How Do We Understand Coincidences?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

My question is regarding thanking Allah Most High. Suppose two persons decided to go to a place of their free will and coincidentally met each other. They thank Allah Most High that they met each other.

They are thanking Allah Most High for not stopping them from meeting each other. Am I right?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

It is important to note that nothing occurs without the will and power of Allah Most High determining and bringing that situation into existence.

With that being said, there is no such thing as coincidence. We commonly use coincidence when unexpected things happen. But in reality, everything is in the knowledge of Allah Most High, even if they are unknown to us.

For that reason, thanking Allah Most High for that unexpected situation is thanking Allah Most High for allowing that situation to occur.

In your example, two people unexpectedly meet at a specific place and time and thank Allah. Their thanking of Allah Most High regards Allah’s decree for that situation to occur. [al-Sawi, Sharh al-Sawi ala Jawaharat al-Tawhid]

Hope this helps
Allah A’lam

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani 

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.