The third level is the decisive will of Allah. It means that Allah, exalted is He, wills and desires every matter; nothing happens except that Allah has already willed and desired it, exactly as it is written in the Preserved Tablet and exactly as He has always known it. He wills every affair at its appointed time and desires every event at the moment it occurs. Nothing takes place outside Allah’s will or independent of His desire. Therefore, whoever claims that things occur without Allah’s willing or wanting them is a disbeliever.

The fourth level is creation and bringing into existence. Allah is the Creator of everything; once He wills and desires a thing, He creates it and brings it into being. All things are created by Allah, including the actions of the servants and what they acquire.

These four levels must be believed in; without them a person does not truly believe in destiny. Knowledge, writing, will, and creation—all of these must be affirmed. Whoever denies any one of them is a disbeliever who has apostatized from Islam, for he has denied one of the pillars of faith, namely belief in destiny.