Is there a differnce between Allah's Iraadhah and His Mashiyyah?

Questioner: Is there a difference between Iraadah (what Allah wants) and Mashee’ah (Allah’s will)?

Shaikh Rabee: Yes, there is a difference between the two. The Iraadah is categorized into the Iraadah al-Kawnnia (that which Allah wants in theworld) and Iraadah Shar’eeyah (that which Allah legislated from the commandments and prohibitions). The Iraadah al-Kawnnia is synonymous to the Mashee’ah (Allah’s will), and Iraadah Shar’eeyah is synonymous to the love and the pleasure (of Allah). The commandments and prohibitions are from the affairs of Iraadah Shar’eeyah (Allah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you) Suratul-Bakarah: 185 (and He has not laid upon you in religion any hardship) Suratul-Hajj: 78. This is IraadahShar’eeyah. As for Iraadah al-Kawnnia, it is the synonym to the Mashee’ah. It is related to bringing things into existence and creating them upon the way Allah wants (Verily, His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be!” – and it is! ) Suratu Ya-Sin: 82. So this is Iraadah al-Kawnnia; Iraadah al-Kawnnia is related to the actions of Allah. This means the affairs which Allah, the Blessed and Most High, wants. So that which Allah wants will be; it must happen. And that which Allah wants does not fail to happen.
The Iraadah Shar’eeyah is that which Allah wants his slave to do. Allah wants the slaves to do (actions); they may do it and they may not do it (the commanded action). As for the Iraadah al-Kawnnia it is naafithah, it must happen (Verily, His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be!” – and it is! ). The Iraadah shar’eeyah, He orders the slave (to do) and obligates him to act, so some of the slaves will obey and some of them will disobey. If Allah willed, He would have guided all of them, but His wisdom required that He guides whom He wills to guidance and He misguides whom He wills to misguidance. He said (translation), (Have not then those who believe yet known that hadAllah willed, He could have guided all mankind) Surat ar - Rad: 31. MayAllah bless you. But Allah wanted that there be from His slaves those who are wretched, and He wanted that there be from His slaves those who are happy. So the people of taqwa, Allah wants from them actions, so they perform them, and He (Allah) gives them the success to establish those actions, Glory be to Him-The Most High, and after He gives them His tawfeeq and His assitance, they perform those actions. And the wretched individual whom Allah wants wretchedness for, that is Iraadah Kounnia, he does not obey. He does not obey because Allah left off aiding him and did not give him the tawfeeq.
The point is that verily the Iraadah is categorized into Iraadah Shar’eeyah and Iraadah al-Kawnnia. The Iraadah Shareeyah is the commandments and prohibitions; this is the shar’eeyah. The shar’eeyah commandments are those which Allah, the Blessed and Most High, commanded and the prohibitions are those which Allah, the Blessed and Most High, prohibited. This is what Allah wants us to do, and this is what He wants us not to do. The Iraadah Kawnnia is what He, Himself, wants from the (affair of) creating and bringing into existence. This means He wanted the heavens and the earth, so they were (brought into existence) as Allah, the Blessed and Most High, commanded (Verily, His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be!” – and itis!) Suratu Ya-Sin: 82. For that which Allah wanted in the world must come into existence.

Source: Aun Al-Baari be Baiyan maa tadommanaho Sharhus – Sunna lil-Barbahaareeby Shaikh Rabee, first edition, 1432, Dar Imam Ahmed, volume 1, page 441

Translated by: Ali ibn Nathaniel Grays

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