that encloses every Shai’ (Object)’ has two important aspects:

1.    Enclose: A process by which an object can be thought of trapped within a closed boundary. These enclosures could be intellectual, physical, geometrical/mathematical, biological, actual or probable. Qadha (Primordial Decision) generates a ‘bounding box’ around the subject of the Primordial Decision. This bounding-box allows for this object to have the concept of ‘1’ as in ‘that one’, but a unique ‘1’ that has no second i.e. the object does not confuse itself with any other of its own kind or others.
2.    Shai’: An object that can be enclosed within some boundary as was mentioned in 1. And this definition is obtained from Al-Kursi verse: [2:255]" Nor shall they encompass any Shai’ (Object) of Hu’s (ITs, His) knowledge except as Hu (IT, He) had willed." The same word Shai’ was used, as something that can be surrounded or limited by a boundary, in this case mental/intellectual. Note that the ‘had willed’ is in the past i.e. the Decision is primordial in Qidam.


وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ


Note: This bounding-box may not apply for other entities viewing the object i.e. primarily this bounding-box is for the object (internally) in and of itself.


Lane Dictionary
“Inba'atha ‘an shai': the thing became impelled or propelled; or went swiftly or quickly as though impelled; thus you say about water: it poured forth or out as though impelled.”

Futuhat (Ibn Arabi) 
“… like the emanation (Inba’ath) of smoke from a fire…”

الفتوحات المكية  محيي الدين ابن عربي 
مثل انبعاث الدخان من تلك النارية


The emanation of the Shai’ (Object) from the Qadha (Primordial Decision) is effusive i.e. similar to the release of the liquid/gas currents from a container.

After carefully reading the Arabic of Ibn Sina, I got the impression that his concept of emanation or release of the objects into this world was current-like! Objects just don’t appear suddenly; there is a process to their appearance and this process can be best visualized as a current. I then remembered that such a concept is quite similar to the Probability Currents of Quantum Mechanics. Therefore after thought experimenting with Ibn Sina’s object currents and Quantum Mechanics’ Probability Currents, a unified visualization was in view.

Assuming the above said argument:

Definition: The Qadar (Immutable Measure, Destiny) is viewed as the space of all Probability Currents.

Equipped with the above concepts and definitions let’s rephrase what Ibn Sina said:

Allah’s Primordial non-cognitive Decision (Qadha) envelops every object, individually wrapped into a singleton ‘1’ that has no two or similars, branched out of this Primordial Decision coupled with the passage of time. The perpetual emanation out of the Primordial Decision into this world, takes the shape of currents, gushing out one after the other.

Q: Why Probability Currents?
A: What we call a particle is in the deep past, i.e. in Qidam as an actuality. However it is a current of future-potentialities within this transient spatial world of ours. In microscopic scales we cannot talk about the particle being at certain place in the timespace but we can talk about its flux through volumes of timespace and this flux we visualize as currents or the Probability Currents.


Self: A Bounding-Box, A Capsule

Qadha (Primordial Decision) generates a ‘bounding box’ around the subject of the Primordial Decision. This bounding-box allows for this object to have the concept of ‘1’ as in ‘that one’, but a unique ‘1’ that has no second i.e. the object does not confuse itself with any other of its own kind or others.

This bounding-box is the very foundation of the Self!

Note: This bounding-box may not always apply for other ‘external’ entities viewing the object i.e. primarily this bounding-box is for the object (internally) in and of itself.

Example, a proton stays a proton until some external force influences it e.g. decay or high energy field, the process of proton remaining a proton, is what we call the bounding-box. Without this bounding-box, there is no process for the object to know and to stay the same thing for a long enough period of time.

Oddly we realize that this bounding-box serves as a static ‘memory’ of some kind! It allows the object to be ‘1’ of something. Without this bounding-box, the object would be confused sometimes it is an electron and sometimes it is a proton.









































Ibn Sina
“And indeed all the holy books have spoken about the veracity of the Qadha (Primordial Decision) and Qadar (Immutable Destiny), and all devoted persons have spoken in compliance with it. Although the prohibition from investigation and cognizance of the qualities and quantities of Qadha and Qadar has been universal for all religions without exception since it has been Allah’s Divine Secret for Hu’s (ITs, His) creation to monopolize the Qadha and Qadar for Hu’s (ITs, His) own Divine Knowledge. No one knows about this Qadha and Qadar except Hu (IT, He) and those specifically selected members of Hu’s (ITs, His) creation.



رسالة في لغة أبي علي بن سينا
لسان العرب
القضاء و القدر
و قد نَطُقت الكتبُ الالهيةُ المقدَّسةُ كلُّها بتصديقِ القضاءِ و القدَرِ و جميعُ اهلِ التمسُّك قالو به
و انَّ كان النَّهىُ عن تجسسِهِ و تعَرُّفِ كيفيتهِ و كميتيِهِ شاملاً لاهلِ الاديان كافَّةً اذ كانَ سِرُّ الله تعالى في خليقَتِهِ انَّما هو يستبِدُّ هو تعالى بمعرفتِهِ
فلا يَعْلَمهُ الا هو و الّا من اَختَّصُهُ من خَلقِهِ به



Ibn Sina
However those clueless people who desire to drag along religions to adhere to their own intellects, which did not become capable of reflection, or of reaching certainty, did not benefit anyone nor did they themsleves glean any benefits and were not sustained in a growth that would allow them to conceptualize of such matters; those people believe that acknowledging the Qadar (Immutable Destiny) is tantamount to atttributing wrongdoings to the Lord Most High. Therefore those people would rather go to any extents to search for causality elsewhere according to the whims of their Selves (denying the ultimate primacy of the Primordial Decision).



رسالة في لغة أبي علي بن سينا
لسان العرب
القضاء و القدر
و اما المُنشَحِطونَ الذين يَهْوَوْنَ اَن يَجُرُّوا الدياناتَ إلى مُلازَمَةِ عقولهم المخْدَجَةِ التى لم تَفْطَنْ و لم تَتَيَقَّنْ و لم تُفْدو لم تَستَفِد و لم تُرَبَّ
لِمِثلِ ذلك فانَّهم يحسَبونَ أنَّ في الاقْرارِ بالقدرِ تَجْويرَ الرَّبِ التعالى ثم لا ينفَكُّونَ عن القولِ بالدَّواعي و الصوارف و ايجابها ارادات للانفُس المتَّصِلة ايجابها بايجاب الاعمال


Ibn Sina
When the arguments and claims are attributed to their origins (i.e. the Qadha & Qadar), and related to their beginnings, their causality having been fully researched, and the states/circumstances of their foundations fully explored, one sees that they do not cease to glide upwards towards the causations that the Creator of the Creation made antecedent to them i.e. Qadha & Qadar. The Possessor of the Primordial Planning organized them and the One to Hu (IT, He) belong the creation and the command illuminated them; and it is ceaselessly that Hu (IT, He) indeed knows the first is to be followed by the second and the antecedent is to be followed by the proceeding and their organization (i.e. Qadha & Qadar) continues necessitating an unnumbered many varied whims and wishes, good deeds and evil deeds, praiseworthy and blameworthy end-results and final guidance or misguidance. 



رسالة في لغة أبي علي بن سينا
لسان العرب
القضاء و القدر
ُثم اذا عُزِيَت الدواعى و الصوارف الى مناجمها ونُسِبَتْ الى أوائِلِها و بُحِِثَ عن اسبابها و استُقْصِىَ الحالُ في مباديها لَم تَزَل إلى تراقٍ إلى أسبابٍ قَدَّمَها خالقُ الخليقةِ و نظَّمَها صاحبُ التدبيرِ الاول و سنَّاها من له الخلقُ و الآمر و علمَ فيما لم يزَلَ أنَّ اولَّها يستتبِعُ ثانيها و سابقَها يستتلي لاحِقَها و أنَّ نظامَها يستَمِرُّ الى ايجاب اراداتٍ شتّى و اِعمالِ أخيافٍ و حركاتٍ مُتَعانِدَةٍ و مُزاوَلاتٍ مُتَقابِلة و نتائِج حميدة و ذميمة و عواقِبَ رشيدة و غَوِيَّة



Ibn Sina
The Primordial Creator did not diminish or damage Hu’s (ITs, His) creation by this Qadha & Qadar, and Hu’s (ITs, His) commandments are immutable and what transpires has no significance or effect on Hu (IT, He); that indeed created these for paradise and that has no significance or effect on Hu (IT, Hu) and created those for hell and again that has no significance or effect on Hu (IT, Hu); and all that to let it be known that Hu’s (ITs, His) Will does not have any near proximity to the thoughts of the minds, the minds that do not cross-pollinate by the pollen of Hu’s (ITs, His) Commandment and these Divine Commandments do not covariate with the variance of the intellectual hallucinations of minds that cannot be corrected by the cultivation and education of the Basira (Spiritual Eye).


رسالة في لغة أبي علي بن سينا
لسان العرب
القضاء و القدر
 و ما نَقَصَ الخالقُ الاولُ لذلك خلقَه و لا بدَّلَ حكمُهُ و لا بالى بما يكون بل خَلَقَ هؤلاءَ للجنةِ و لم يُبالِ و اولئكَ للنَّارِ و لم يُبالِ لِتَعلَمَ أنَّ مشيتُهُ لا تُجارى بحكمِ العقول التى لم تلقح بِلقاحِ الحكمَةِ و لم تُغايَرْ بِمغاير الاحلام التى لم تُثَّقَّفْ بِثِقاف البصيرة



Ibn Sina
The innermost nature of the general population, what they consider good and what they consider shameful, in no ways relate to the way of Hu’s (ITs, His) Reign and Mandate, and these public considerations do not and cannot appreciate Hu’s (ITs, His) exigent Greatness; Hu’s (ITs, His) affairs are not like the affairs of other than IT/He, and Hu’s (ITs, His) commandments are not like the commandments of other than IT/He; Exalted and Sublime above and beyond any of that is Hu:" Hu (IT, He) is not asked about what IT does and yet they are being asked what they do! [21:23]"


رسالة في لغة أبي علي بن سينا
لسان العرب
القضاء و القدر
فانَّ الفطرةَ العامية و القرائح السوداويّة و القياسات المتعارفة من الجمهور فيما يستحسنونَ و يستقبحونَ لا تُناسِبُ مذهبَ سلطانِهِ و لا تَلتَفِتُ لِفتةِ كبريائِهِ و ليس شأنه شأنَ غيره و لا حكمه حكم ما سِواه جلَّ عن ذلك : لا يُسئَل عمّا يَفعَلُ و هم يُسئَلون









Apercu 


Golshani Raz (Secrets' Meadows)
Mahmoud Shabistari, 308-309

Within this place of observations the collective and the singularity are equaled
Like unto the ‘1’ flowing within the essence of all numbers

درین مشهد یکی شد جمع و افراد
چو واحد ساری اندر عین اعداد

You that collective who has become the essence of one-ness
You that ‘1’ who has become the essence of numerousness

تو آن جمعی که عین وحدت آمد
تو آن واحد که عین کثرت آمد


Within the lexicon of all religions there is one shared concept: The Divine Decree and Fate. These are, for the most parts, blindly accepted atomic-concepts, beyond any elucidations. In this treatise, Ibn Sina does expand the concept of Qadha (The Divine Decree) and Qadar (Destiny) into current-like streams gushing out of the primordial deep past (Qidam). The Divine Decree takes the form of a non-cognitive Primordial Decision from which gushe out the currents and eddies of Qadar (Immutable Destiny), currents gushing one after the other.

Adding the above Shabistari poem we see how the Primordial 1 gushes out into currents that flow through the entire universe and all its dimensions (time, space...) and yet within the human being, in which there is a space for observation, these infinitely varied currents are seen only as one entity!

Using the Klein-Gordon Quantum Mechanical equations we can see the very ‘currents’ show up as the Probability Currents symbolized as ‘j’ that once integrated/summed within or over the surface of a large enough bounding-box, the single-numbered summation, represents the charge! And this charge is seen as the epitome of oneness that was split into many currents within the timespace. This current-like motion of the charge has been seen in many forms e.g. indeed the terrifically fast Proton-Translocation within the inter-cellular waters are the results of the said ‘currents’: The mass of Proton does not move but its Probability Currents carries its charge far away into the water!

Hamiltonian
equation becomes the symbol of ‘becoming/being 1-thing’ and Eigen-value solutions of this equation nothing but the manifestation of Kathra (Numerousness).

The normalization of the wave-function becomes the collective that has become 1 and the 1 that has become many!

Every object has two elements:

1.    Mahiyah or What-ness e.g. the object of the table is an apple or the object’s Mahiya is that of an apple.
2.    Huwiyah or Who-ness e.g. that is Dara or the Huwiyah of the object is Dara.

With regards to P+, the object is voyaging backwards to the deep past and it has 1 What-ness and 1 Who-ness e.g. the particle triggered the detector; the object that triggered the detector was a particle not an elephant therefore 1 What-ness is observed in the past; and again the detector can only detect electrons therefore the Who-ness of the said object was that of an electron: 1 Who-ness in past tense.

The oddest thing happens with regards to P-, the object is in the process of becoming i.e. voyaging from Primordial Decision to potential form, and it only has 1 What-ness; however when closely examined at microscopic scales suddenly the same object exhibits several Who-ness e.g. the double-slit experiment where the electron seems to be traveling through two slots at the same time.

The particle-antiparticle of both Klein-Gordon and Dirac Spinor equations tell tales of one Mahiya (What-ness) and many Huwiyah (Who-ness) i.e. in reality there is only one object but when closely examined e.g. pointed at to be singled out, somehow it is singled out in several directions at the same time!










































This multiple Huwiyah (Who-ness) is the signature effect of the Probability Currents, and signature proof of Ibn Sina's concept of the effusive currents (Qadar) out of the Qadha (Primordial Decision). These observations bring us to several questions:

Q: Is the double-slit experiment a matter which deals with the Physics of dead objects, or is it a spiritual experience dealing with the living human intellect?

Q: Is the multiple Who-ness a microscopic matter again of dead atomic objects, or is it the very reality of our living Wujud (Being)?

Q: Are the lasers, detectors and atomic particles the only way a human being can observe these strange Quantal behaviors, or are there other ways?
A: The answer by Shabistari:

The person who is cognizant of this secret shall be able to voyage
From the divisible concrescence towards the indivisible actualities merely once

کسی این سرّ شناسد کو گذر کرد
ز جزوی سوی کلی یک سفر کرد








© 2007-2002,  Dara O. Shayda, Dr. Hind Rifai