Qadar

God’s knowledge and decree of all things, held together with human responsibility for choices.

What it means

“Indeed, We created all things by measure” (54:49). The Prophet taught that belief in qadar, its good and its bad, is a pillar of faith (Sahih Muslim). Yet the Quran holds each soul responsible: “Whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it” (99:7). Scholars teach that God’s knowledge does not force anyone’s choices.

What the sources say

Early thinkers divided over it: the Qadariyya stressed human freedom, and the Jabriyya compulsion. Al-Ash‘ari and al-Maturidi each worked out a middle position.

Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 43, listed as QADAR; p. 44, listed as QAḌĀ'. The definition is restated here.