supplicate; and if a matter has not been decreed for you, then even if you were to supplicate, it would never come about nor be decreed. Such a claim is sheer misguidance—may Allah protect us—and it flatly contradicts the words of Allah Most High.

The reply is that there is no contradiction between supplication and the Divine decree. The One who has decreed and pre-ordained is the very One who commanded us to supplicate. Supplication is a cause among the created causes, and the One who brings about the effects is Allah. Certain matters have been decreed to occur through their causes: when the causes appear, the effects appear—and supplication is one of those causes.

Among the attributes of Allah is that He owns everything while nothing owns Him. Everything in the universe belongs to Him alone: “Blessed is He in whose hand is sovereignty, and He is over all things competent” [Al-Mulk: 1]; and He says, “To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth” [Al-Ḥadīd: 2]. Nothing escapes His ownership, and people together with all they possess are His property: “Say: ‘O Allah, Owner of sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty from whom You will; You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is all good; indeed, You are over all things competent’” [Āl-ʿImrān: 26].

Accordingly, no one can impose, obligate, or dictate anything upon Allah, for people are His servants, utterly in need of Him. As He, exalted is He, says: “Your Lord creates whatever He wills and chooses” [Al-Qaṣaṣ: 68], and: “Indeed, Allah does whatever He wills” [Al-Ḥajj: 18].