and not in this world; and another said that invoking divine decree benefits only the elect, who witness divine decree unfolding in their lives, rather than ordinary people. The hadith explicitly states that Adam invoked divine decree and thereby prevailed over Moses in argument.

Moreover, Moses knew better than to reproach someone who had repented, and both Moses and Adam knew better than to suppose that divine decree could excuse anyone’s sin. Were that true, it would provide an excuse for Iblīs, Pharaoh, and every unbeliever and sinner.

Likewise, the claim that divine decree may not be invoked in this world, but only after death, is false, as is the claim that the elect may legitimately invoke it. All the prophets repented of their sins, and none of them invoked divine decree as an excuse. Their sins occasioned rebuke and reproach, as Allah has made clear in the Quran. Rather, Moses reproached Adam for the misery that befell him and his descendants through their expulsion from Paradise, as stated in the hadith: “Why did you cause us and yourself to be expelled from Paradise?”

Thus, he reproached him for the calamity that had befallen them because of him, not over the question of whether or not he had disobeyed the command. Allah had already accepted his repentance for that, and his Lord had chosen and guided him. Adam therefore explained that divine decree had already determined this: whatever befalls a servant could never have missed him, and whatever misses him could never have befallen him.

As Allah Most High says:

“No calamity befalls the earth or yourselves