He then said: “Al-Wāsitī said: ‘Spiritual stations are allotted portions and assigned qualities. How can they be procured through actions or attained through striving?’”

Taken at face value, these words are unsound; indeed, they must be rejected. This very question was put to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as established in authentic hadiths narrated by ʿImrān ibn Husayn, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, and others. When he told them about divine decree, they asked: “Should we not abandon deeds and rely on what has been written?” He replied:

“No. Act, for everyone will be enabled to do that for which they were created.”

In the two Sahīh collections, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib reported:

“We were attending a funeral in Baqīʿ al-Gharqad when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came to us. He sat down, and we sat around him. He had a small staff with him. He lowered his head and began tapping the ground with his staff. Then he said: ‘There is not one of you whose place in the Fire and whose place in Paradise have not already been written.’