More questions on predestination

[anonymous]

Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 55, Hadith Number 549


Narrated By Abdullah : Allah’s Apostle, the true and truly inspired said, “(as regards your creation), every one of you is collected in the womb of his mother for the first forty days, and then he becomes a clot for an other forty days, and then a piece of flesh for an other forty days. Then Allah sends an angel to write four words: He writes his deeds, time of his death, means of his livelihood, and whether he will be wretched or blessed (in religion). Then the soul is breathed into his body. So a man may do deeds characteristic of the people of the (Hell) Fire, so much so that there is only the distance of a cubit between him and it, and then what has been written (by the angel) surpasses, and so he starts doing deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise and enters Paradise. Similarly, a person may do deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise, so much so that there is only the distance of a cubit between him and it, and then what has been written (by the angel) surpasses, and he starts doing deeds of the people of the (Hell) Fire and enters the (Hell) Fire.”

I recently started reading more of the Quran and unfortunately there is not much commentary in it. There was a footnote about one of the verse and the above Hadith was listed.

my understanding of predestination was that Allah already knows our final destination, but it was always in our control. In other words, our own choices decided whether we go to heaven or hell. According to this Hadith, it seems like we don’t have that choice and regardless of what we do, we will end up wherever Allah has decided us to be.

Is this understanding correct? If not can someone help me understand this Hadith better? Thanks

 

[Ümit]

Thats a pretty complicated matter...bu I'll try to explain:
No one gets born potentially good or potentially bad. No one gets burdened more than he/she can carry.
This means wherever we end up in the afterlife, it is because of our our decisions on Earth.
Free will is very important here, you are responsible for the decisions you make.

Now, every deed in your lifetime is written down, good deeds and bad deeds. when you die, your book is closed.

now imagine this, the time is rewinded back to the day you were born...however, your book is not been erased...would the existence of that book influence your decision making if you get to re-live your life again?
Answer is no.

God is almighty. God is al knowing. Time is also a creation of God, which means that God is beyond the grasp of time.

in other words, God knows the future and the past...But the fact that He knows does not affect your decision making...You are absolutely free in the decisions that you make.
That is why Heaven and Hell both are essential, because in order to have free will, we must actually have a choice to make to begin with.

If there was no Hell, and whatever decision we make brings us to Heaven...then did we really had a free will? We must be able to choose for the bad.

We can make it much more complex, but I think I will leave it here.
Hop you understand a little bit more the connection of free will and predestination

 

[Murid]

:bism:

We should know:
-sixth pillar of imaan:
https://www.islamweb.net/en/article/134429/the-articles-of-faith
-angels must obide what is written or planned for them, but Allah can order different and then new plan starts
-we have free will, will we be able to execute it, hawlaqala and qadar come in
-benefits of sadaqah
-benefits of estegfar
-benefits if grattitude in Islam
-benefits of prophetic mornings abd evenings duas (from say Ad Dua Divine help)
-surah Al Asr
-we must compete in good deeds, be active, encourage others to do them with a lot of sabr
-dua can change Qader if Allah wills
-new plans for angels or Divine interventions come in
-we must put effort in dunya work
-we must be grateful for iman, islam, and every good deed, for guidence and everything Allah gave us

-we must not have pride! Maybe someone, Eskimo for example will enter Paradise and we not, because guidence did not come to him, and we had it and did not have zeal and a lot of sabr in following it and doing a lot of good deeds sincerely, with grattitude

 

[Saira Khan]

Assalam O Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatohu,

To better understand this, there is another Hadith about the similar content:
Jabir reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “None of you will enter Paradise by his good deeds alone, nor would you be rescued from the Hellfire, not even myself, but for the mercy of Allah.”
Source: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2817
My understanding is that yes everything is written for us but Allah changes those writings or to better understand He “puts a mask” on those predestined things accordingly. The reason for this is the concept and importance of Dua (Supplication). Now you have to do good deeds and get closer to Allah to get your supplications fulfilled and granted. If we consider a fixed permanent predestination, the concept of supplication will become meaningless.
Allah kept the concept of predestination a bit confusing for us because Allah wants a believer to be in a state of fear and hope until the last moment of his life.
There is a famous saying of predecessors (May Allah have mercy on them):
"Whoever worships Allah through love only is considered an immoral person; whoever worships Him through fear only is a Kharijite; whoever worships Him through hope only is a Murji'; and whoever worships His through fear, love and hope is monotheistic believer".

We usually think that if Allah is doing everything, where is our free will?
To understand this, suppose there are two very heavy bags, one full of good things and the other full of bad and you want to carry one of them on your shoulders. Allah says, you chose one of them and I will put it on your shoulders for you.
Similarly, Allah has written predestination for us, it’s our choice to pick one of them.
Good deeds alone are not the guarantee for paradise, but it is our intentions that lead us to our destinations, as there is Hadith "innamal a'malu binniyat".Actions are dependent upon their Intentions, meaning that our deeds and actions are dependent on our choices.
To Sum up, Angles have written destinations for us, but Allah the Almighty will change it for us through supplications by invoking His mercy.
Allah knows best.

 

[Murid]

Wa alaykumu salam wa rahmatullahe wa barakatuhu wa magfiratuhu

Thank you for your beautiful post Saira.

What I did not mention above is
-benefits of Quran reading (especially certain surahs or ayat known from hadith or learned predcessors, out of experience)
-benefits of salawat (best inshaAllah salawat ibrahimi from namaz)
-benefits of tasbeeh, like subhanallahi walhamdulillahi wa la ilaha illallahu wallahu akbar wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahil aliyyil adheem (hawlaqala has narrated benefits closely to this topic, apparent from narration)

Be in idle times always in state of dhikr, salawat, estegfar, dua and other ibadah.
Learn prophetic duas (there are hundrads of them mashaAllah).
Learn and read dua noor in sujud to be red (prophetic dua).

Spread useful knowledge and others deeds will be added to yours inshaAllah without lowering theirs.

Try to ask duas for others too,
Like: Allahumma gfirli warhamni wahdini warzuqni wa lil mominina wal mominati x100 or x1000 mornings and evenings
Great, great rewards and dunya benefits inshaAllah. Please spread this secret.

Calling asma ul husna like from hadith Ya dhal Jalali wal ikram or every other Allahs name.

Make dhikr: Allah, Allah.

 

[Murid]

:bism:

https://hadithanswers.com/cure-sickness-by-giving-sadaqah/