How to Accomplish Guidance and Deviation

Guidance and deviation are one of the arguments related to divine justice. People may suspect that guidance and deviation are in God’s hand and a servant doesn’t have any role or impact regarding that as mentioned in some holy verses. Therefore, the problem of predestination and inability to choose reappears, so divine justice will be banished because it is unlogic to let the servants deviate then punish them for what He obliged them to do.

 

Clarifying the case in context needs explaining the meaning of guidance and deviation in language, then stating their goal in the holy Quranic verses.

 

Guidance and deviation have opposite meanings. Guidance is the act of taking and following the right path while deviation is missing the right path and abstaining from it. For example, saying “a man deviated from a certain issue” means he missed and lost it. While saying “he’s guided to it” means the opposite. So whoever his leg slips and deviates from the goal and aim is a deviator. But he who gets the right path and passes through it is guided.

 

They were mostly used in immaterial issues related to the right religion and passing the way through God almighty. In this case, guidance means a right path and deviation means missing it.

 

Most resources, that talk about guidance in the holy Quran, trace it back only to God almighty and show in the research that God almighty created a human being with a proper instinct, which is the instinct of monotheism and knowing deism, and sent his prophets and messengers to establish this instinct and direct it in the right direction by religion and its teachings. 

 

Guidance is divided into two parts, a formative guidance and a legislative guidance.

 

The first part is formative guidance. It is not limited to a human being only, but includes all creatures where God almighty has guided everything to accomplish its natural perfection and essence. Moses (a.s) says that God almighty says:” Our God is He who gives to each (created) thing its form and guides it”.[1] 

 

But the legislative guidance is limited to a human being because he’s responsible for the succession on Earth, reconstruction of the universe, and reaching the target goal. Then Jinn follows him because despite their presence in this universe before a man, they didn’t get the rank of divine succession. This explains the necessity for Jinn to follow the prophets of mankind. It’s not mentioned that God almighty sent special prophets for Jinn, but they are assigned to follow the guidance of the prophets of mankind and work on serving them.

 

God almighty says:” And there were gathered before Sulaiman (Solomon) his hosts of jinns and men, and birds, and they all were set in battle order (marching forwards).[2]

 

And He almighty says:” Say: It has been revealed to me that a party of the jinn listened, and they said: Surely we have heard a wonderful Quran, It guides to righteousness, so we believe in it, and we will not associate anyone with our God”.[3]

 

Then the verses that mention that guidance is from God almighty are many, like when God almighty says:” And those who strive hard for us, We will surely guide them to our ways, and God is with the doers of good”.[4]

 

He almighty says:” You do not guide whom you love, but God guides whom He wills”.[5]

 

And His almighty saying also:” And they said, “Praise be to God, who guided us to this, and we would not have been guided, had it not been that God guided us.”[6]

 

And His almighty saying:” And why should we not rely on God, and He has guided us to our paths?[7]

 

But this doesn’t mean that guidance is obligatory from God almighty and that a man doesn’t have a choice in this issue. Yet, God almighty has entrusted a man with a proper instinct which is the beginning of guidance. So if a man behaves according to this instinct by his choice and will, he reaches the beach of security and true happiness. Otherwise, if he deviates from the right path, follows desires and commits sins, this will cause the slenderness of this instinct and absence of his readiness due to his bad choice.

 

Then, tracing this instinct to God almighty is true because God almighty has entrusted a man with this instinct and provided him with all the circumstances and preparations needed to pass through the right way if he chooses well.

 

Yet, deviation is the opposite of guidance. It originates from the wrong choices of a man himself. We cannot trace deviation to God almighty because it starts from the servant himself then God continues his deviation that results from the reasons and laws that God almighty has entrusted in his creations. This is because deviation and following desires lead to the slenderness of instinct as mentioned before. This normally ends in many impacts since the deviation from God almighty is a result of the deviation of a man himself. On the other hand, guidance is the opposite where it starts from God almighty.

 

Therefore, we find that different holy verses that talk about deviation show that a servant makes the first step for deviating himself as in his almighty saying:” And he misleads by it only the sinners”[8] and his saying:” God confirms those who believe with firm saying in the life of this world and in the hereafter, and God will lead the wrongdoers astray”.[9]

 

The first verse shows that deviation arises from a sinner at the first stage because sinners are the core of the issue. The same idea is present in the second verse where God almighty makes their deviation a result for being oppressors first.

Verses that trace guidance back to God almighty and deviation to the servants are many.

 

It is clarified through the previous researches the idea that was mentioned in a group of holy hadiths that say that “a happy man is who’s happy since he was in his mother’s womb, and the distress one is who’s distress since he was in his mother’s womb”. This doesn’t mean predestination or obligation in a way that a man has no choice regarding this, but it means that it was affirmed in God’s knowledge since the creation of his sperms and growing either a happy or distressed man. This is among the fixed knowledge of the saved board, but doesn’t mean that God almighty imposed upon him happiness and distress.

 

[1] Surah Taha, verse 50

[2] Surah Al Namel, verse 17

[3] Surah Al Jinn, verses 1 and 2

[4] Surah Al Ankabout, verse 69

[5] Surah Al Qasas, verse 56

[6] Surah Al Araf, verse 43

[7] Surah Ibrahim, verse 12

[8] Surah Al Baqara, verse 27

[9] Surah Ibrahim, verse 26