Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
The hadith is authentic. It was narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, and recorded by Imam Ahmad, al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Hibban, al-Hakim, and others. A number of scholars declared it authentic or sound. Al-Tirmidhi said: “It is a hasan (good) hadith.” Al-Hakim and al-Dhahabi declared it authentic, and al-Haythami said: “Its narrators are trustworthy.” Shaykh al-Albani, may Allah have mercy on him, also declared it authentic.
The meaning of the hadith is that Allah, the Exalted, created creation and then cast upon them from His light. Whoever was touched by that light became among the people of guidance, while whoever missed it became among the people of misguidance. Allah had already known in His eternal knowledge what each servant would be upon in terms of faith and disbelief, obedience and disobedience, and He recorded that in the Preserved Tablet.
The hadith does not mean that guidance and misguidance occurred merely by chance, nor does it mean that a person was compelled to do what he does. Rather, this is based upon Allah’s prior knowledge of what the servant would choose and do during his life. This is why the end of the hadith states: “The pen has dried upon the knowledge of Allah, the Almighty.” This means that what Allah recorded in the Preserved Tablet was preceded by His knowledge, and what Allah knew would occur cannot fail to occur.
The scholars have explained that this hadith is connected to belief in divine decree. Allah knew all things before they occurred, wrote them down, willed them, and created them. At the same time, the servant acts and chooses, and he is held accountable for the actions that he chose and carried out.
As for the statement: “from His light,” it does not necessarily mean that what is intended is a physical light, as some people may initially understand it. Rather, the hadith indicates the light of guidance with which Allah grants special favor to whomever He wills among His servants. Allah, the Exalted, says:
“Or [is the one who was] dead and We gave him life and made for him light by which he walks among the people…”
[Al-An‘am: 122]
And He, Glorified and Exalted, says:
“Allah is the Protector of those who believe. He brings them out of darknesses into the light.”
[Al-Baqarah: 257]
Thus, the hadith is established and authentic in meaning, and it does not contradict the Qur’an or the fundamental belief in divine decree. Rather, it explains the precedence of Allah’s knowledge and His recording of all things, and that guidance and misguidance are included within His decree, while the servant remains accountable and possesses choice regarding what he does.
And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.