Did we really choose to come to earth and accept the Amanah?

[Themuslimah]

As Salam alaykum,

I have a question about our free will that I don't understand because it is said in Surah 33 verse 72 this :

“Indeed, We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains,
but they refused to bear it and were afraid of it.
Yet man undertook it.
Indeed, he is ever unjust and ignorant.”

Meaning that Allah asked us too if we wanted to accept the Amanah and we said yes, but before he asked us this and before the Mithaq we took when Allah asked us if we recognized him as our Lord in Surah 7 Verse 172, Allah had already decided to make us the Khalifah on earth in Surah 2 Verse 30:

“And when your Lord said to the angels:
‘Indeed, I am going to place a khalīfah (successor) on Earth.’
They said: ‘Will You place in it one who will cause corruption and shed blood, while we glorify You with praise and sanctify You?’
He said: ‘Indeed, I know what you do not know.’”

So my question is why did he take the time to ask us if he already wanted us to take the Amanah? It means we didn't have a real freedom to say yes or no because it was already decided so what's the wisdom behind the scene in Surah 33 Verse 72?

Can someone please clarify this?

Jazakum Allahu khayr.

 

[Ümit]

As Salam alaykum,

I have a question about our free will that I don't understand because it is said in Surah 33 verse 72 this :

“Indeed, We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains,
but they refused to bear it and were afraid of it.
Yet man undertook it.
Indeed, he is ever unjust and ignorant.”

Meaning that Allah asked us too if we wanted to accept the Amanah and we said yes, but before he asked us this and before the Mithaq we took when Allah asked us if we recognized him as our Lord in Surah 7 Verse 172, Allah had already decided to make us the Khalifah on earth in Surah 2 Verse 30:

“And when your Lord said to the angels:
‘Indeed, I am going to place a khalīfah (successor) on Earth.’
They said: ‘Will You place in it one who will cause corruption and shed blood, while we glorify You with praise and sanctify You?’
He said: ‘Indeed, I know what you do not know.’”

So my question is why did he take the time to ask us if he already wanted us to take the Amanah? It means we didn't have a real freedom to say yes or no because it was already decided so what's the wisdom behind the scene in Surah 33 Verse 72?

Can someone please clarify this?

Jazakum Allahu khayr.

Allah doesn't say...so we can only speculate about the real reason.

But think about it this way:
God created perfect creatures...creatures with a lot more powerful than we, faster than lightning, who never get tired, never get sick.
They don't need to eat, drink, sleep, rest or whatever...they never say no.
They are called angels.

Then Allah created us. We are a lot weaker and many times not so obedient as the angels...we can be tired, sick, lazy, rebellious, or whatever.
But despite all that, Allah decided to give us a higher rank than the angels.
The only reason for that, is our free will and our ability to reason in order to use that free will correctly.

The angels are like robots...they have no choice, but we do. we choose to be obedient to Allah...
That is whats important.
We could say no but we voluntarily choose to obey...and that gives us that high rank.

but in order to have this "free will", we need actual options to choose from.
so we need "bad options"...Therefore, evil is neccessary. without evil, there would be no free will.
not only evil must exist...it also need to be actually available as an actual choice.
Because, if Allah somehow only created the humans who would choose just the good...Could we then still speak about a real free will?
I would say not.

So until so far:
* free will is important. it's all about having a free will
in order to have this free will:
1 the existence of evil is neccessary;
2 the the choice for the option "evil" should be available

Therefore, there will be some humans who actually choose that option.
Allah is of course Allseeing and Allknowing, so he already knows in advance who will choose good and who not.
But knowing it does not influence the choice of that person.
an example:
Consider this situation:
iyou had a difficult homework question and you cannot solve it in your own.
You decide to call help from person A and person B.
You know them both, so you know that person A will help you but person B not...yet you ask them both anyways...
Person B saying "no" to you is totally independent from the fact you knew that in advance.

Person B had total free will...and made his choice on his own on a free basis. He cannot claim "I only said no, because you already knew I would".

So, just like that example, Allah already knows what we will choose to do...but that does not influence our choices at all.

why did he take the time to ask us if he already wanted us to take the Amanah?
That is the same question as: Why do we first come to the Earth in order to take our test? Allah already knows the outcome of it?

To make us witnesses of our own choices.
If He just created bad people...and immediately threw them in hell without them doing anything wrong yet...they would complain about injustice.
So, they need to come to the earth first, witness their own bad choices, so that they might understand why they are not worthy for the heaven.

like explained, we had free will...we could say no...and maybe some of us did actually said no...we do not know...but everyone who comes to Earth said yes and that is why we are here.