—a bounty that will never be cut off—whereas the inhabitants of Hell will be turning about in the justice of Allah. Concerning them He said, “Indeed, your Lord is Doer of whatever He wills” (11:107). No one can overturn His decree, and He has willed that the people of the Fire remain in the Fire; He does whatever He wills.

This, then, is the distinction between the people of the Fire and the people of Paradise: the people of Paradise receive a gift that will never be severed, while the people of the Fire experience Allah’s justice— and Allah is Doer of whatever He wills.

Such is what has been made easy to mention regarding belief in the Last Day. The Prophet’s words, “and that you believe in the qadar, its good and its evil,” constitute the sixth pillar. Al-qadar (divine decree) is Allah’s predetermination of all that will take place until the Day of Resurrection. Allah, exalted is He, created the Pen and said to it, “Write!” It replied, “My Lord, what shall I write?” He said, “Write everything that is to be.” In that very moment it recorded all that will occur until the Day of Resurrection. Therefore, whatever strikes a person could never have missed him, and whatever misses him could never have struck him.

Allah has referred to this comprehensively in His Book: “Do you not know that Allah knows all that is in the heaven and the earth? Indeed, all that is in a Record; and that is easy for Allah” (Al-Hajj 70). He also says, “No calamity befalls the earth or your own selves but that it is in a Record before We bring it into being; indeed, that is easy for Allah” (Al-Hadid 22). The phrase “before We bring it into being” means before We create it—before We create the earth, yourselves, and the calamity itself. Allah wrote all of this fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth.