al-Qada wal-Qadar - al-Bayhaqi
- Author died
- 458 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-‘Ubaykān
Al-Qada wa-l-Qadar (Arabic: القضاء والقدر, lit. 'Divine Decree and Predestination'), also known as Kitab al-Qadar (كتاب القدر) or Ithbat al-Qadar (إثبات القدر), is a theological and hadith treatise by the Shafi'i traditionist and jurist Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi (384–458 AH / 994–1066 CE) dedicated to establishing the orthodox Sunni belief in God's divine decree and foreordination.
Purpose and Scope
Al-Bayhaqi composed the work to demonstrate from the Quran, the prophetic Sunnah, and the transmitted consensus of the Companions, Successors, and leading Muslim scholars that all actions of creation are predetermined by God and written by Him. The book affirms that God has eternally known all that will come to pass, recorded what He knew, and created all things in accordance with that prior decree.
Structure and Method
The book is arranged into thematic chapters supported by continuous chains of narration (asānīd), beginning with chapters that establish the pre-existence of divine decree before creation, such as:
- Bāb dhikr al-bayān anna Allāha jalla thanāʼuhu qaddara al-maqādīra kullahā qabla an yakhluqa al-samāwāti wa-l-arḍ ("Chapter on the Clarification that God Foreordained All Decrees Before Creating the Heavens and the Earth")
- Bāb kayfiyyat al-īmān bi-l-qadar ("Chapter on the Manner of Believing in Divine Decree")
Al-Bayhaqi utilizes the methodology of traditional hadith compilation (riwāyah), bringing together Quranic verses, prophetic traditions, and reports from early generations, while evaluating transmitters and pointing out weak or isolated narrations.
Reception and Transmission
The treatise forms part of the classical canon of standalone hadith-based works on predestination, alongside earlier monographs such as those of Ibn Wahb, Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, and al-Firyabi. It was preserved through prominent chains of transmission, including those documented by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in al-Mu'jam al-mufahras, Ali al-Muttaqi al-Hindi in Kanz al-ummal, and al-Rudani in Silat al-khalaf bi-mawsul al-salaf.
The historian and traditionist al-Dhahabi abridged the book under the title Ikhtisar Kitab al-Qadar in three volumes, as recorded by al-Safadi in al-Wafi bi-l-wafayat and al-Kutubi in Fawat al-wafayat.
Manuscripts and Editions
A rare manuscript of the work is preserved in the Sehid Ali Pasha Library within the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul (MS 1488, 110 folios), a photographic copy of which is kept at the Islamic University of Madinah (no. 844).
The book has been edited and published in several academic editions:
- An academic study and critical edition by Suwaylim ibn 'Iqab al-Tawm as a doctoral dissertation at the Islamic University of Madinah, supervised by Hammad al-Ansari (registered in 1399 AH).
- Edited by Abu al-Fida' al-Athari (Beirut: Mu'assasat al-Kutub al-Thaqafiyya, 1409 AH / 1988 CE).
- Edited by Muhammad ibn Abd Allah Al 'Amir in one volume (Riyadh: Maktabat al-Ubaykan, 1421 AH / 2000 CE, 445 pages).
- Edited by Salah al-Din ibn Abbas Shukr in three volumes (Riyadh: Maktabat al-Rushd, 1426 AH / 2005 CE), originating as a doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of the Punjab in Pakistan.
Answer updated