Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/70

 texts that Islam is exclusively fatalistic, denying free will to man, yet in practice, as well as in the teaching of most of the Moslem sects, man's destiny is regarded as entirely in the hands of God. To such an extent is this fatalistic view of life held that it colors and affects life at every point. The individual not only ceases but refuses to accept responsibility for his actions and their consequences. If he misses a train, it was not his fault the train left before he got there. It was God's will, why worry? If he fails to pass his examination, it was written in his destiny that he should fail, and that is the end of the matter. If a Moslem promises to do a certain thing, he will always protect himself with the reservation, "If God wills," and so leave open a back door of escape from fulfilling an inconvenient promise. Since God wills both the good and the evil that happen in the world, man never knows whether he will have success or not. In Islam blessed is the man who expects mercy for it is a sin to despair of God's goodness.

Still, overemphasis on the certainty of fate cuts the nerve of endeavor, and allows men to settle back into the ruts of custom and fall into ways that lead to degeneration and decay. It is not too much to say that this view of life has been a millstone of despair around the neck of Moslem society and peoples everywhere. This one article of belief in itself is sufficient ultimately to work the complete destruction of any people that lives by it. Unless Islam can sufficiently reconstruct its practical philosophy of life so that a

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