I had not done this, or if only I had done that, things would have turned out differently.’ This is mistaken. Do what is required of you and, once you have done so, entrust the outcome to Allah.

Someone might ask, “How can I invoke divine decree? How am I to say, ‘It is Allah’s decree, and whatever He wills, He does’?”

The answer is: yes, this is an appeal to predestination, and invoking it in its proper place is perfectly acceptable. For this reason Allah said to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord—there is no god but He—and turn away from those who associate others with Him. Had Allah so willed, they would not have practiced idolatry” (Q 6:106-107). He thus made clear that their idolatry occurred only by His will.

What is forbidden is to cite divine decree as a pretext for persisting in sin, because Allah also says: “Those who associate others with Him will say, ‘Had Allah willed, neither we nor our fathers would have practiced idolatry, nor would we have forbidden anything.’ Likewise did those before them lie until they tasted Our punishment” (Q 6:148).

But invoking decree in its proper context is unobjectionable. One night the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came upon ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fāṭimah bint Muḥammad (may Allah be pleased with them) and found them sleeping. He asked, “What kept you from rising?”—meaning to stand in night prayer. ʿAlī replied, “Messenger of Allah, our souls are in Allah’s hand; had He willed that we rise, we would have risen.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) then left, striking his thigh and reciting, “Yet man is, of all things, most argumentative” (Q 18:54).

This was indeed an argument, yet ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib’s plea was valid, for the sleeper