wa alaikum as-salam,
According to my understanding of the Zaydi madhab, Allah does not decide our individual actions.
Yes.
Does this also mean Allah doesn’t shape us in our mother’s wombs, sends the winds, or causes our hearts to beat etc?
No, because our bodily development and physical functions, as well as the laws governing the universe, are not part of our
actions. They are brought about by Allah, either directly or through the intermediaries of physical and biological processes. As such they are his deeds.
This seems to contradict the Qur’an but I saw somewhere that in the Zaydi view, Allah LETS things happen by their natural laws he created, but he doesn’t necessarily cause each thing.
His allowing things to occur through the natural laws that He Himself created and established is, in reality, His causing those things to occur. This point seems to have been misunderstood.Perhaps the confusion arises from thinking:
“If Allah created the physical laws within which we act, then He must also be the one creating and causing our deeds.”
This is essentially the view of the
Jabriyya. But we Zaydis, while acknowledging that we act within the framework Allah ʿazza wa jall has created, do
not hold that this means He creates or forces our actions upon us. We live within the system He designed, but the choice to perform any action arises from our
rūḥ, and therefore we could have acted otherwise.To clarify:
- Human beings are moral agents capable of choice. Their actions come into existence through their own will. Allah ʿazza wa jall grants them the capacity and power to act, but He does not compel them or cause their specific choices.
- Physical laws, by contrast, have no consciousness, will, or ability to choose. Since they cannot act independently, the effects that proceed from them are counted among the acts of Allah.
I hope this explanation sheds more light on the issue.wa salam
