, they will be enabled to perform the deeds of the blessed, while the wretched will be enabled to perform the deeds of the wretched.’ Then he recited, ‘As for he who gives and fears Allah,’ through to the end of the verses.”
In another narration:
“One day, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sitting with a stick in his hand, tapping the ground with it. He raised his head and said, ‘There is no soul among you whose place in Paradise or Hell is not already known.’
“They said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what, then, is the purpose of action? Should we not simply rely on this?’
“He replied, ‘No. Act, for everyone will be enabled to do that for which he was created.’ Then he recited, ‘As for he who gives,’”—the verse.
Also in the two Sahīh collections, ‘Imrān ibn Husayn said:
“It was asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, are the people of Paradise already known and distinguished from the people of Hell?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ Then it was asked, ‘Why, then, should people act?’ He replied, ‘Everyone will be enabled to do that for which he was created.’”
In another narration:
“Two men from Muzayna came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, tell us about what people do today and strive to accomplish: is it something already decreed for them and settled by a prior divine decree, or something they face afresh in response to what their Prophet has brought them, with the proof established against them?’
“He replied, ‘No. Rather, it is something already decreed for them and settled. This is confirmed in the Book of Allah: “And by the soul and He who proportioned it, and inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness.”’”
In Sahīh Muslim, Jābir ibn ‘Abd Allāh said:
“Surāqa ibn Mālik ibn Ju‘shum came and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, explain our religion to us as though we had only just been created. How does our action today stand: does it concern what the pens have already dried upon and the decrees have already determined, or what remains to be determined?’
“He replied, ‘No. Rather, it concerns what the pens have already dried upon and the decrees have already determined.’
“He asked, ‘What, then, is the purpose of action?’
“He replied, ‘Act, for everyone will be enabled.’”