As for His words:

“No one is granted a long life, nor is anything diminished of his lifespan,”

it has been said that the reference is to humankind in general: no human lifespan is prolonged, nor is any human lifespan shortened. Prolonging and shortening life may then have two meanings.

The first is that one person’s life is long and another’s is short, so the latter’s shorter life represents a reduction relative to someone else’s. Similarly, a long-lived person has a longer life, while this other person has a shorter life; his shorter life is thus a reduction relative to someone else’s, just as prolonging life is an increase relative to another’s. A reduction may also mean a reduction in the recorded lifespan, just as an increase may mean an increase in the recorded lifespan.

In the two Sahīhs, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—is reported to have said:

“Whoever wishes his provision to be increased and his lifespan to be extended, let him uphold his ties of kinship.”

Some people have said that this means blessing in one’s lifespan, whereby a person accomplishes in a short time what another could accomplish only over a long period. They argue that provision and lifespan are both decreed and recorded. They should be told: that blessing—namely, the increase in deeds and benefit—is also decreed and recorded, and this applies to all things.

The correct answer is that Allah records an appointed term for His servant in the angels’ records.