Sahih Muslim, Book 33, Number 6393:

'Abdullah b. Mas'ud reported:

Evil one is he who is evil in the womb of his mother and
the good one is he who takes lesson from the (fate of )
others.
The narrator came to a person from amongst the
Companion of Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon
him) who was called Hudhaifa b. Usaid Ghifari and
said: How can a person be an evil one without
(committing an evil) deed?

Thereupon the person said to him: You are surprised at
this, whereas I have heard Allah's Messenger (may
peace be upon him) as saying:
When forty nights pass after the semen gets into the
womb, Allah sends the angel and gives him the shape.
Then he creates his sense of hearing, sense of sight, his
skin, his flesh, his bones, and then says: My Lord,
would he be male or female ? And your Lord decides as
He desires and the angel then puts down that also and
then says: My Lord, what about his age? And your Lord
decides as He likes it and the angel puts it down.

Then he says: My Lord, what about his livelihood?

And then the Lord decides as He likes and the angel
writes it down, and then the angel gets out with his
scroll of destiny in his hand and nothing is added to it
and nothing is subtracted from it.
God had a plan for you before you were born, and He still has a
plan for you.

God's plan for you is necessary and glorious.

His plan is vital to your success and important to the world.

God's plan is not set in stone, as if we were robots pre-programmed
in the factory.

That would strip us of free will and deny our natures.

Rather, I believe that God has a flexible plan for each human being:
a plan that allows that person to benefit the world with his/her
unique talents.

This is the Islamic view of predestination.

There is no doubt that God has decreed everything that
happens in the universe from the beginning of time to
the end, and that God has written it all in the Book of
Decree:

Do you not know that Allah knows what is in the heaven

and earth? Indeed, that is in a Record. Indeed that, for
Allah , is easy.
Hajj 70

It is narrated that Abdullah ibn Amr said: I heard the
Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saying:

Allah wrote down the decrees of creation fifty thousand
years before He created the heavens and the earth.
(Muslim)

Everything happens by the will of God. Whatever He
wills happens, and whatever He does not will does not
happen.

Belief in al-qadar (predestination) does not contradict
the idea that a person has free will with regard to
actions in which he has free choice. Shariah and real
life both indicate that people have this will.

God says concerning man's will:

That Day will be the sure Reality: Therefore, who so will,
let him take a (straight) return to his Lord!
Naba 39

These verses confirm that man has a will and the ability
to do what he wants and not to do what he does not
want.

With regard to real life, everyone knows that he has a
will and the ability to do what he wants and not to do
what he does not want. And he can distinguish
between the things that happen when he wants them
to, such as walking, and those that happen without
him wanting them to, such as shivering. But the will
and ability of man are subject to the will and decree of
God.

Two types of Qadar, fixed and flexible.
The fixed Qadar is that which happens to us from
beyond our control.

For example the time and place of our birth, any illnesses
and natural disasters that befall us, etc.

The flexible Qadar is that which is within the realm of
our free will.
Whether we do good or evil, and what we choose to
believe and how we choose to live.

There are two types of provision and lifespan:

the first type has already been decreed and is written
in Umm al-Kitab, and cannot be changed or altered.

The next type of qadar, God has informed His angels of
His decrees.

This is the type where provisions and lifespan may
increase or decrease.

Hence God the Almighty says:
Allah blots out what he wills and confirms [what He
wills]. And with Him is the Mother of the book.
(Ar-Ra'd 13: 39)
The mother of the Book (Umm al-Kitab) is the Book of
Decree, in which God has decreed all things as they will
always be without change.
However, the decrees contained in the books of the angels,
such as lifespan and provisions, may increase or decrease
according to various circumstances; thereafter, the angels
will rewrite a person's provision and lifespan.
If a person upholds the ties of kinship, his provisions and
lifespan will be extended, otherwise they will decrease.





So God has a plan for you, but fulfillment of that plan is
up to you: the choices you make, as well as your degree
of faith, persistence and determination.

God's plan for you is important to the world because
God created nothing in vain.
Look at His creation.
Everything has a purpose, from the sun that heats our
world, to the bacteria that consume waste.
You are the same. You have a purpose.
You are necessary to the world. If your presence were not
vital in some way, then you would not have been
made.




Discovering God's Plan


How do we discover God's plan for us?

Where do we find it?

How do we realize it in our lives?

It's not as difficult as we might think.
It wouldn't make sense for God to have a plan for us and
then leave us stumbling in the dark.
God's plan doesn't have to be a mystery.

If we trust God, do what He asks, and follow our
hearts, His plan will unfold in our lives like a
brightly lit path.

If you are trying to follow God's guidance, but you find
yourself confronted by obstacles and hardship, don't
despair.

The hardship is probably a sign that you are on the right path.
Consider our Prophets (peace be upon them all) who faced
tremendous obstacles:
The Prophet Ibrahim was disowned by his family and thrown
by his people into a blazing fire; God rescued him from
that, and made him the father of two nations.

God inspired the mother of the baby Moses and told her to
place her infant into a chest and send it floating down the
Nile. If the soldiers of Pharaoh ever learned about his birth:
"And We inspired to the mother of Moses, "Suckle him; but
when you fear for him, cast him into the river and do not
fear and do not grieve. Indeed, We will return him to you
and will make him [one] of the messengers." (Al-Qasas 7)
That was a hard plan to follow, but she trusted her Lord, and
carried out her mission.

The young Joseph was thrown by his brothers into a well;
later he was sold into slavery, then imprisoned for
years; but in the end he became an important minister,
and was reunited with his father.
Mary, the mother of Jesus (peace be upon him) delivered
her child alone under a palm tree, far from her people
as she feared their reaction; but God helped her
through miracles, until she became the honored
mother of a great Prophet.
The Prophet Jonah gave up on his mission to the people
of Nineveh, ventured onto a ship and was then cast
into the sea, where he was swallowed by a fish. At the
point of despair, he called upon God with all his heart
and was rescued. He returned to his mission and
achieved success.


God's plan may be so
challenging that we
may perceive it but
decline to follow it.

Aisha, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him) was slandered by an ugly lie, but God
brought the truth to light, and Aisha became a leader
and scholar in her own right.

Umm Salamah lost her beloved husband Abu Salamah
in the battle of Uhud; she thought that no husband
could ever be better than him, and yet she ended up
marrying the Prophet Muhammad himself.


Things are not always what they seem.

Be patient.

God has a plan for you.