The Fruits of Faith in the Divine Decree and Predestination
One of the greatest fruits of believing in qadaʾ and qadar (the divine decree and predestination) is the soundness of a person’s faith in all its pillars, for belief in the decree is one of the six pillars of faith without which true iman cannot be complete, as affirmed by the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
Another fruit of this belief is the serenity and ease of heart, and freedom from anxiety when one is confronted with the hardships of life. The believer knows that whatever befalls him has been decreed and must inevitably occur, and that no one can repel it. He internalises the Prophet’s ﷺ words: “Know that what has come to you could never have missed you, and what has missed you could never have come to you.” When this takes root, his soul is tranquil and his mind at rest. By contrast, the one who rejects qadaʾ and qadar is overwhelmed by cares and sorrows, tormented by anxiety, to the point that he grows weary of life itself and seeks escape from it, even by taking his own life. This is plain to see in the high numbers of those who end their lives out of despair over their present and pessimism about their future—an inevitable consequence of their flawed creed.
Allah the Exalted says: “No calamity befalls on earth or in yourselves but it is inscribed in a Book before We bring it into being; surely that is easy for Allah, so that you may not grieve over what escapes you nor exult in what He has granted you. And Allah does not love every conceited boaster.” 1
Here, Allah informs us that whatever calamities occur on earth or within our own selves are preordained and written; they will inevitably take place, no matter how we might try to ward them off. He then clarifies that the wisdom behind telling us this is to bring reassurance: that we neither despair and lament when adversity strikes, nor become so jubilant at blessings that we forget their consequences. Rather, our duty is to be patient in the face of trials, never despairing of Allah’s mercy, and to be grateful in times of ease, never feeling secure from Allah’s subtle testing.