Short answer
Many who hold that there is no God say no. If everything is physical cause and effect, every choice was fixed by causes you never chose: your genes, your brain and your past. Some, like the Stanford scientist Robert Sapolsky, accept this and draw the conclusion themselves. No one truly deserves blame or punishment, he says. A man who harms a child should be locked away only as a danger, like a car with failing brakes. Not every atheist agrees, and most philosophers try to keep both freedom and cause and effect. But without a soul and a Maker, it is hard to say who is doing the choosing. Islam teaches that God (﷾) gave each person a real will, and that He will judge every deed with perfect justice. That is why a wrong can truly deserve punishment.
Full explanation
What the question is
Free will means that a person really chooses. The choice is his own, and he could have done otherwise. Determinism is the view that every event, every choice included, is fixed by what came before. If nothing exists but matter, then thoughts are events in the brain. And events in the brain follow the laws of physics, like everything else. So anyone who holds that there is no God faces a question. Where, in a world of matter alone, does a real choice come from?
Sapolsky, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, argues that there is no free will: every choice is the outcome of genes, hormones, upbringing, culture and circumstance, none of which a person chose. He applies this to blame, punishment and justice.
Some say there is no free will at all
Robert Sapolsky is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University. In his book Determined (2023) he argues that there is no free will. Every choice, he says, comes from genes, hormones, upbringing and circumstance, and no one chose any of them.
He also says what follows. A person who harms others is like a car with brakes that do not work. "You'd need to confine it, but you wouldn't punish it or moralize its malfunction." On this view, responsibility no longer matters. He even questions the word "justice", because it implies that judging people is right.
Sapolsky, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, argues that there is no free will: every choice is the outcome of genes, hormones, upbringing, culture and circumstance, none of which a person chose. He applies this to blame, punishment and justice.
Sapolsky compares a person who harms others to a car with malfunctioning brakes: "You'd need to confine it, but you wouldn't punish it or moralize its malfunction." He says that responsibility becomes irrelevant, and questions the word "justice" because it implies that judgment is acceptable.
Keeping people safe is not the same as justice
Locking up a danger is not the same as punishing a wrong. We keep a dangerous dog away from children, but we do not say that it deserves it. On the no-free-will view, the same is true of a man who rapes, or who abuses a child. He must be kept away from others. But he did nothing he could have avoided, so he deserves nothing.
Yet almost everyone feels that such a man deserves punishment. A victim asks for justice, not only for safety. Courts hold people to account because they hold that people choose. And they excuse those who cannot choose, such as small children. A view that cannot say any wrong is deserved goes against what nearly everyone knows from the inside.
Sapolsky compares a person who harms others to a car with malfunctioning brakes: "You'd need to confine it, but you wouldn't punish it or moralize its malfunction." He says that responsibility becomes irrelevant, and questions the word "justice" because it implies that judgment is acceptable.
Most philosophers try to keep both
Not every atheist denies free will. In a 2020 survey of 1,758 philosophers, 59% accepted or leaned towards compatibilism. This is the view that a choice can be free even if it has causes. About 19% held that the will is free of such causes, and about 11% said there is no free will. Daniel Dennett, an atheist philosopher, was a compatibilist. For him a choice is free when it comes from your own reasons and no one forces you.
Islam also teaches that a choice is free and yet lies within God's (﷾) will. So the question is not only whether choices have causes. It is who stands behind the choice.
A survey of professional philosophers. On free will, of 1,758 who answered, 59.16% accepted or leaned towards compatibilism, 18.83% towards libertarianism and 11.21% towards no free will; 13.54% gave other answers (respondents could choose more than one).
Dennett, an atheist philosopher, argues that free will worth wanting is compatible with a world of physical cause and effect: a person is free when he acts on his own reasons and is not compelled, even though his choices have causes.
What is left to explain without God (﷾)
Without God (﷾) and without a soul, a person is matter and nothing more. His reasons are brain states too. Genes and events he never chose made them, going back to before he was born. Critics like Sapolsky press this point. Calling such reasons "yours" does not show that anyone stood behind the chain of causes and chose. If there is no one there to choose, there is no one to blame.
Sapolsky, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, argues that there is no free will: every choice is the outcome of genes, hormones, upbringing, culture and circumstance, none of which a person chose. He applies this to blame, punishment and justice.
Dennett, an atheist philosopher, argues that free will worth wanting is compatible with a world of physical cause and effect: a person is free when he acts on his own reasons and is not compelled, even though his choices have causes.
A real will, given by God (﷾)
Islam teaches that each person has a soul, made by God (﷾), and that He taught it right from wrong. The Qur'an says: "By the Soul, and the proportion and order given to it; And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right; Truly he succeeds that purifies it, And he fails that corrupts it!" (91:7-10).
It also says: "We showed him the Way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful (rests on his will)" (76:3). And: "Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it)" (18:29). So the one who chooses is a real person, not just the last link in a chain. His choice works inside God's (﷾) will, never against it, and God (﷾) does not force it.
“By the Soul, and the proportion and order given to it; And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right;- Truly he succeeds that purifies it, And he fails that corrupts it!”
“We showed him the Way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful (rests on his will).”
“Say, "The truth is from your Lord": Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it): for the wrong-doers We have prepared a Fire whose (smoke and flames), like the walls and roof of a tent, will hem them in: if they implore relief they will be granted water like melted brass, that will scald their faces, how dreadful the drink! How uncomfortable a couch to recline on!”
Does Islam say our choices don't matter? Do Muslims have free will?
Answerable only for what you could choose
Islam holds people to account only where they can choose. "On no soul doth Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear" (2:286). The Prophet (ﷺ) said there are three whose deeds are not recorded. They are a sleeper until he wakes, a child until he comes of age, and an insane person until he recovers his reason. Everyone else answers for what he did: "Every soul will be (held) in pledge for its deeds" (74:38).
“On no soul doth Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Pray:) "Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; Help us against those who stand against faith."”
Ali ibn Abi Talib reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said there are three whose deeds are not recorded: a sleeper until he wakes, a boy until he reaches puberty, and an insane person until he comes to reason.
“Every soul will be (held) in pledge for its deeds.”
Why a wrong can deserve punishment
Because the choice is real, a wrong can truly deserve punishment, and a good deed can truly deserve reward. The Qur'an says: "anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it" (99:7-8). "Allah is never unjust in the least degree" (4:40). "We shall set up scales of justice for the Day of Judgment" (21:47).
Many wrongs are never put right in this life. With God (﷾), none is forgotten and none is judged unfairly. Without Him there is no final Judge. And if there is no free will, there is no one to judge either.
“Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it.”
“Allah is never unjust in the least degree: If there is any good (done), He doubleth it, and giveth from His own presence a great reward.”
“We shall set up scales of justice for the Day of Judgment, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least, and if there be (no more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it (to account): and enough are We to take account.”
| Question | No free will | Free will without God (﷾) | Islam |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do people really choose? | No | Yes, if no one forces them | Yes, with a will given by God (﷾) |
| Can a wrong deserve punishment? | No, only confinement | Disputed | Yes, judged with perfect justice |
| Who is excused? | Everyone | Those forced or not in their right mind | The sleeper, the child and the insane |
Perspectives
No free will
Some scientists and philosophers who hold that nature is all there is say there is no free will. Every choice comes from causes no one chose, so no one deserves blame or punishment. People who harm others should be confined for safety, not punished.
Every choice is the outcome of genes, upbringing and circumstance that the person did not choose.
Rebuttal
If that were all there is, no wrong could be deserved, and a victim's call for justice would make no sense. Nearly everyone knows from the inside that they choose. Islam explains why: God (﷾) gave each soul a real will.
A harmful person should be confined like a car with failing brakes, but not punished or blamed.
Rebuttal
Confining a danger is not justice. On this view a man who abuses a child deserves nothing, which goes against what nearly everyone knows. Islam says each soul is held in pledge for its deeds, and God (﷾) judges with perfect justice.
Free will without God
Most philosophers, many atheists among them, are compatibilists. They hold that a choice is free when it comes from a person's own reasons and no one forces him, even though it has causes.
A choice can be free and still have causes, if it comes from your own reasons and no one compels you.
Rebuttal
Islam also teaches that a choice has a setting, God's (﷾) will, and is still free. But without a soul, a person's reasons are brain states made by causes he never chose. It is then hard to say who is doing the choosing, and who deserves the blame.
The Islamic perspective
God (﷾) gave each soul a real will and taught it right from wrong. Each person answers for what he chose, the sleeper, the child and the insane excepted. God (﷾) will judge every deed with perfect justice.
God (﷾) taught the soul its wrong and its right, and whoever purifies it succeeds.
God (﷾) showed man the way, and whether he is grateful or ungrateful rests on his will.
No one is burdened beyond what he can bear, and the deeds of the sleeper, the child and the insane are not recorded.
Every soul is held in pledge for its deeds, and God (﷾) is never unjust in the least.