Adam replied, “This was written for me before I was even created,” and thus Adam out-argued Moses.

As the Exalted says,
“No calamity befalls on earth or within yourselves but that it is inscribed in a Book before We bring it into being; surely that is easy for Allah.” (al-Ḥadīd 57:22)

And He says,
“No disaster strikes except by Allah’s leave; and whoever believes in Allah, He guides his heart.” (at-Taghābun 64:11)

One of the early generations said, “It is the man upon whom a calamity falls; he realizes it is from Allah, so he is content and submits.”

This is the precise sense in which Adam invoked the divine decree. God forbid that Adam—or anyone of the believers beneath him—should use the decree to excuse sin. If that were admissible, Iblis and all who follow him among jinn and humankind could plead the same; so could the peoples of Noah, ‘Ād, and Thamūd, along with every community of unbelief, wickedness, and rebellion, and no one would be punished at all. Its falsity is self-evident to both Revelation and sound reason.

Indeed, no intelligent person carries this argument through consistently; to do so would require that no one ever be blamed or punished for anything. And the very man who cites the decree—were someone to wrong him