Hadith Thirteen

16 – With the same chain, down to Abū Ḥanīfah, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir:

Suraqah ibn Mālik ibn Juʿsham al-Mudlijī said, “Messenger of Allah, explain to us this religion of ours as though we had just been created for it this very moment. Upon what should we act? Is it in something whose decrees have already been fixed and the pens ⦗28⦘ have finished writing, or is it a matter newly initiated?”

He replied, “Rather, it is that in which the decrees have been fixed and the pens have finished writing.”

Suraqah asked, “Then what is the point of action, Messenger of Allah?”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Act, for every person will find it easy to do that for which he was created.” Then he recited this verse:

“As for the one who gives, is mindful, and affirms the best—la ilaha illa Allah (there is no deity but Allah)—We shall ease him toward ease. But as for the one who is stingy, thinks himself self-sufficient, and denies the best—la ilaha illa Allah—We shall ease him toward hardship.”