📖Sahih Muslim 2643 a | Bukhari 7454
Abdullah (b. Mas’ud) reported that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) who is the most truthful (of the human beings) and his being truthful (is a fact) said: Verily your creation is on this wise. The constituents of one of you are collected for forty days in his mother’s womb in the form of blood, after which it becomes a clot of blood in another period of forty days. Then it becomes a lump of flesh and forty days later Allah sends His angel to it with instructions concerning four things, so the angel writes down his livelihood, his death, his deeds, his fortune and misfortune. By Him, besides Whom there is no god, that one amongst you acts like the people deserving Paradise until between him and Paradise there remains but the distance of a cubit, when suddenly the writing of destiny overcomes him and he begins to act like the denizens of Hell and thus enters Hell, and another one acts in the way of the denizens of Hell, until there remains between him and Hell a distance of a cubit that the writing of destiny overcomes him and then he begins to act like the people of Paradise and enters Paradise.
- From this Hadith, we can infer that certain aspects of our lives are predetermined. For instance, our eventual death, which is mentioned in the Qur’an, is fixed and beyond our control. Additionally, the Hadith suggests that our deeds are predetermined, indicating that the outcomes of good and evil in our lives are already determined. However, the Qur’an, in a referenced verse such as 13:11 (assuming it exists as mentioned), teaches us that we possess free will. This means we have the ability to exercise our choice and select goodness for ourselves. Despite certain aspects being predetermined, the important decision of choosing between good and evil is within our free will. Furthermore, the Hadith indicates that certain aspects of our lives, such as our livelihood, income, and marriage partner, are predetermined. it is crucial to recognize that within every aspect of our lives, there are certain factors that are beyond our control.
Releted:Â Free Will in Islam: Divine Decree and Human Responsibility
To summarize, this text suggests that while certain aspects of our lives are predestined, including our death and certain external circumstances, we possess free will to make moral choices and decide between good and evil. Our actions and choices are within our control, and they play a significant role in shaping our spiritual journey and ultimate destiny.
