Journal of Imamiyyah Studies

Journal of Imamiyyah Studies

The Quiddity and Existence of Knowledge and Free Will: An Examination of Two Central Concepts in the Problem of the Ascription of Divine Foreknowledge to Human Free Will

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Zahra Sargazi 1
ebrahim qasemi 2
Seyyed Mahdi Alizadeh Mousavi 2
1 PhD Candidate in Wahhabism Studies, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Denominations, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran(Full member of the Scientific Association of Religions and Sects)
10.22034/jis.2026.515126.2018
Abstract
Explaining how divine knowledge pertains to creatures before their creation is a longstanding concern for theists. On one hand, they cannot consider God ignorant of matters such as human voluntary actions or allow error in His knowledge; on the other hand, they cannot deny the dichotomy of voluntary and involuntary actions, which they acknowledge based on a certain form of intuition. Consequently, each group has endeavored to find a way to resolve the apparent conflict between divine foreknowledge and human free will. Based on the method of logical analysis of concepts, and on the hypothesis that this conflict is a prima facie conflict and cannot be considered among the established, [intractable] ones, this article analyzes the quiddity and existence of knowledge and free will, thereby opening a new path toward resolving the problem of the conflict between foreknowledge and free will. By demonstrating the relationship of possession and [non-existence in the sense of] privation (ʿadam wa malaka) between knowledge and ignorance, it is proven that not only the negation of absolute knowledge, but the negation of knowledge absolutely from the Necessary Being (Wājib al-Wujūd) does not lead to a deficiency in His holy essence. Furthermore, by removing will from the list of psychological states, this research reveals the negligence evident in the translation of the concept, aiming to fundamentally address and resolve this conflict.
Keywords
Divine Foreknowledge
Human Free Will
Relationship between Knowledge and Ignorance
Logical Analysis of Concepts
Determination of the Future
Introspection
Subjects
The Holy Qur’an.
ʿAbbāszādeh, ʿAbbās, and Samaneh Arjmandmanesh. 1396 Sh. “ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī va Ekhtīār-e Ādamī az Dīdgāh-e Mullā Ṣadrā.” Āyeneh-ye Maʿrefat, 47–68.
ʿAlavītābār, Sīnā, and Mahdī Monfared. 1401 Sh. “Barresī-ye Tatbīqī-ye ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī dar Andīsheh-ye Ebn Sīnā va Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn.” Maʿrefat-e Falsafī 4: 45–58.
Bāqīzādeh, Reżā. 1391 Sh. “Barresī-ye Pāsokh-e Ḥekmat-e Motʿālieh beh Shobheh-ye Ertebāṭ-e ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī va Ekhtīār-e Ensān.” Maʿrefat 175: 31–39.
Ḥājīhā, ʿAbbās, et al. 1397 Sh. “ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī az Dīdgāh-e Ḥekmat-e Ṣadrā’ī va Sīnavī va Taṭbīq-e Ān bā Āyāt va Revāyāt.” Ḥekmat-e Ṣadrā’ī 2: 47–61.
Ḥātamī Konkabūd, Ḥabīb, and Ardeshīr Monazzamī. 1402 Sh. “ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Khodāvand va Ekhtīār-e Ādamī bā Ta’kīd bar Dīdgāh-e Maktab-e Ahl-e Bayt (ʿalayhim al-salām) va Naqd-e Dīdgāhhā-ye Raqīb.” Āyeneh-ye Maʿrefat 3: 29–52.
Jaʿfarīyān, Jawād, and Yārʿalī Kurd Fīrūzjānī. 1393 Sh. “Moqāyeseh-ye ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī az Dīdgāh-e Ebn Sīnā va Moḥaqqeq-e Qūnavī.” Āyīn-e Ḥekmat 21: 95–119.
Jalīlī, Jalīl, and Ṭāhir Karīmzādeh. 1400 Sh. “Barresī-ye Taṭbīqī-ye Kayfīyat-e ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī va Nahveh-ye Woqūʿ-e Tajaddod dar Ān az Dīdgāh-e Mullā Ṣadrā, Abū al-Ḥasan Shaʿrānī va Sayyid Moḥammad Kāẓim ʿAṣṣār.” Pazhūheshhā-ye Falsafī-ye Dāneshgāh-e Tabrīz 37: 812–833.
Kashfī, ʿAbd al-Rasūl, and Zaynab Amīrī. 1393 Sh. “Barresī-ye Taṭbīqī-ye Ārā-ye Līndā Zāgzbaskī va Ostād Mortazā Moṭahharī dar Bāb-e ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī va Ekhtīār-e Ensān.” Andīsheh-ye Dīnī 3: 1–30.
Khaydānī, Laylā. 1388 Sh. “Rābeṭeh-ye Qażā va Qadar bā ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī va Jabr va Ekhtīār az Dīdgāh-e Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn.” Ta’ammolāt-e Falsafī 2: 138–161.
Kūhī Gīglū, Tavakkol. 1392 Sh. “Barresī-ye Enteqādī-ye Dīdgāh-e Mullā Ṣadrā dar Tabyīn-e Sāzgārī-ye ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī va Ekhtīār-e Ensān.” Pazhūheshnāmeh-ye Falsafeh-ye Dīn (Nāmeh-ye Ḥekmat) 1: 97–116.
Al-Kulaynī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. 1407 AH. Al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyyah.
Manganehchī, Ḥujjat. 1399 Sh. “Barresī-ye Shomārī az Pāsokhhā-ye Ījābī va Salbī beh Nāsāzgārī-ye ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Khodāvand va Feʿl-e Ekhtīārī-ye Ensān.” (Incomplete entry in the original text).
Moḥammadī Shaykhī, Qobād, and Ardavān Arzhang. 1393 Sh. “ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Khodāvand va Naqsh-e Ān dar Khalq-e Aʿmāl va Sarnevesht-e Bandegān dar Ḥekmat-e Motʿālieh.” Andīsheh-ye Novīn-e Dīnī 37: 101–118.
Moḥammadī Shaykhī, Qobād, and Saʿīd Naẓarī Tavakkolī. 1391 Sh. “ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Khodāvand be Āfarīdegān dar Ḥekmat-e Motʿāleleh.” Andīsheh-ye Novīn-e Dīnī 28: 155–172.
ʿObūdīyat, ʿAbd al-Rasūl, and Maḥmūd Sharīfī. 1393 Sh. “ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī dar ʿIrfān-e Eslāmī az Manẓar-e Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn.” Ḥekmat-e ʿIrfānī 1: 23–42.
Raḥīmīyān, ʿAlīreḍā, and Saʿīd Raḥīmīyān. 1395 Sh. “ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī va Ekhtīār-e Ensān”. Safīneh 51: 110–136.
Raḥīmīyān, ʿAlīreḍā, and Saʿīd Raḥīmīyān. 1395 Sh. “Mowājeheh-ye Falāsefeh va ʿIrfānī-ye Mosalmān bā Eshkāl-e Jabr bar-Khāsteh az ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī”. Safīneh 52: 11–35.
Raḥīmīyān, ʿAlīreḍā, and Saʿīd Raḥīmīyān. 1395 Sh. “Tabāyun-e ʿIlm-e Khodāvand bā ʿUlūm-e Makhlūqī, Tanhā Rāh-e Ḥall-e Eshkāl-e Jabr bar-Khāsteh az ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī”. Safīneh 53: 125–151.
Raḥīmīyān, ʿAlīreḍā, and Saʿīd Raḥīmīyān. 1396 Sh. “ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī va Ekhtīār-e Ensān, Āyeh-ī barāye Tanzīh-e Khodāvand-e Motaʿāl”. Safīneh 54: 37–59.
Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn Shīrāzī, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm. 1981. Al-Ḥikmah al-Mutaʿālīyah fī al-Asfār al-ʿAqlīyyah al-Arbaʿah. Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Al-Shaykh al-Ṣadūq, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. 1398 AH. Al-Tawḥīd. Qom: Jāmiʿah-ye Mudarrisīn-e Ḥawzeh-ye ʿIlmīyeh-ye Qom.
Shāhmanṣūrī, ʿAbbās. 1395 Sh. “Ertebāṭ-e ʿIlm-e Pīshīn va Ekhtīār-e ʿIbād dar Āthār-e Marḥūm Mīrzā Mahdī Eṣfahānī.” Safīneh 53: 100–124.
Al-Ṭūsī, [Khwājah] Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. 1407 AH. Tajrīd al-Iʿtiqād. Qom: Daftar-e Tablīghāt-e Islāmī.
Tavakkolī, Ghulāmḥusayn. 1390 Sh. “Ekhtīār-e Ensān va ʿIlm-e Pīshīn-e Elāhī.” Falsafeh-ye Dīn 10: 111–138.