Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
It is necessary to believe in two interconnected matters:
First: Allah, the Most High, is the Creator of everything. He knew what would happen and wrote and decreed it fifty thousand years before creating the heavens and the earth. Nothing occurs in the universe except by His will and decree. Allah, the Most High, says:
﴿Indeed, We created everything according to a decree﴾ [Al-Qamar: 49].
And He, Glorified be He, says:
﴿No calamity befalls the earth or yourselves except that it is in a Book before We bring it into existence﴾ [Al-Hadid: 22].
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah wrote the decrees of all created beings fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth.” Narrated by Muslim.
Second: The servant possesses a real will, choice, and ability, through which he chooses obedience or disobedience; therefore, he is held accountable and rewarded or punished for his actions. Allah, the Most High, did not force the servant into disbelief or disobedience. Rather, He clarified for him the path of truth and falsehood, sent the messengers, revealed the Scriptures, and established the proof against him. Allah, the Most High, says:
﴿So whoever wills, let him believe; and whoever wills, let him disbelieve﴾ [Al-Kahf: 29].
And He says:
﴿Indeed, We guided him to the way, whether he is grateful or ungrateful﴾ [Al-Insan: 3].
A person recognizes within himself that he chooses his actions. He can lie or tell the truth, commit injustice or act justly, disobey or obey, and go to places of wrongdoing or to places of goodness. When he acts, he does not feel that he is being forced to do so. Therefore, he deserves recompense for what he chose and did. Allah, the Most High, says:
﴿So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it And whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it﴾ [Az-Zalzalah: 7–8].
As for what Allah has written and decreed, the servant does not know what has been written for him. Therefore, it is not permissible for him to use divine decree as an excuse for committing sin, saying, “Allah decreed this sin for me,” nor may he use it as an excuse for abandoning obedience. Rather, it is obligatory upon him to take the means that Allah has commanded, strive in obedience, and keep away from sin.
Likewise, it is not permissible to object to Allah’s decree, for Allah, the Most High, does not wrong anyone. Rather, He recompenses His servants for what they chose and did after the proof had been established against them. Allah, Glorified be He, says:
﴿Allah did not wrong them, but they wronged themselves﴾ [Al ‘Imran: 117].
And He says:
﴿Successful indeed is the one who purifies it, and ruined indeed is the one who corrupts it﴾ [Ash-Shams: 9–10].
Belief in divine decree, therefore, does not mean that the servant is forced into obedience or disobedience. Rather, Allah, the Most High, created the servant and created his ability and will, and the servant chooses and acts through them. Therefore, Allah holds him accountable for his choice and his actions. Divine decree does not abolish responsibility, nor is it a valid excuse for sin, and Allah, the Most High, does not wrong His servants.
And Allah, the Most High, knows best.