951 — Ubayd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Ali informed us: al-Husayn ibn Isma‘il informed us: Muhammad ibn Ishkab narrated to us: Uthman ibn Umar narrated to us: Azrah ibn Thabit, from (...) .

952 — Ubayd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad informed us: Ahmad ibn al-Hasan informed us: Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad narrated to us: Uthman ibn Umar narrated to us: Azrah ibn Thabit.

953 — Ali ibn Umar ibn Ibrahim informed us: Uthman ibn Ahmad narrated to us: Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad informed us: Uthman ibn Umar informed us: Azrah ibn Thabit, from Yahya ibn Aqil, from Yahya ibn Ya‘mar, from Abu al-Aswad al-Dayli, who said ⦗600⦘:

Imran ibn Husayn said to me, “What do you think of the deeds that people perform and strive at today? Are they something decreed for them and already passed, or are they matters yet to come, concerning what their Prophet brought them and by which the proof has been established?”

I said, “No; rather, they are something decreed for them and already passed.”

He said, “Then would that be injustice?”

I was greatly alarmed and said, “There is no created being except that it belongs to Allah.” Ibn Ishkab added, “And is under His dominion: ‘He is not questioned about what He does, but they will be questioned’ [al-Anbiya 21:23].”

He said, “May Allah guide you rightly. I only wished to gauge your understanding. A man from Muzaynah came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, what do you think of the deeds people perform and strive at today? Are they something decreed for them and already passed, or are they matters yet to come, concerning what their Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, brought them?’

He replied, ‘They are something decreed for them and already passed upon them.’

The man asked, ‘Then why do we act?’

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘Whomever Allah created for one of the two final abodes, He employs him in deeds suited to it. The confirmation of this is in the Book of Allah: “Then inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness” [al-Shams 91:8].’

Muslim recorded it from Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, from Uthman ibn Umar.