Coincidence and/or Destiny?
The odd and the wonder, is coincidence real? Or has that been fate all along?
Coincidence is a word that we say almost every day when something suddenly happens that day and we immediately realize that the signs of the incident have occurred since last week or last month.
Coincidence and destiny have different meanings, but sometimes we humans often equate the meaning of the two words and make conclusions about coincidence and destiny based on the events that befall humans.
For example, Indonesians who are predominantly Muslim believe that when a person dies, there are signs 40 days before the person dies, and the ones who are left behind only realize this when the person dies.
Are these signs coincidental? Or was it all preordained by God? Or another example, an actress auditions for a film, but among all the candidate actresses for that film, the actress is in ninth place for the main character in that film.
But suddenly the next week the actress’s agent told her that she was the one who became the main character in the film because the actress who was the first candidate resigned.
Is this a coincidence? Is this the fate that has been ordained by God for the actress? There’s a lot of talk about theories or conspiracies or religious opinions about coincidence and destiny.
But here I only discuss religious opinions and my opinion regarding coincidence and destiny. I will discuss two religions, namely Islam and Christian.
In the verses of the Qur’an and Hadith, it is clearly stated that nothing happens by chance on this earth. Even a very coincidental coincidence is still a plan of God that never goes wrong. If we as humans do not understand what every detail of an incident that has happened to us means, it is because God’s plan is too big and we must be grateful for all God’s plans that happen to us.
Coincidence sentences indicate that what happens to us humans is not God’s will, that the things we experience happen not by God’s will. This of course is not true, because God has already ordained, or predestined it. It’s like, something can’t happen suddenly without His knowledge.
If we as humans claim that all events are coincidences, then it is the same other than we violate the first pillar of faith, namely faith in Allah SWT. All the things that happen, no matter how small, even though we humans think they are not important to us, these things are already known and planned by Allah, and Allah knows them all before these things happen to us.
Allah wills, Allah creates, Allah records. This is also by one of the verses in the Al-Quran Surah At-Talaq verse 2–3 which reads:
“Whoever fears Allah, Allah will provide for him a way out. And give him sustenance from a direction he did not expect, and whoever puts his trust in Allah, Allah will provide for his needs.”
Surely, Allah has made a provision for everything. In addition to Surah At-Talaq, it is also explained in Surah Al-Imran verses 190–191, which reads:
“Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day, there are signs of Allah’s greatness for people of understanding, namely those who remember Allah while standing, sitting or lying down and they think about the creation of the heavens and the earth and say, O our Lord, you did not create all this in vain, Glory be to You, protect us from the punishment of hell.”
Whereas in Christian, the Bible teaches that humans were created with the moral ability to choose and humans are also responsible for that choice. We humans are not sovereign masters over our lives.
What happens to humans is the will of God. God has chosen to give free will and God has created a universe of morality where the law of cause and effect is the reality. The figure of God who is all-powerful and all-knowing must have a plan, so it’s no wonder the Bible tells of God’s plan.
God’s plan is holy, wise, and benevolent. God’s providence or destiny means that God is working out His true plan for His creation.
God says in Isaiah 48 verse 3, “That which I told you before then, it has come out of my mouth, and I have heard it to you. What God has revealed, He also does (though He may have stated it centuries before).”
In Proverbs 21 verse 30 it is explained that it is useless to go against God’s plan, “There is no wisdom and understanding, and no judgment can match the Lord.” What is usually referred to as an opportunity, coincidence or destiny is all under the power of Allah, this is by Proverbs 16 verse 33 reads “The lottery is thrown into the lap, but every decision comes from God.”
In other words, God does not fold hands in taking care of the world. The Bible also makes it clear that your birth was not a mistake or accident and your life was not a coincidence or a natural phenomenon. Maybe your parents didn’t plan for your presence, but God knows and has a plan for your life.
God is not at all surprised by your birth in the world. Even God expects your birth. Nothing in your life just happens, it’s for a purpose. God never does anything by chance, and God never makes a mistake. God has a reason for everything He creates.
Every plant and animal was planned by God and every person was designed with a purpose in God’s mind. God had thought of us humans before He created the world. God designed the contents of this world so that we humans can live in it.
We are the focus of God’s love and the most precious creation of all His creation, this is according to the Bible James 1 verse 18 BIS.
Here I remind you that I am not a religious expert (Pastor or Ustadz), and the opinions mentioned above are quoted in this article with the reason that I assume that the opinions were written by religious experts on the website which I will include down below.
Meanwhile, my own opinion about coincidence and destiny is always changing, in a sense, when you ask me about coincidence and destiny when I was 17 years old, the answer will be different from what I feel about coincidence and destiny at my current age.
But the same thing from me when I was 17 years old until now is that I always realistic about everything. My opinion about coincidence and destiny at the age of 17 was that coincidence happens at the beginning and destiny always happens at the end.
For example in the past, I had a cousin who was hospitalized because of pneumonia, and in the ICU there was a teenager who had the same disease as herself. When my cousin died, not long after that the teenager died too. At that time, I thought that was just merely a coincidence.
However, if you ask whether I still have the same opinion about the incident at my current age, of course, my answer is no. Now, my opinion is that when my cousin entered the hospital, was admitted to the ICU, and met a teenager with the same disease, it was fate, not a coincidence.
And to me, they were destined to meet, because God gave comfort or strength to them both, and told them both indirectly, that they are not alone in this world.
My current self doesn’t believe in coincidence, I am now assuming that what happens to me, or other people, or what happens to this world is destiny, not coincidence.
For me, everything is destiny and humans will not know what destiny means, it takes minutes, seconds, hours, or years to find out the meaning of destiny that befell a human being.
All things that exist in this world, both humans, animals, and plants. It’s all arranged and has its destiny, even small things like a leaf that falls from a tree or when you go out of the house and falls, it’s all destiny, not a coincidence, and the tragic thing is that we as humans are always late to realize everything is not a coincidence.
Always late to realize that it was destiny and always regret it at the end. No matter how careful you are in living this life, I think humans are destined to always regret or be late or make a mistake so that humans can become better individuals and learn to appreciate whatever happens to them, as bad as it is and as good as it is.
And I think if you believe in the existence of God, you should not believe in coincidences, because if you assume everything that happens in this world is a coincidence, then you are not appreciating what God has planned/ordained/made.
Sources:
https://www.gotquestions.org/Indonesia/takdir-nasib.html
https://www.jawaban.com/read/article/id/2010/07/21/58/100721115543/ada_bukan_karena_kebetulan
