the passages, indeed, lead to the conclusion that the decision is regarded as taking place in time, and as referring, to an act of 'creation' in the sense in which the word is so frequently used in the Qur'an, to express the manner in which God providentially rules and regulates the affairs of the world. 'Sole maker of Heaven and Earth! And when He decreeth (qada amran) a. thing, He only saith to it, "Be," and it is.' ¹

Sometimes the use of the word shows plainly that the 'decree' or decision referred to is regarded as not merely taking effect in time, but as itself occurring in time. Thus we see that it is after the creation of a man that the time or period of his life on earth is determined. 'He it is who created you of clay — then decreed the term of your life (qada ajalan): and with Him is another pre-fixed term for the resurrection.' ² In the following passage this is even more clearly brought out. The death of Solomon is said to have taken place in a certain manner when God decreed it. Solomon did not die in virtue, so to speak, of an eternal decree, but in virtue of a decree which immediately preceded the actual death. 'And when We decreed the death of Solomon (falamma qadaina 'alaihi 'l-mauta), nothing shewed them that he was dead but a reptile of the earth that gnawed the staff which supported his corpse.' ³

The word is also employed to express the command given to some one by God. 'And thou vast not on the western slope of Sinai when We laid his charge on Moses, nor wast thou one of the witnesses ' (idhqad

aina ila Musa amrahu). ¹ Anything which comes to pass, or which must necessarily come to pass in the future because of a determinate act of the will of God may be described as a thing which is decreed; but even here there is nothing in the use of the word in the Qur'an to lead us to the conclusion that such events are decreed from all eternity. Thus, in the following passage the true meaning of the words is simply that God has determined to bring about the events of which Joseph speaks, and not that these events have had their origin in an eternal decree of the Almighty. O my two fellow prisoners! as to one of you, he will serve wine unto his lord: but as to the other, he will be crucified and the birds shall eat from off his head. The matter is decreed (qadiya 'l-amru) concerning which 'ye enquire.' ²

If anything more were necessary to prove that the word qada does not necessarily refer to an eternal decree, we can find it in the use of the word in reference to divine decisions which still lie in the future. 'Truly thy Lord will decide (yaqdi) between them on the day of Resurrection concerning that in which they differed.' It is worth while noting in passing that the word may also express human decision. 'And when Zaid had settled concerning her to divorce her (qada Zaidun minha wataran).' ⁴