Chapter on Divine Decree

ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad narrated to us, from Naṣīr ibn Yaḥyā, who said: I heard Abū Muṭīʿ say: Abū Ḥanīfa—may Allah be pleased with him—told us: Ḥammād narrated to us from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd—may Allah be pleased with them—who said that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, declared:

“Each of you is created in his mother’s womb, gathered there for 40 days as a nuṭfa (a drop of fluid); then he is an ʿalaqa (a clinging clot) for the same length of time; then a muḍgha (a chewed lump) for the same length of time. Afterwards Allah sends an angel to him who records his provision, his lifespan, and whether he will be wretched or blessed. By the One besides Whom there is no deity: a man may perform the deeds of the people of the Fire until there remains between him and it only an arm’s length, but what has been written overtakes him, so he acts with the deeds of the people of Paradise, dies upon that, and thus enters it. And a man may perform the deeds of the people of Paradise until there remains between him and it only an arm’s length, then he acts with the deeds of the people of the Fire, dies upon that, and thus enters it.”