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170chapter threeby human beings. While the former characterizes God’s laws in theobjective reality of the universe, the latter symbolises the existenceof free will in human activities in this world. Al-qadar belongs toal-qur"§n, whereas al-qa·§" belongs to the umm al-kit§b.Let us first explore the notion of determinism in the qur"§n. Weestablished that the qur"§n contains the objective, absolute laws ofnature, the cosmos and history; explains the manifestations of thenatural world; and narrates the events of human history as they hadoccurred in the past. The Book defines the qur"§n as the ‘truth’, in thesense that death is true, the sun is true, day and night are true, andso on. These things are objective because neither human knowledgenor human activities can affect or change them. Their course is‘predestined’ by the eternal laws of the universe. The same is truefor events in history: once they have happened they cannot beundone—they are real; they are true; or, better, they are determined.This is the realm of al-qadar.In contradistinction, we defined umm al-kit§b as the part of the Bookthat contains the legal rules of human behaviour. In response to theserules, human beings can decide between acceptance and rejection,between submission and rebellion, between approval and disapproval.Allah has granted human beings a choice which they canexercise in fulfilling His demand to ‘do good and avoid evil’. We alsopointed out that the fulfilment of Allah’s rules requires ‘understanding’of the rules as an absolute precondition. Rules have to be comprehensible,so that both the man on the street and the country’sintellectual elite are able to follow them. Rules should not possess‘ambiguity’ (tash§buh) but be clear, unambiguous, and precise. Oncethese rules have been made clear the people are able to either acceptor reject them. Hence, knowledge and acceptance are the prerequisitesfor following the rules of the umm al-kit§b. In other words, theserules are not unconditioned or objective, but conditioned insofar asthey require acceptance in order to be implemented and subjectivebecause their execution is subject to men’s consciousness and decision-making.This is the realm of al-qa·§".Two verses from Sårat al-Nis§" illustrate the distinction we havemade:Wherever you are, death will find you out, even if you are in towersbuilt up strong and high! If some good befalls them, they say, “This isfrom Allah”, but if evil, they say, “This is from you” (O Prophet). Say: