In Shahrur’s lexicon, destiny in Shahrur’s thought is the objective existence of things and events outside human consciousness, and from this meaning he moves away from the image of behavioral determinism.
The meaning in Shahrur
Destiny is what stands on the side of reality: things, events, and their laws as they exist objectively. Within this reality, the human being moves through knowledge, volition, and will, turning possibility into action without history becoming closed or action being stripped away.
Differences
- It differs from determinism; because it does not negate human action or responsibility.
- It differs from decree; for destiny is objective existence, whereas decree is a conscious act or command within the field of choice and responsibility.
- It is adjacent to objective existence because it is its definition from the standpoint of things and events.
- It raises the question of volition and will, where destiny is linked to freedom of action, not to the abolition of choice.
Foundational links
- destiny is objective existence
- decree is a conscious human act
- the Book, destiny, and volition
- objective existence and the free human being are complementary in the Qur’anic vision
- decree
- destiny 1-5
- existence, knowledge, and history
- human being, freedom, and responsibility
Its place in the atlas
This page situates destiny within the relationship between existence and knowledge, and distinguishes between the objective existence of things and the negation of human freedom or responsibility.