these for the Fire, and they will perform the deeds of the people of the Fire.’ A man asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what, then, is the point of deeds?’ The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, replied, ‘When Allah creates a man for Paradise, He causes him to perform the deeds of the people of Paradise until he dies performing one of their deeds, and thereby admits him to Paradise. When He creates a man for the Fire, He causes him to perform the deeds of the people of the Fire until he dies performing one of their deeds, and thereby admits him to the Fire.’”

In the hadith narrated by al-Hakam ibn Sufyān, from Thābit, from Anas ibn Mālik, he said that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Allah took a handful and said, ‘To Paradise, by My mercy.’ And He took a handful and said, ‘To the Fire, and I care not.’”

This hadith and others like it concern two matters.

The first is the prior divine decree: Allah, glorified be He, knew who would belong to Paradise and who would belong to the Fire before they performed their deeds. This is a truth in which one must believe. Indeed, the imams, including Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad, explicitly stated that whoever denies this has disbelieved. Rather, one must believe that Allah knew everything that would happen before it happened. One must also believe what He has told us: that He wrote it down and made it known before it came to pass. Thus, in Sahīh Muslim, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr narrated that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Allah decreed the destinies of all creatures fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth, and His Throne was upon the water.”

In Sahīh al-Bukhārī and elsewhere, ʿImrān ibn Husayn narrated that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Allah existed, and nothing else existed. His Throne was upon the water. He wrote everything in the Record and created the heavens and the earth.”

In another wording:

“Then He created the heavens and the earth.”