Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah sanctify his soul—was asked:

Some people have been singled out for bliss and others for misery. Those destined for bliss will not become wretched, and those destined for misery will not attain bliss. Deeds are not sought for their own sake, but to attain bliss and avert misery. Yet deeds already existed before we did, so there is no point in exhausting oneself with deeds or restraining oneself from pleasures, since what was written in pre-eternity will inevitably occur. Please explain this.

He replied—may Allah have mercy on him:

Praise be to Allah. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, answered this “question” in several hadiths. In the two Sahīhs, Imrān ibn Husayn reported:

“It was asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, are those destined for Paradise and those destined for the Fire already known?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ It was asked, ‘Then what is the point of striving?’ He replied, ‘Everyone is enabled to do what he was created for.’”

In al-Bukhārī’s version:

“I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, everyone acts in accordance with what he was created for, or what he has been enabled to do.’”

Muslim narrated in his Sahīh from Abū al-Aswad al-Du’alī, who said: “Imrān ibn Husayn said to me, ‘Tell me about what people do today and strive to accomplish: is it something already decreed for them and settled by a prior decree, or does it concern what lies ahead of them, in light of what their Prophet has brought them and the proof that has been established against them?’ I replied, ‘Rather, it is something already decreed for them and settled.’ He then said, ‘Would that not be injustice?’ I was deeply alarmed by this and said: