31 - Some types of God’s decree

عن عبدِ الله بنِ مسعودٍ قال: حدَّثنا رسولُ الله ﷺ- وهو الصادقُ المصدوقُ -: «إِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ يُجْمَعُ فِي بَطْنِ أُمِّهِ أَرْبَعِينَ يَوْمًا، ثُمَّ يَكُونُ عَلَقَةً مِثْلَ ذَلِكَ، ثُمَّ يَكُونُ مُضْغَةً مِثْلَ ذَلِكَ، ثُمَّ يَبْعَثُ اللهُ إِلَيْهِ مَلَكًا بِأَرْبَعِ كَلِمَاتٍ، فَيُكْتَبُ عَمَلُهُ، وَأَجَلُهُ، وَرِزْقُهُ، وَشَقِيٌّ أَمْ سَعِيدٌ، ثُمَّ يُنْفَخُ فِيهِ الرُّوحُ، فَإِنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَيَعْمَلُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ النَّارِ، حَتَّى مَا يَكُونُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَهَا إِلَّا ذِرَاعٌ، فَيَسْبِقُ عَلَيْهِ الكِتَابُ، فَيَعْمَلُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ الجَنَّةِ، فَيَدْخُلُ الجَنَّةَ، وَإِنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَيَعْمَلُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ الجَنَّةِ، حَتَّى مَا يَكُونُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَهَاإلَّا ذِرَاعٌ، فَيَسْبِقُ عَلَيْهِ الكِتَابُ، فَيَعْمَلُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ النَّارِ، فَيَدْخُلُ النَّارَ» متفق عليه

‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd narrated: God’s Messenger, the truthful and who is given the truth, said:

1. The creation of any one of you is brought together in his mother’s womb for forty days, then he is a clinging cell mass for a similar period, then he is an embryo for a similar period. 2. Then God sends him an angel who is commanded to write four words: he writes down his means of livelihood, lifespan, actions and whether he is happy or unhappy. 3. Then the breath of life is blown into him. 4. Any one of you may behave like the people of Hell until there is but an arm’s length between him and it, but that which has been written overtakes him. He will behave like the people of Heaven and thus he enters it. 5. And any one of you may behave like the people of Heaven until there is but an arm’s length between him and it, but that which has been written overtakes him. He will behave like the people of Hell and thus he enters it.’ .

Related by al-Bukhari, 3332; Muslim, 2643

Summary of Meaning

In this hadith, the Prophet mentions some stages of the development of a human pregnancy and when life is blown into it, as well as the writing of what God has determined for it.

  The Prophet (peace be upon him) then mentions that the final deeds a person does determine that person’s fate in the life to come. Whoever concludes his life doing what the people of Heaven do will be in Heaven and whoever concludes his life doing as the people of Hell will join them there

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