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In the wake of the conclusion of the Human Genome Project, certain publications began spreading misleading messages to cover up the impasse in which the theory of evolution found itself. One of the subjects brought up under different slogans and captions most frequently by the Darwinist-materialist press is the claim that the discovery of the gene map will supposedly be able to alter people's destinies. It is a grave error to spread messages such as "Man will no longer be a victim of fate" together with information about the human gene map. In fact, the map's completion will definitely make no difference to human destiny, because the map itself is also part of that destiny. Allah reveals this fact in the Qur'an:
But you will not unless Allah wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (Surat al-Insan, 30)
Destiny is the way that Allah knows all things in the past and present in the form of a single moment. Allah knows beforehand all things that have not yet taken place. A great many people fail to understand how He knows events that have not yet taken place. But the destiny that a person has not yet encountered is simply an event that, for that person, has not yet taken place. All events described as of "unknown" result are unknown to us alone. Omniscient Allah is unfettered by time and space. For that reason, the past, present and future are all one for Him, for He is the One Who created time and place. In the Sight of Allah, everything we are experiencing at this moment and everything we will experience in the future are all already over and done with. When the time comes, all humans witness the destiny created for them by Him.
In the same way that someone who holds the CD of a film can perceive the film's beginning, middle and end as a single disk, so Allah is aware of everything to come for all the human beings He has created. He Who knows all things as a single moment, shows us the infinite nature of His might by creating limitless infinity of time in that single infinitely small instant. In the face of these scientific developments, believers must be aware that all knowledge belongs to Allah, its real and only owner, as is revealed in the Qur'an:
They said, "Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise." (Surat al-Baqara, 32)
He creates the lives of all human beings who have ever lived, together with all the details thereof. All events that may appear positive or negative and that people will encounter from birth until the moment of their death take place with Allah's knowledge. In Surat al-An'am, we are informed that everything that happens in the world, both great and small, does so at Allah's choosing:
The keys of the Unseen are in His possession. No one knows them but Him. He knows everything in the land and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it. There is no seed in the darkness of the Earth, and nothing moist or dry which is not in a Clear Book. (Surat al-An'am, 59)
This applies to everyone and everything. Nobody can intervene in the destiny created for them by Allah, nor make the slightest alteration in the course of events. For example, Allah has created everyone and everything with a specific life span; and the moment, place, time, and form of that death are already set out in His Sight. When a person falls ill, that too has been determined billions of years before they were ever born. Whether they will recover from that illness is also set out in their destiny. Everything that can play a part in their recovery--doctors, nurses, hospitals, drugs and therapies--have all been written down beforehand in His sight. Therefore, if a person recovers, that does not mean that they changed their destiny, but that recovery was ordained beforehand. In the verses, Allah reveals:
Your Lord knows you best. If He wills, He will have mercy on you, and, if He wills, He will punish you. We did not send you to be their guardian. My Lord knows best everyone in the heavens and Earth. . . . (Surat al-Isra, 54-55)
One day in the future, if people's lives are extended through direct intervention in their genes, this does not mean that they interfered in their own destiny. What it means is that Allah created them with long life spans, and the production of the gene map is the means whereby their lives can be lengthened. The fact that the person is living at a time of technological advances in genetics, and the prolongation of life through medical means are all a part of destiny: Everything is determined in the sight of Allah long before the person even comes into the world.
Similarly, someone with a potentially fatal disease who is cured as a result of medical discoveries lives his destiny as well, because being cured is also in his destiny. The production of the human gene map and the means of intervening in humanity's genetic makeup do not oppose the destiny created by Allah. On the contrary, humanity is following the course created for it, using information created by Him. If, thanks to these scientific advances, someone lives to the age of 120, that is the age appointed beforehand by Allah, and that is how long the person will live. In one verse, Allah reveals that everyone's life span is determined in a book in His Sight:
Allah created you from dust and then from a drop of sperm and then made you into pairs. No female becomes pregnant or gives birth except with His knowledge. And no living thing lives long or has its life cut short without that being in a Book. That is easy for Allah. (Surah Fatir, 11)
In short, such expressions such as "cheating fate" and "changing one's destiny" are inaccurate terms stemming from ignorance of the fact of destiny. Even the fact that someone will employ these expressions when they speak is determined beforehand in their destiny. It has already been determined in the sight of Allah where, when and under what circumstances a person will use them. Allah is aware of all things.
He has revealed that all things are written in a book in His Sight. We live just what is written in that book, no more and no less.
… Whom not even the weight of the smallest particle eludes, either in the heavens or in the Earth; nor is there anything smaller or larger than that which is not in a Clear Book. (Surah Saba, 3)
Nothing occurs, either in the Earth or in yourselves, without its being in a Book before We make it happen. That is something easy for Allah. (Surat al-Hadid, 22)
