Free will and predestination has been a prominent topic in Islamic religious thinking. For Muslims, the basis of the discussion is found in the Qurʾān and to a lesser extent in ḥadīth (reports from and about Muḥammad often called "traditions"), some of which reflect pre-Islamic Arab beliefs.

Predestination in Pre-Islamic Arabia

Something is known of the outlook of the pre-Islamic Arabs from what has been preserved of their poetry. In this we find a strong belief that much of human life, especially misfortune, is determined by time (dahr, zaman). It has sometimes been thought that time here is the same as fate, but since the same determination of human life is sometimes attributed to "the days" or even "the nights," the idea of time must be uppermost. Time here is not something to be worshiped but rather a natural fact, not unlike "the...