I've been taught that Allah gives us free will, not the free will in philosophical and destiny terms I'm making reference to the free will of either practicing Islam, choosing to wear hijab, to drink or not to drink etc. which I all understand full well and am content with. However Sharia law makes the disobedience of those acts punishable by either lashing or time in prison. My question is, how do we have free will when in fact Sharia Law which is Gods law, doesn't give us free will. Ultimately we don't have free will otherwise it seems contradictory to say we do.
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2 Answers
"Free will" doesn't mean there aren't restrictions on what you are supposed to do. It means that God does not directly prevent you from disobeying the laws. In a world with free-will, it is possible to drink alcohol even though it is forbidden. A person who violates the Sharia does so of his own volition. That is what free-will means.
If there were no free will in the world, people would have no control over their actions. If that were the case, there really would be no moral way to hold people responsible for their actions.
My question is, how do we have free will when in fact Sharia Law which is Gods law, doesn't give us free will. Ultimately we don't have free will otherwise it seems contradictory to say we do.
Your understanding of Sharia law is invalid. No one can be punished for not wearing Hijab in Islam, as a matter of fact it is not even Fard to wear Hijab. Same thing for drinking, adultery and stealing. Those rules can be changed if the people wish it to as some companions did during their time. Additionally, all of those punishments are voluntary and the prophet himself tried to deter people from getting them applied to themselves.
