Question:

This issue about free will always arises and feels like it contradicts with God being all-knowing and just. Does God know whether we go to heaven or Hell before he creates us? If so, then how is God just when he creates us even though we will end up in Hell? If not, then how is God all-knowing?

Answer:

God is aware of the choices we will make in this life. However, He is aware that we will make all these choices through our own free will. Just because God knows what we will choose, this does not detract from our free will. For example, if you are standing on the roof of a high building and you see two cars approaching from different streets and know they are about to crash, and then they do crash, your knowledge of this event does not detract from the free will of the two drivers and it is not your fault that they crashed. Similarly, God knowing what we will choose does not force us to choose one way or another. So our actions are done through our own free will, and therefore we are liable to being punished or rewarded for them, and accordingly God, in His Justice, rewards or punishes us.

God does not create people for Hell, but it is part of a perfect system of creation that free will should exist. It is easy to imagine that a world without free will would be a meaningless world, and so part of the perfection of the system of creation is the presence of free will. Free will then means that some people will choose the wrong path and end up in Hell through their own choices. To not give these people life in the first place would detract from the perfect system of creation, and it would mean God would only create good people who go to heaven, and this again would mean no free will and an imperfect system.

Answered by: Dr Ali Alsamail
Certified by: Sheikh Mansour Leghaei