decreed, supplication will be of no avail. This is among the most unsound views, both in terms of religious teaching and reason.
Equally unsound is the assertion:
“Reliance upon Allah and supplication neither bring benefit nor avert harm; they are merely acts of worship. The true nature of reliance upon Allah is equivalent to simply entrusting all matters to Him.”
Although some shaykhs have said this, it too is mistaken. The same applies to the assertion that supplication is merely an act of worship.
These views and others like them share a single underlying premise: their proponents imagined that, because matters are already ordained and decreed, they cannot depend upon causes that are likewise ordained and that involve the servant’s actions. They failed to understand that Allah, glorified is He, ordains and decrees matters through the causes upon which He has made them dependent, whether those causes are people’s actions or otherwise. Thus, pursuing their argument to its logical conclusion would entail abandoning action altogether.
The Prophet—may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace—was asked about this principle on several occasions and answered it. Thus, both compilers relate in their Sahīh collections that ʿImrān ibn Husayn said:
“The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace—was asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, are those destined for Paradise and those destined for Hell already known?’
“He replied, ‘Yes.’
“They asked, ‘Then what is the purpose of deeds?’
“He replied, ‘Everyone is enabled to do that for which he was created.’”
Also in the two Sahīh collections, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib said:
“We were attending a funeral at which the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was present. He sat down with a walking stick and began poking the ground with it. Then he raised his head and said, ‘There is no soul born whose place in Hell or Paradise has not already been written down, and who has not already been recorded as wretched or blessed.’” He continued: