on the prior decree and abandons the deeds he has been commanded to perform is among those whose deeds bring them the greatest loss, whose efforts in this worldly life have gone astray. Their abandonment of the deeds incumbent upon them is itself part of what was decreed, through which they were enabled to perform the deeds of the wretched. For the blessed are those who do what is commanded and refrain from what is forbidden. Whoever abandons the obligatory deeds he has been commanded to perform and does what is forbidden, relying on the decree, is among the wretched who are enabled to perform the deeds of the wretched.

This answer given by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is entirely sound and correct. It resembles his answer in the hadith reported by al-Tirmidhī:

“He was asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what do you say about medicines with which we treat ourselves, healing recitations we ask to have recited over us, and protective measures we take? Do they ward off anything Allah has decreed?’ He replied, ‘They are part of Allah’s decree.’”

This is because Allah—glorified and exalted is He—knows things as they truly are, and likewise records them. If He knows that they will come about through causes, whether human actions or otherwise, and has decreed and determined that they will occur in this way, it is not permissible to suppose that those things will occur without the causes Allah has appointed for them. This applies to all events.

For example, if Allah knows and has recorded that a child will be born to a particular couple, and Allah, glorified is He, has made this dependent upon the parents coming together in intercourse and the emission of the lowly fluid from which the child is conceived, then the child cannot come into existence without the cause upon which its existence was made dependent, even though causes are of “two kinds”: ordinary and extraordinary.