I’ve been thinking for a long time that both kismet and muqaddar are two names of a same thing, but later I found a difference and relation in both the terms. I’ve asked my friends about this difference, and they replied with variety of interesting views, which I’ll share later.

The debate started with the point that if kismet and muqaddar are the names of same thing then why it is said that ‘kismet is made by an individual’ (insaan apni kismet khud banata hai) and ‘muqaddar can’t be changed’ (muqaddar ka likha koi nahi mita sakta). This made us all to think about the difference of both the terms, and everyone has come up with some really good points. This difference of kismet and muqaddar can be in variety of dimentions. I tried to relate both the terms in some systematic way. And here goes my explanation. In my opinion kismet is something combination of ‘hard work’ and ‘opportunity’. It is all about how well you manage a particular situation, how well you organize different activities of life and how effectively you order or arrange patterns and schedules along with constructive ideas and activites. For example ‘A’ appeared in exam and scored good marks. A’s success can be termed as his kismet here which he made himself by availing an opportunity (appearing in exam) and hard work. In case if A would have missed any of these two components, he won’t have scored high score and hence couldn’t have made kismet, for instance he won’t have scored high score if he had not appeared in the exam but worked hard or if he had not worked hard but appeared in exam.

On the other hand muqaddar is series of kismet combined with some predetermined routines or schedules, i.e. birth, death etc. These routines and schedules are divine in nature and are difficult to change. For example one cannot edit his birth or death time, but between these two ends (birth and death) he can have access to perform activities in his desired way (but not always *). muqaddar in my opinion is a complete schedule of one’s activities during his life span, and these activities are scheduled by the creator. Point is to be noted here that only activities are scheduled by the creator, not the way of performing them, as Allah SWT has blessed humans with ‘wisdom’ and allowed them to select the way of their own choice to perform those predetermined activities. For example a crises comes in one’s life (may be as a result of his own deeds or may be as a result of some unknown factors), it may be considerd as predetermined, but strategies one will use to come out of this crises are not predetermined, these strategies depend completely on that individual. In a nut shell, opportunities and crises are smaller parts of one’s life, and by handling all these at individual level he makes his kismet and the sum total of these opportunities and crises of one’s life is his muqaddar.

I’m of the opinion that if one can bring a change in kismet, he can bring change in muqaddar (to some extent) as well. Here Muskan asked me that how can ‘muqaddar be changed, while one’s birth, death and ‘rizq’ are predetermined. As far as birth and death are concerned I agree but for rizq I’ve a little disagreement. I’d like to quote some text of my readings of some good times when I used to read about historical events. I’ve two different stories in my mind and I’ll just summarize them. First one is about a labrour in the times of Hazrat Mosa A.S and Pharaoh. Pharaoh used to be very cruel with labourers. Labourers used to have very less wages and most of the time their wages were stopped for unknown reasons as well, in this situation it was very difficult for them to have food atleast once in a day. And most of the time they used to have food after two or three days. There was one labourer (I don’t remember his name) among all who was in worse condition, he had four children, and a wife. He never had a tummy full of food. Once his neighbour was having very good meal but he and his children were hungry more than ever before, so he asked his neighbour for some food but he hid fearing that may be he won’t have anything to eat on the next day. One day the man asked Hazrat Mosa to ask his God that why he’s having so much scarcity of food throughout his life. Mosa asked God and replied to the man with God’s answer that ‘it’s written in his muqaddar that he’ll have very less to eat throughout his life’. The man then asked Mosa to request God to give the whole food of his life to him at once. When Mosa forwarded his request, God wanted the man to have another look at the request because if he’s given the entire food supply of his life at once he’ll not be able to have food any more. At this man said that it’s no problem for him, because he wants to feel the pleasure of ‘no-hunger’. So the man was supplied with the complete food of his life. The man and his family ate till they were no more hungry. Some of the food was still left, so the man wanted to give that to his hungry neighbour (who once refused to give him the food). Man’s wife protested by holding that it’s the final supply from God and he’ll never have any food supply after this, so he should keep this safe for next meal, but the man replied that he requested God to give him food enough to make him feel the pleasure of ‘no-hunger’, and God did so, now he has nothing to do with the remaining food. So he gave that food to his neighbour.

Mosa have not been there for a long period and after some years he got back there he was told about a generous person who daily distributes free food among poor. When Mosa visited him he was amazed to see that he was same person who once asked God for the food of his whole life at once. Mosa asked the god about this mystery and God said, ‘I’m indebted by this person. As I promise to reward a person with 70 times the food which he shares with other needy people, and this person has made me indebted. When I gave him his entire food supply at once, he shared a part of it with his needy neighbour, so I gave him his 70 times share at it.
And each time I give him his share of reward he shares it with other needy people so I keep on giving him.

That man had changed his muqaddar by selecting a way himself and by requesting his creator. Here I’ve found a tool for changing muqaddar, and that was ‘request’. We can call this request dua. In the above story the request was taken to the god indirectly by his prophet by in the contemporary situation whereby we don’t have that facility the direct communication with the creator is the only possible way. I think dua has a lot to do with kismet and muqaddar. I don’t mean that dua alone is the way out, but dua has a greater psychological effect on events. And it’s human nature that when one finds himself helpless, he contacts his creator (whatever the person’s belief is, he asks his creator to help him out). Lets take an example of a general organization whereby a manager is leading a group of workers, he assigns them some tasks, (For workers these tasks are predetermined but the efficiency of work depends on the way worker selects to get them done), and if a worker comes up with something extraordinary that gimmicks the attention of manager, it’s normal that manager will reward him (if not in monetary terms then I think a word of appreciation will also be a reward for the worker). Now this was a professional example, but when it comes for the dealing of God with his creatures (especially humans) the element of love also comes under discussion which was the base of the creation of this universe. This love makes a stronger bond between two and when an individual does something extraordinary good with the predetermined task, God rewards him. Sometimes manager changes some predetermined tasks on request of workers, and it depends on the pleasant relationship of both and effectiveness of request, similarly many times God changes one’s muqaddar on his request (dua) and this depends entirely on the effectiveness of dua and person’s reputation before Him.

When we talk about the importance of dua, a question arises in the mind that what type of language should be used to communicate with the creator. I think dua has two parts; one is its content and second is medium. Content of dua includes the subject matter and demonstration, and medium for dua, in my opinion is wireless. Acceptance or rejection of dua depends on its purity and demonstration. Here came another contradiction of thoughts in my mind which I forwarded to Khuram. Question was, “Is it necessary for dua to be in particular language?’ if yes then what about those people who don’t know that particular language? And if no then can we offer namaz in language of our own choice?”

Khuram replied to me with a very interesting answer. He said that according to orthodox people namaz can only be in Arabic and Turkish people can offer namaz in their own language. I won’t go in the details of these two facts instead I’d present the thought which came in my mind laters. I think, namaz is ibadat which is bandgi and dua is one of its part, not the whole ibadat. Now this part of ibadat has no particular format, (one can request in the way he wants), but the whole ibadat is not free format. ibadat does not only mean to forward the requests of people to the creator but also to make him disciplined. And in order to keep this discipline one format of Namaz has been given which is in Arabic. I further think that if one offers namaz by understanding its meaning he can be disciplined more.

Proceeding Muskan’s question of changing ‘muqaddar, I’d like to quote another story in order to explain another dimension of the relationship of kismet and muqaddar. I read this story in a monthly magazine. This story was about a school teacher who used to have an income which was hardly enough to meet his expenses. He once heard about a mountainous range where iron turns into gold, so he decided to have two months leave without pay from school and to visit those mountains with some chains of iron in order to turn them into gold. Aiming to turn iron into gold he went on two months journey. He pulled those heavy chains on the mountains for two months but found not single part of it turned into gold. This made him very disappointed and he decided not to work hard any more and to return back to his school job.

When he got back into his village, he sold all those chains. He had a look on his appearance and decided to buy new clothes as the clothes he was wearing were tattered. His shoes were also in very bad condition but he didn’t have more money to have a new pair of shoes so he decided to get them mended. When he went to the shoe mender he found that small nails beneath the soul of the shoe were turned into gold. And when he sold that gold in the market, the amount he got from it was exactly equal to his two months salary. The writer of the story concluded that whatever the amount of hard work one does, he gets only what is in his muqaddar. But I disagree to this, for I think amount of hard work alone is not the requirement for changing muqaddar. Or we can say that ‘hard work’ can’t change muqaddar until it’s on appropriate place and time. If hard work is on an inappropriate place or time, it’s useless. For instance if that school teacher would have done some part time job instead of going on mountain, he would surely have earnt more money than that he had earned from school.

“Kismet’ and muqaddar are the themes of endless debate, having variety of dimensions. Saying that I’ve concluded this and that will be untrue, as this debate has just started. But I’d like to summarize my idea in few words. In a nut shell, I’ve come up with the idea that kismet and muqaddar are two different things but they are related to each other in some contexts, and success or failure of one’s aims and strategies depends on this relationship at a great extent.

Glossary:
Bandgi ... Obedience/ submission (to God)
Dua ... To call out
Kismet ... Luck
Ibadat ... Worship
Muqaddar ... Destiny/fate
Namaz ... Prayer