has decreed that I shall enter Paradise, then that is where I will go; and if He has decreed that I shall enter the Fire, then that is where I will end up,’ and he consequently does nothing.
He is told in reply: ‘You do not apply this reasoning to your own life. Do you stay at home, abandon the search for a livelihood, and say, “If Allah has already written provision for me, He will bring it to my doorstep”? Or do you go out, strive, and seek sustenance? Even animals and birds do not remain in their nests; they leave to look for food. The hadith states: “If you were to rely upon Allah with true reliance, He would provide for you as He provides for the birds: they leave in the morning hungry and return in the evening full” (1). Allah has created them with an instinct to seek provision and to employ the available means—yet they are only beasts, whereas you are an intelligent human being!
Likewise, if someone stole something from you, would you merely say, ‘This is decree and destiny,’ or would you lodge a complaint? In truth, you would pursue him, demand your right, and bring a legal case; you would never invoke divine decree as an excuse.
[In other words,] He knew their actions from pre-eternity.
The Exalted said: ‘As for the one who gives and is mindful of God, and affirms the best promise, We shall ease him toward ease; but the one who is stingy, deems himself self-sufficient, and denies the best promise, We shall ease him toward hardship’ (al-Layl 92:5-10).
Deeds are judged by how they end. A person must not be deceived by his own works, even if he were the most righteous of the righteous; he should always fear an evil conclusion. Likewise, one must never declare another person to be destined for Hell on the basis of his present deeds, for no one knows how his life will conclude. This is clarified by the Prophet’s hadith narrated by Ibn Masʿūd: ‘Each of you is collected in his mother’s womb for forty days as a drop, then for the same period as a clot, then for the same period as a lump of flesh. Then the angel is sent to him, breathes the soul into him, and is commanded to write four matters: his provision, his lifespan, his deeds, and whether he is wretched or blessed. A man may perform the deeds of the people of Paradise until there remains between him and it but a cubit, yet what has been written overtakes him and he performs the deeds of the people of Hell, whereupon he enters it; and a man may perform the deeds of the people of Hell until there remains between him and it but a cubit, yet what has been written overtakes him and he performs the deeds of the people of Paradise, whereupon he enters it’ (2).
Therefore, one fears an evil end but does not judge others to have met such an end, for he does not know how their lives will be concluded. Repentance erases whatever came before it, as He says: ‘Say to those who disbelieve: if they desist, what has passed will be forgiven them…’ (al-Anfāl 8:38).