Actor Yashma Gill has revisited a question on free will and predestination that she once posed to Dr Zakir Naik, this time offering her own personal interpretation of the concept during a recent YouTube podcast.

 

Gill said that she went through an atheist phase before returning to her faith after extensive research, and that one question kept nagging at her throughout. 

 

"If predestination exists, if everything has already been written, then what is the concept of free will? Where does free will come in?" she said.

 

She had put the same question to Dr Naik at an event at the Governor House in 2024, asking, "If Allah has already written a person's destiny, what free will do we have? Who is responsible for our choices between right and wrong when we believe that our fate is already determined?"

 

Dr Naik responded by saying that while Allah knows what choices individuals will make, it is the individuals themselves who make those choices. 

 

"It is not that humans do what Allah has decreed, but rather that Allah writes what humans will choose to do," he said. He used the analogy of a person at a crossroads with four paths, where Allah knows which path the person will pick, but it is the person who walks it.

 

On the podcast, Gill said she has since formed her own understanding of the question. 

 

"This is my personal interpretation, this is not a verdict, I don't know if this is right or wrong, but this is what my own mind says," she stated. 

 

She described her view as everything being already written, but each day presenting several doors a person can open. 

 

"Right now I had a choice, I could have sat here and done this interview with you, or I could have been wandering around with my friend sitting in the back, or I could have been sleeping in my room. I opened this door with my own free will," she said.

 

She added that whichever door a person chooses, the consequences of that choice are also already written. 

 

Her view is that the stronger a person's connection with Allah through prayer and remembrance, the better guidance they receive on which door to open. 

 

"If I am more connected with Allah through zikr and namaz and my faith is charged, then my connection with Him will be better and He will be able to guide me more toward which door to open," she said.

 

She compared faith to a radio signal. 

 

"Just like a radio, until you get on the right frequency, the sound does not come in clearly. You have to keep tuning. In the same way, your faith is like a battery that you keep charging through zikr, through namaz, through whatever you can do to stay connected with Allah, so that your connection is strong and you are receiving the right signal," she said.

 

Gill is a Pakistani television and film actress, known for her roles in Kab Mere Kehlaoge, Pyar Ke Sadqay, and Bebaak. She studied psychology at La Trobe University in Australia before returning to Pakistan to pursue acting, and started her career in 2016.