Hello, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marx, and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today, we're going to be doing about the diversity of belief within Islam to do with angels and the diversity of belief to do with free will, and we'll use this tennis pool to help us.

In both sections of the lesson, we will discuss ideas to do with death and the afterlife.

So be prepared for that.

We'll get quite philosophical and theological as we delve into this, so when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of this lesson today, you'll be able to explain differentness and perspectives on angels and on free will.

So let's start with our key terms then.

Angels, beings of light delivering God's messages and watching over humans.

Free will, being able to choose between different actions.

Predestination, Al Qadr in Arabic is a belief that Allah is in control of actions.

And shrine, a special site related to someone important in the religion, e.

g.

the Imams. So look out for those in today's lesson.

So one lesson today will have two sections, diversity and belief about angels, and diversity and belief about free will.

So let's start with our first section then, diversity and belief about angels.

What would be the most important question you are ever asked? Hmm, have a think about this.

You can pause the video and talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, Lucas, Izzy, and Alex have been thinking about this as well.

And Lucas says, "An important question would be if someone asks me to marry them." And Izzy says, "An important question would be a question in an exam that really matters." And Alex says, "An important question would be a question in an interview for a job that I really want." I wonder if those were some of your questions, too.

Well, most of Muslims believe they will be asked some very important questions after they die.

In Muslim teachings, everyone will be judged by Allah on Judgement Day, before this, they are resurrected.

So on Judgement Day, everyone's going to be judged together, and that happens just after everyone's been resurrected.

Now, as many people have died before that Resurrection and Judgement Day, their souls are waiting for this time.

So people who have already passed away before Judgement Day and Resurrection are in a kind of waiting period.

And the place where they are waiting is often referred to as Barzakh, which is an Arabic term which means barrier or partition.

And it is in this place that each soul is asked questions by angels whilst in that period of waiting time.

So let's have a look at Muslim source of authority to help us understand this more then.

So the Barzakh, which is a barrier between this world and the afterlife.

And in the Qur'an it says in Surah 23, "When death comes to one of them, he says, 'My Lord send me back.

That I may do right in what I've neglected.

' By no means! It's just a word he utters and behind them is a barrier, until the day they're resurrected." So there is this barrier there.

How could this passage support a belief in Barzakh, the barrier between this world and the afterlife? Pause the video and reread it, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, it's this phrase here about there being a barrier until the day of resurrection, souls will be held until the day of resurrection, and souls can speak during this time.

Here, we've got soul saying, "My, Lord, send me back." So there's an idea that souls can speak in this period, this Barzakh period of waiting between this world and the afterlife.

Many Muslims believe that it's during this time that souls are questioned by the angels.

Let's do a quick check before we move on.

What term refers to the place of waiting between death and resurrection on Judgement Day? Is it Barzakh, Jahannam, or Jannah? Which of these is the term that means that place of waiting between resurrection and death? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well done, it's Barzakh.

So it can be understood like this.

In the time between someone's death and the day of resurrection, each soul will be questioned by angels in Barzakh.

If the soul answers the questions correctly, they will be at peace in the grave until they're resurrected and face judgement on Judgement Day.

So they will be left in peace until judgement and Judgement Day.

If the soul answers the questions incorrectly, they will face punishment in Barzakh until resurrection and judgement.

And then they may face more punishment after that, but that time in Barzakh will be a painful time.

So here, we come to where there may be some diversity and views about angels then.

There is a diversity of views to do with the questions that are asked in this period.

So here we've got Iqbal who's a Sunni Muslim, and he says, "I believe the angels will ask me who my Lord, book, and prophet are when I'm waiting between death and Judgement Day." So the idea of God, the Qur'an, and the Prophet Muhammad, all of these will be the questions that are asked of him.

Fatemeh, who's a Shi'a Muslim says, "I believe the angels will ask me who my Lord, book, prophet, and Imam is when I'm waiting between death and Judgement Day." So for Fatemeh as a Shi'a Muslim is to do with Allah, the Qur'an, the Prophet Muhammad, and her belief in the Imamate.

What is similar and what's different between these two? Pause the video and have a think.

You can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well done, what we have here that Fatemeh believes she'll be asked a question about the Imamate, as well as her Lord, book, and prophet.

So let's understand this idea to do with the Imamate a little bit further then.

Well, a belief in the Imamate is one of the Five Roots of Usul ad-Din or the Five Roots of Faith in Shi'a Islam, which is why it's something that Fatemeh believes she'll be asked about because she's a Shi'a Muslim.

The Imams were all chosen by Allah to be the guide to the religion after the Prophet Muhammad passed away.

So this is the belief within Shi'a Islam of the Imamate, and a source of authority that supports this for Shi'a Muslims is in the Qur'an where it says, "O you who believe! Obey God, obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you." Fatemeh understands it like this.

"I believe I'll be asked about the Imams too, because the Qur'an has instructed me to follow the guidance they gave.

This is part of how to follow the religion of Islam as it's perfected with the revelations to the Prophet Muhammad." So we've got the idea the religion was perfected with those revelations to the Prophet Muhammad, and the Qur'an is the complete revelation for humankind, but the guidance for how to live that out and how to follow it is provided through the Imams. And so for Fatemeh, this idea of obeying those with authority among in the Qur'an relates to the Imamate as the ones who alert, chose to have that guidance to have the authority for people to follow.

While the Imamate is not one of the six articles of faith in Sunni Islam.

According to Sunni Islam, the leaders of religion following the Prophet Muhammad were not divinely chosen, but they were chosen by the companions and the community after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

In Sunni Islam, there are not teachings that the Prophet Muhammad had announced that Allah had chosen someone to be the leader for the community in the same way that a belief in the Imamate is within Shi'a Islam.

And that passage of the Qur'an is there for Sunni Muslims, too.

"O you, who believe! Obey God, obey the Messenger, and those with authority among you." And Iqbal understands it like this.

"I do believe I'll be asked about my Lord, book, and prophet by the angels when I die.

I do not however believe in the Imamate so I don't believe this passage is telling me to follow their authority or that I'll be asked about them." So as a Sunni Muslim, Iqbal does not interpret that piece of the Qur'an in the same way as Shi'a teachings do.

So time for a quick check.

Which branch or branches of Islam teach that the angels will question souls about their Lord, book, prophet, and Imam in Barzakh? That waiting period between death and Judgement Day.

is it Sunni, Shi'a, or both, Sunni and Shi'a? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, that is the Shi'a teachings because the belief in the Imamate is one of the Shi'a roots of faith.

Well done.

Now, some Muslims visit shrines marking where important people in Islam have died.

And praying at shrines as a practise found within different forms of Islam including Shi'a Islam.

So here are three examples of shrines to Imams within Shi'a Islam.

We've got here a shrine for Imam Ali in Iraq.

We've got a shrine for Imam Hussein in Iraq, and then we've got a shrine for Imam Reza in Iran.

So here are three different shrines that Shi'a Muslims may go to.

How could a belief in angels relate to praying at shrines? Can you think of how that could relate? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well, Shi'a Muslims and other Muslims often believe that at these shrines, there'll be numerous angels praying for the important Muslim who died or is buried there, and the pilgrims who visit that shrine.

So the people who go to visit the shrine are often called pilgrims, because they've done a pilgrimage to the shrine.

And within Shi'a Islam and other branches of Islam, there'll be beliefs that there are many angels there who are praying for that person who died or is buried there as well as those who've come to visit, and taken that dedication to come to visit that shrine.

So what evidence is there for this belief then when we can again look to the Qur'an as the ultimate source of authority in Islam, and it says in Surah 17, "Surely, those who say: 'Our Lord is God,' and then go straight, the angels will descend upon them." So here we have an idea that someone who has gone straight and done the right path and been a righteous Muslim will have angels descend upon them.

So the idea is that those angels will be there at the spot of that shrine.

And then also within Shi'a Islam, particularly the sixth Imam, Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, said that after the death of Imam Hussein, 70,000 angels were placed at his shrine by Allah.

So Imam Hussein is the third Imam and the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Within Shi'a Islam, there's a belief that there are 70,000 angels there at that shrine that we just saw a photo of.

So how could these sources of authority support the belief that there are extra angels at the shrines of important Muslims then? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well, both of these sources seem to suggest that there could be angels there at the site of where an important Muslim may have died or was buried.

So far, we had the idea there are 70,000 angels there at Imam Hussein Shrine, that's within Shi'a Islam.

But within Sunni Islam, too, there are some Muslims who believe that shrines can have angels at them.

They may not be the shrines of Imams, because that belief in the Imamate isn't there within Sunni Islam, but other important Muslims. So an example of this is Sunni Sufi Muslims, and Sufism in Islam is an approach to many different Muslim practises, and one of them is praying at shrines.

And here we've got the shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya in Pakistan.

And Layla is a Sunni Sufi Muslim, and she says, "I visit the shrines of Sufi saints and perform prayers and worship there.

I believe there are angels at these shrines." Thank you, Layla.

Hassan is a Shi'a Muslim who's visited the shrine of Imam Hussein at Karbala.

Here, he explains how this relates to his belief in Allah.

He says, "I believe in one God, and when I visited the shrine of Imam Hussein, I thought about Allah and the guidance that Allah has sent us.

I believe there are angels there who watch over us as pilgrims." So here, we've got Hassan believing there are those angels.

If you remember the quote from the Imam earlier that there were 70,000 angels there at that shrine of the Imam Hussein.

And what's important to note here is that Hassan is not worshipping Imam Hussein or believing in any other God than Allah, and it's thoughts about Allah that are in his mind when he's there thinking about the guidance that Allah has sent, but that there are angels who've been placed there by Allah.

But other Muslims in Sunni Islam, however, do not believe there are extra angels at those shrines of important Muslims, and they may even see prayers and worshipping at shrines as having the potential to go against tawhid, the oneness of Allah.

So some Sunni Muslims would not go to pray and worship at these shrines for the fear that they might not be worshipping one God by doing that.

Iqbal is gonna explain it to us.

"I worship only Allah and do not want to do any actions which may lead me to worship any person that was a creation of Allah.

I do not worship at shrines of important Muslims who've lived there before or believe that there are angels there." So Iqbal is explaining how he doesn't want to do something that could cause him to worship anything other than Allah, and that's what he thinks could happen if he goes to pray and worship at these shrines, and he doesn't believe there are any angels at those sites.

Thank you, Iqbal.

So time for a quick check then.

Is this true or false? All Sunni Muslims believe there are no angels at shrines of important Muslims, and will not visit, worship, or pray there.

Is that true or false? All Sunni Muslims. Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

That is false, isn't it? Because it might be a view that many Sunni Muslims have but some Sunni Muslims, for example, Sufi Sunni Muslims, may believe there are angels at shrines, and visit, pray, and worship there.

So we've got to be careful, haven't we? In religious education by saying all of a group have a certain belief.

Well done.

So time for a practise task to see what we've learn then.

You're going to sort the statements about angels into those that Fatemeh, a Shi'a Muslim, and Iqbal, a Sunni Muslim, may have and give a reason why they may believe this.

And the statements are in Barzakh, angels will ask three questions: who is my Lord, book, and prophet.

In Barzakh, angels will ask four questions: who is my Lord, book, prophet, and Imam.

There are extra angels at the shrines of important Muslims, like the Imams, and there are no extra angels at the shrines of important Muslims. So who would be more likely to believe this from Fatemeh, a Shi'a Muslim and Iqbal, a Sunni Muslim? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

So your statements and explanations may be something like this.

Fatemeh, a Shi'a Muslim.

In Barzakh, angels will ask four questions: who is my Lord, Book, prophet, Imam.

And there are extra angels of the shrines of important Muslims like the Imams. And Fatemeh might believe this because the Imamate is a key belief for Shi'a Muslims and the Qur'an states there'll be angels descended to those who followed the 'straight path'.

And for Iqbal, the Sunni Muslim.

In Barzakh, angels will ask three questions: who is my Lord, book, and prophet? And there are no extra angels at the shrines of important Muslims. And he may believe this because Sunni Muslims do not have a belief in the Imamate, and some Sunni Muslims do not believe there are extra angels at shrines, and may not pray there for fear of going against tawhid.

Well done, so onto our second section then, a diversity and belief about free will.

Whatever your personal stance, you can use academic disciplines such as social science, theology, and philosophy to study religious and non-religious worldviews.

And in this section of the lesson, we'll be using philosophy and social science by using philosophy to ask philosophical questions, and making use of social science to explore diversity in belief in Islam.

And three important beliefs about Allah's nature are Allah is all knowing Al-Amin.

Allah is all powerful, Al-Qadr.

And Allah is just Al-Adl.

And these can raise philosophical questions for us, can't they? So if God is all knowing, does God already know what's going to happen in the future? Or does God's knowledge have a limit for future events? If God is all powerful, does anything happen that is not in God's control? So do I get to control what happens or is it all down to what God is controlling? So finally, does God judge us on actions we freely chose to do or the actions that God has wanted us to do if God is all powerful? Well, central to all of these is this idea in predestination which is an important belief within Islam.

And we can break the word down like this.

We've got the prefix "pre" which means before.

So prevent or predict is an example of something happening before.

And then destination, which means a place where someone is going or will be sent or something that's going to happen.

So this idea is the belief that Allah has already decided what will happen and some Muslims believe that Allah has predestined everything that happens.

Other Muslims believe that not all human actions are predestined by Allah.

And using the tools of social science, we can see that beliefs about predestination are diverse within the Muslim community.

So let's have a look.

So the Pew Research Centre conducted a survey where they spoke to Muslims about lots of things to do with their belief and practises across 40 different countries in the world, where there's sizable Muslim majorities or large Muslim populations of people living.

And they asked them lots of different questions and they self-reported about their beliefs and practises, and they asked, one of their questions was, do you believe in fate or predestination as one of those six articles of faith, the idea that God has predestined and decided everything that will happen? And here are the results.

Let's have a think about them together, because we can see here already there is a diversity in responses.

Which area, which geographical area had the highest percentage of Muslims who believed in fate or predestination? Pause the video and have a think.

You could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

That's right, it's the Middle East and North Africa.

Those countries in that area had the highest rate of people who believed in fate or predestination.

And which area had the lowest percentage of Muslims who believed in fate or predestination? Pause the video and have a go, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

That's right, it is the Muslims who were living in southern and eastern Europe had the lowest percentage of those who believed in fate or predestination.

So let's unpack this a bit more now, why there might be a diversity in this idea of predestination and free will.

Sarah is a Sunni Muslim who believes that all things are predestined by Allah.

And here is a verse from the Qur'an which might encourage her in this belief.

In Surah 76, it says, "Yet you cannot will unless God wills.

God is Knowing and Wise." So you cannot will whatever you want to do.

It's not gonna happen unless it's what God wants to happen.

It is been pre-decided.

Sarah says, "The choices I make matter, but ultimately whatever I choose to do is the will of Allah because Allah is all powerful, Al-Qadr.

This means I can trust Allah's plan for me." So it's quite an important belief for her that everything is willed by Allah, and then she can trust in that plan.

Let's do a quick check before we move on.

Is this true or false? A belief in predestination means it doesn't matter what choices a person makes in their life.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

That is false, isn't it? But why? Well, Muslims who believe in predestination, the idea that Allah has already decided still believe that they should make the right choices and avoid bad actions in life.

For some Muslims, whatever choices they make is going to be following the will of Allah as Allah is all powerful just as Sarah showed us.

Well, free will is an important belief in Islam and links to Al-Adl, the purpose of life on earth is for humans to be tested.

If they pass the test, they could go to paradise after.

It's not a fair test if Allah decides their actions.

If it's already been decided what you're going to do, is it fair for you to be judged on that? Therefore, for Allah to be just, Al-Adl, there must be free will.

To be freely judged on the action you've done, you must have freely chosen to do it.

So is a belief in predestination compatible with free will then? Is that belief that God has decided compatible with me, still choosing to do what I want to do? So here, we've got a source of authority that can help us understand how important it is that life is a test and Fatemeh is going to explain how this relates to predestination and free will.

It says in the Qur'an in Surah 76, "We created a man from liquid mixture, to test him; We made him hearing and seeing.

We guided him to the way, be he appreciative or unappreciative." So how could this link to the idea of free will then, this idea that life is a test? Well, Fatemeh is going to explain.

"Allah has given us free will so we can choose to follow Allah's guidance.

This means judgement is fair as Allah is Al-Adl, the Just." Time for another check.

Which name of Allah means 'the Just'? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well done, it's Al-Adl.

So with this ball here now if I threw it up in the air, could my free will cause it to stay in midair and not fall down? Should we give it a go? I'm gonna try and use my free will to stop the ball falling down.

Here we go.

No, it falls back down again, doesn't it? There are certain physical laws that no matter what we want or will, we cannot change.

I cannot change the law of gravity no matter how much I want to.

So that has been set already.

It's pre-decided that the ball is going to fall back down again.

I may choose to throw the ball, but I do not choose that gravity pulls it down towards the earth.

We live in a universe where we have some freedom, but some things are predetermined, and therefore, predestined it.

It's predestined that as soon as I let go of that ball, it's going to fall down.

And in that way, many Shi'a Muslims do not believe that Allah has predestined every action a human makes, because humans are freely choosing to make those actions.

But there are some things that are set and predestined like the law of gravity and other universal laws we have in order for the universe to function.

Hassan and Fatemeh are going to explain to us.

Hassan says, "The whole universe is governed by rules set by Allah, but we have free will to make choices in our lives.

Allah has provided a guide for us but does not control us." And Fatemeh says, "Allah has the power to intervene on earth, for example, when Angel Jibril brought the revelations of the Qur'an.

But Allah does not intervene for our every action." So we have that freedom to make those choices, and then we can be judged on them.

But there are some things that are pre-decided and predetermined by Allah.

So how could these two views relate to a belief in predestination then? Pause the video and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So time for another check then.

All Muslims agree on the relationship between predestination and human freedom.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

That is false, isn't it? But why? And again, we've got that word "all" Muslims, haven't we? And we can think about whether everyone agrees on it together or not.

Because there are a variety of views on the relationship between predestination and human freedom in Islam.

Most Muslims actually take a middle ground and accept both predestination and free will.

So time for another practise task to see what we've learned then.

So we've got Sarah and Hassan who we've met so far in this lesson.

They're discussing predestination and human freedom.

For each point they give, provide a source of authority which supports their view.

So Hassan, who's a Shi'a Muslim says, "There are some things that are predestined, but Allah guides people and does not force them." And Sarah, who's a Sunni Muslim, says, "Predestination means that nothing happens on earth without it being the will of Allah." So for each point they've given, provide a source of authority which supports their view.

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well done, some great thinking there.

So for the points Hassan and Sarah have given, you had to provide a source of authority that supports their view.

And your response may look something like this.

Hassan's point.

"There are some things that are predestined, but Allah guides people and does not force them." And you could have said, "In the Qur'an, it says Allah has provided a guide for humans to follow." And Sarah's point was, "Predestination means that nothing happens on earth without it being the will of Allah." And the source of authority you could have used for that is that in the Qur'an, it says, "You cannot will something to happen unless Allah has willed it." Well done.

So let's summarise everything we've done today then.

Diversity and belief about angels and free will.

Muslims believe that angels question souls in Barzakh.

Shi'a Muslims also believe they'll be questioned about their Imams by these angels.

Shrines of important Muslims are believed by Shi'a Muslims and some Sunni Sufi Muslims to have angels present there.

Some Sunni Muslims do not believe angels are present at shrines.

Free will means that humans can make choices, but some Muslims believe in predestination, where Allah has already decided what happens.

Many Sunni Muslims believe everything is predestined by Allah.

While still making right choices, many Shi'a believe in free will and that Allah guides people but does not force them.

So well done for your hard work today, my young philosophers and theologians, and I'll see you again soon.

Bye-bye!.