We shall ease him toward ease. But whoever hoards, deems himself self-sufficient, and denies the best promise—We shall ease him toward hardship.” This ḥadith is transmitted by all the major compilers in their Ṣaḥīḥ, Sunan, and Musnad collections.
Al-Tirmidhī relates that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—was asked: “Messenger of Allah, what about the medicines with which we treat ourselves, the incantations by which we seek cure, and the safeguards we adopt—do they repel anything of Allah’s decree?” He replied, “They are part of Allah’s decree.” The same meaning is conveyed from the Prophet—peace be upon him—in several other ḥadiths.
Thus he clarified that Allah’s prior knowledge and inscription of who is blessed or wretched does not conflict with the fact that the bliss of one person comes through righteous deeds while the misery of another comes through evil deeds. Exalted is He; He knows things exactly as they are and records them accordingly. He knows that the blessed attain bliss through righteous actions and that the wretched incur wretchedness through evil actions; therefore the one destined for happiness is facilitated toward the deeds of happiness, and the one destined for misery is driven toward the deeds of misery. Each is made easy for that for which he was created. This unfolds by virtue of Allah’s all-embracing universal will, about which He says in Sūrah Hūd: “They will not cease to differ, except those upon whom your Lord has mercy—and for that He created them.”
As for what they were created for with respect to Allah’s love and good pleasure—namely His legislative will and the commands that follow from it—that is expressed in His words in Sūrah al-Dhāriyāt: “I did not create jinn and humankind except to worship Me.”
Allah, exalted is He, has clarified in His Book, for each of the terms command, will, permission, writing, judgment, decree, prohibition, and the like, which are religious—conforming to His love, pleasure, and legal command—and which are cosmic—conforming to His universal will.
For example, concerning the religious command He says in Sūrah al-Naḥl: “Indeed, Allah commands justice, excellence, and giving to relatives,” and in Sūrah al-Nisāʾ: “Indeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due,” and the like.
As for the cosmic command, He says in Sūrah Yā Sīn: “His command, when He wills a thing, is only to say to it, ‘Be!’—and it is,” and likewise in Sūrah al-Isrāʾ: “When We intend to destroy a town We command its affluent ones and they transgress therein; then the word becomes binding upon it,” according to one interpretation of the verse.
He speaks of the legislative will in Sūrah al-Baqarah: “Allah intends ease for you and does not intend hardship for you”; in Sūrah al-Nisāʾ: “Allah intends to make things clear for you, to guide you to the ways of those before you, and to relent toward you. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise”; and in Sūrah al-Māʾidah: “Allah does not intend to impose difficulty upon you; rather, He intends to purify you.”
He refers to the universal wills in Sūrah al-Baqarah: “Had Allah so willed, they would not have fought one another; but Allah does whatever He wills,” and in Sūrah al-Anʿām: “Whomever Allah wills to guide, He opens his breast to Islam; and whomever He wills to lead astray, He makes his breast constricted and tight, as though he were ascending into the sky.”
And Noah—peace be upon him—said in Sūrah Hūd: “My counsel will not benefit you if….”