327 – Al-Firyābī informed us, saying: Uthmān ibn Abī Shayba narrated to us, saying: Jarīr—that is, Ibn Abd al-Hamīd—narrated to us, from Mansūr, from Sad ibn Ubayda, from Abū Abd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī, from Alī ibn Abī Tālib (may Allah be pleased with him), who said:

We were attending a funeral at Baqī al-Gharqad when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came. He sat down, and we sat around him. He had with him ⦗746⦘ a small staff. He lowered his head and began tracing the ground with it. Then he said, “There is no living soul among you but that its place in Paradise or the Fire has already been written, and whether it will be among the wretched or the felicitous has already been written.”

A man asked, “O Messenger of Allah, should we not rely upon what has been written for us and abandon deeds? Whoever among us is destined to be among the people of felicity will ultimately perform the deeds of the people of felicity, and whoever among us is destined to be among the people of wretchedness will ultimately perform the deeds of the people of wretchedness.”

He replied, “Act, for everyone is facilitated. The people of felicity are facilitated toward the deeds of the people of felicity, while the people of wretchedness are facilitated toward the deeds of the people of wretchedness.”

Then he recited: “As for the one who gives and fears Allah, and affirms the finest reward, We shall facilitate for him the path of ease. But as for the one who is miserly and considers himself self-sufficient, and denies the finest reward, We shall facilitate for him the path of hardship.” [al-Layl: 6]