Chapter on al-Qadar (the Divine Decree)

ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad narrated to us, from Naṣīr ibn Yaḥyā, who said: I heard Abū Muṭīʿ say: Abū Ḥanīfah—may Allah be pleased with him—reported: Hammad narrated to us from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd—may Allah be pleased with him—who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared:

“The creation of each one of you is gathered in his mother’s womb for forty days as a nutfah (a drop of fluid); then for the same length of time he is an ʿalaqah (a clinging clot); then for the same length of time he is a muḍghah (a chewed-like lump). After that, Allah sends an angel who writes down his provision, his life span, and whether he will be wretched or blessed. By Him besides Whom there is no deity, a man may perform the deeds of the people of the Fire until nothing remains between him and it but a forearm’s length; then what is written overtakes him, and he acts with the deeds of the people of Paradise, dies, and enters it. Conversely, a man may perform the deeds of the people of Paradise until nothing remains between him and it but a forearm’s length; then he acts with the deeds of the people of the Fire, dies, and enters it.”