Commentary.-It has not only been determined beforehand for everyone whether he is going to end up in Heaven or Hell but the route of good or evil deeds by which he will reach there has also been decreed by God. It has been predestinated that he who will go to Heaven will do so because of performing such-and-such good deeds and he who will go to Hell will do so because of performing such-and-such wicked deeds. Thus, good deeds have been fore-ordained for the dwellers of Heaven and evil deeds for the dwellers of Hell, and these can therefore, neither be avoided nor prevented.
(64) It is related by Abdullah bin Omar that the Apostle of God said: “Everything is from fate, even intellect and stupidity.”
-Muslim
Commentary.-Capability and fitness, skillfulness and efficiency and wisdom and intelligence are all determined by fate. In short, whatever a man is in this world, and in whichever state, has been Divinely preordained.
(65) It is related by Abu Hurairah that “once we were discussing the doctrine of predestination [in the Prophet's Mosque] that the Apostle of God cam [and finding us engaged in the discussion], [he] came very angry till his face turned so red that it appeared that a pomegranate had been squeezed on it. He said, ‘Is it what you have been commanded to do? Have I brought you the Message [that you discuss such vital and delicate issues as Divine predestination]? Beware! Communities before you were destroyed when they got into the habit of wrangling over it. I make it binding upon you, with the invocation of the power of God, not to discuss this question'.”
-Tirmidhi
Commentary.-Without doubt, the problem of predestination is a most delicate one. The Believer should, therefore, refrain from making it a subject of debate and argument if he fails to understand it, and allay his doubts by telling himself that God and the Prophet have expounded it in that very manner and, hence, he puts his trust in it. The question is related to the Attributes of God, and it must, naturally, be intricate while, with us, the case is that we are unable to comprehend even so many problems and mysteries concerning the material world. Thus, when God and His Apostle have explained a truth [which is not easy for everyone to understand properly], the wisest course for those who fail to grasp its full significance but have affirmed faith in Islam is not to dispute it but to accept the reality of it, realising the limitations of their intellects.
The sacred Prophet was indignant, perhaps, because the Companions were under his guidance and they were learning Faith directly from him; so when he saw them indulging in the folly he, naturally, felt very angry.
As for the observation that communities have been destroyed in the past due to the habit of entering into an argument over the question of predetermination, destruction, in the present context, denotes deviation and depravity. Both in the Quran and the Traditions the word ‘destruction' has frequently been used in that sense. The inference that can, thus, be drawn from the Prophet's remark is that doctrinal errors and misunderstandings crept into the earlier communities when they made the doctrine of Divine preordination a matter of debate and argument, and, as history tell, among the Muslims, too, conceptual deviations began with the growth of this habit.
It must, however, be clear that debate and disputation has been prohibited in the above saying and not the seeking of guidance for one's own satisfaction from someone who may be worthy of it.
(66) It is related by Abdullah bin ‘Amr that the Apostle of God said: “Fifty thousand years before the creation of the havens and the earth God had written the destinies of all creatures. [At that time] His Throne was on water.”
-Muslim
Commentary.-A few points in this Tradition are, particularly, deserving of notice.
Firstly, what does the writing of destinies by God mean? It does not, evidently denote that God had written in the same way as we do by holding the pen in the hand and putting down something on paper or a tablet. To think like that would be to betray one's colossal ignorance of the Lord's resplendent Glory and Magnificence. It is beyond our understanding to grasp the nature and reality of Divine Functions and Attributes, and since there is no separate vocabulary for it, we are compelled to use the same terms while speaking about them as have been devised to describe our own activities and characteristics. Otherwise, there is as much difference between the nature and reality of God's Functions and Attributes and our own traits, actions and doings' as between His Exalted Being and our humble selves.
Be that as it may, it is known only to the Almighty what the writing of destinies mentioned in the above saying actually means. Besides, in the Arabic language the act of determining or settling a thing is also spoken of as writing. Thus, in the Quran the enjoining of Fasting as a religious duty has been set forth as Fasting is written to you, and the prescribing of revenge as Revenge is written to you. In the present Tradition, therefore, if the word ‘written' is intended to convey the same meaning it will denote that God had determined the fate of all the creatures fifty thousand years before the creation of the heavens and the earth and ordained each and every event that was to take place. We are, further, strengthened in our view by the fact that in some accounts of the above saying the word Qaddar [determined] has been used in the place of Kataba [wrote].
It is worth remembering that expression like ‘pen' and ‘tablet' that occur in some unauthentic reports concerning the writing of destiny have been borrowed from the Hebrew scriptures and have nothing to do with the genuine Traditions of the Prophet.
Moreover, the fifty thousand years mentioned in the above Tradition can also signify a very long period of time. Such expressions are quite common in the Arabic language. It will, then, mean that God and determined the destinies of all created beings long, long, before the creation of the heavens and the earth.
At the end of the Tradition it is stated that at that time the Throne of God was on water. It shows that God's Throne and water had been created by then.
Writes Shah Waliullah : “Just as thousands of faces and details regarding them are stored up in our mind in the same way in some special faculty of the heaven of heavens (which may be compared to our own imagination) God had inscribed beforehand the doings and activities, deeds and behaviour and conditions and circumstances of all the creatures; in short, anything and everything that was going to happen in the world. Whatever is taking place in the world is, thus, preserved in this faculty of the heaven of heavens as innumerable faces and information relating to them are in our memory.” In his view, the writing of the destinies of all the creatures signifies nothing but this.
(67) It is related by Abdullah bin Masood that the Apostle of God said to him: “The seed of everyone of you remains for forty days in the womb of his mother in the form of Nutfa [i.e., during the first forty days it undergoes no significant change except that a little thickening of the blood takes place and this is what is called Nutfa], for another forty days it remains like a clot, and, the, for the same number of days, like a lump of flesh [when the formation of limbs and the growth of bones begins]. After it, God sends down an angel with four things. The Angel writes down his action [on earth], his life-span, the time of his death, his provision and that whether he is Saeed [fortunate] or Shaqi [unfortunate]. The soul is, then, put into him. Thus, by the Being save Whom no one is worthy of worship and obedience, at certain times it happens that someone of you performs the deeds of the dwellers of Heaven till there remains only the length of an arm between him and Paradise, and, then, what is decreed by Fate comes to the fore and he begins to perform the deeds of the dwellers of Hell, and, ultimately, makes his way to it [Hell], and, at other times, that someone of you performs the deeds of the dwellers of Hell till there remains only the length of an arm between him and Hell and, then, the decree of Fate comes to the fore and he begins to perform the deeds of the dwellers of Paradise, and, ultimately, makes his way to it [Paradise].”
-Bukhari and Muslim
Commentary.-In this Tradition two things have been mentioned. At first, the few stages of the process of the creation of man are explained through which the embryo passes before the soul is breathed into it (and these stages have, perhaps, been stated by way of an introduction). After it, the Prophet tells about the Divine decree that is set down, for every human being who is born, by the Angel appointed by God and contains details regarding his deeds, duration of life, hour of death, sustenance and good or evil fortune.
For the general setting of the Tradition it appears that the main purpose of the Prophet is to emphasise about this decree that it is final and immutable to the extent that a person who is written down as a dweller of Hell leads a life of piety and moral rectitude for a long time till he comes very close to Paradise, and, then, all of a sudden, he begins to perform evil deeds and dies in that state and ends up in Hell. In the same way, it also happens that a person who is marked out for Paradise spends his life for a long time in the manner of the people of Hell and comes so close to it that, speaking figuratively, only the length of an arm separates him from the infernal place, and, then, suddenly he steadies himself and begins to do virtuous deeds like the dwellers of Heaven and dies in that state and makes his abode in Paradise.
The special lesson the above Tradition imparts is that no one should be condemned positively as a dweller of Hell on account of his evil actions. One never can tell what the pattern of his life will be in time to come. Likewise, if, by the grace of God, a person is leading a life of virtue he should not be self-satisfied but always remain solicitous of a happy end.
(68) It is related by Abdullah bin ‘Amr that the Apostle of God said: “The hearts of all men are between the two fingers of the Lord, like a single heart; He turns it in whatever direction He pleases.” [The Prophet then said]: “O Turner of hearts ! Turn my heart towards Thine obedience.”
-Muslim
Commentary.-As we have pointed out earlier, since there is no special terminology for describing the Functions and Attributes of God, the same words and idioms are used for it as have been evolved for describing human doings and characteristics. Thus, if it has been said in the above Tradition that the hearts of all men are between the two fingers of the Lord, it only means that our hearts are entirely in His control, and He turns them in any direction he likes. It is similar to our own idiom of holding a person in the palm of one's hand which is used to denote one's complete authority over somebody.

_________

From the foregoing Traditions concerning Divine predestination we conclude:
(i) God determined the fate of all created beings fifty thousands years before the creation of the heavens and earth and fore-ordained, in detail, everything that was going to happen.
(ii) When a person is in his mother's womb and four months have passed in that condition an Angel appointed by God sets down four things about him: life-span, deeds, provision and good fortunate or evil.
(iii) God turns our hearts in whatever direction He likes.

In fact, these are the different stages and manifestations of Divine preordination and the real eternal fate takes precedence over all of them. Shah Waliullah has discussed the whole thing in a most lucid manner. Below we give the main points of his thesis:
(i) Before the beginning of time when nothing existed save God, and the heavens, earth, air, water and the Throne of the Almighty had not been created, God possessed a complete knowledge of the universe that was to come into being later. Thus, in that very period of eternity God had resolved to create the world according to the pattern that was in His timeless decision was the first stage of Divine predestination.
(ii) Then there came a time when water and the Throne of God had been created but not the heavens and earth [according to the Tradition No. 66, fifty thousand years before the creation of the heavens and earth] that God wrote the destinies of all the creatures in accordance with the Eternal Destiny [i.e., He inscribed the detailed account of the fate of all the created beings on the imagination of the heaven of heavens which, thus, it became its bearer]. This was the second stage of Divine predestination.
(iii) Next, when the process of the development of a man begins in his month's womb and the time comes, after the passage of four months, of infusing the spirit into the foetus, the Angel appointed by God prepares the scroll of his destiny, on the basis of the knowledge obtained from Him, which contains the details concerning his life-span, actions and doings, provision and felicity or ill-fortune. This is the third stage of Divine predestination.
(iv) Afterwards, whatever a person wants to do, he does so by the command of God, as it is stated in Tradition No.68 that the hearts of all men are in the control of God and He turns them in any direction he likes. This is the fourth stage of Divine predetermination.
It should not be difficult to realise the significance of the various Traditions on Divine predetermination if the above is kept in the mind.
Misgivings.-The doubts generally expressed about the doctrine of predestination can be summed up as follows:-
(i) If everything, good or evil, that happens in the world has been determined beforehand by God, the responsibility for all the wicked along with the virtuous deeds will also rest with Him.
(ii) When every event has been decreed in advance by God and what He has fore-ordained is unalterable, a man is bound to act according to what has been appointed beforehand and he should, therefore, neither be rewarded nor punished for his actions.
(iii) If all events have been predetermined by God and are inevitable, it is futile to exert oneself for anything, whether of this world or the next.
On reflection, however, it will appear that all the objections and arguments are due, basically, to a faulty understanding of the concept of predestination.
As we have seen already, Divine predetermination is in accordance with the eternal knowledge of God and whatever is taking place in the world, no matter how, why and when, was in His timeless knowledge exactly in the same manner and it had been appointed by Him to happen at that very time and in that very way.
Should we ponder over our actions we will find that whatever we do in this world, wicked or virtuous, is by our own volition. If before taking a step or performing a deed we care to think a little, it will seem that it lies in our power to do so or not. In spite of this freedom and authority, we decide about doing it or otherwise by means of the God-given will and our action is in keeping with that decision. Thus, before, beginning of time God was fully aware of how we were going to do what we do in the present world by our own power of conscious decision and intention, and, He fore-ordained them in the same manner. God has predestinated not only our actions but also the will and volition through which they are carried out. Divine predestination, therefore, does not merely mean that such-and-such a person will do this or that good or evil act but also that he will do so out of his own choice and discretion, and, then, such-and-such results will follow and he will receive such a reward or punishment.
The limited control we have over our actions and through which we decide about doing a thing or not is also determined by fate. The responsibility for our deeds rests with it and it is because of it that we are accountable for our doings. The Divine scheme of Requital and Recompense is based upon nothing aside of it.
Predestination does not deny or nullify the power or freedom to decide and choose. It proves and strengthens it and makes it more valid. We, as such, are not helpless beings as a result of it nor does the responsibility for our actions lie with God.
In the same way, the aims and objects for the attainment of which we make efforts in this world have also been related to the same efforts by fate.
In brief, it alone is not predetermined that such a thing will be obtained by such-and-such a person but also the means and manner by which it is going to be obtained.
The whole chain of cause and effect is exactly the same in Divine predestination as it is in the present world.
To imagine, therefore, that whatever is fated will happen in any case and it is futile to try and exert oneself is contrary to the real significance of the doctrine of predestination. This is the substance of what the Prophet has said in Traditions Nos. 62 and 63 in reply to the questions put to him by the Companions.