Then the angel asks: ‘O Allah, how long should this child’s life span be?’
Allah ordains the life span, the angel records it.
Then the angel asks: ‘O Allah! How about its sustenance?’
Again, Allah ordains as He wishes, the angel records it.
Then the angel comes forward with the page in his hand, having not added, nor subtracted anything from it, other than what Allah has ordained.”
Anas (r.a.) narrates:
Rasulullah (saw) said:
“Allah appoints an angel to every womb, and the angel says, ‘O Rabb! A drop of discharge (i.e. of semen), O Rabb! A clot, O Rabb! A piece of flesh.’ And then, if Allah wishes to complete the child's creation, the angel will say. ‘O Rabb! A male or a female? O Rabb! Wretched or blessed (in religion)? What will his livelihood be? What will his age be?’ The angel writes all this while the child is in the womb of its mother.” (Bukhari, Muslim)
Ali (r.a.) reported that one day Rasulullah (saw) was sitting with a twig in his hand and he was scratching the ground. Suddenly he raised his head and said:
“There is not one amongst you who has not been allotted his seat in Paradise or Hell.”
They said: “O Rasul of Allah, then why struggle, why not let everything go and submit?” Thereupon he said:
“No, do perform good deeds, for everyone is facilitated in that for which he has been created.”
Then he recited this verse:
“As for he who gives to the needy and seeks refuge in Allah and confirms the Word of Unity, We will facilitate him toward Paradise. But as for he who withholds and considers himself free of need and denies the Word of Unity, We will facilitate him toward Hell.” (Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi)
Jabir reported that Suriqa b. Malik b. Ju'shuin came and said: “Allah's Rasul, explain our religion to us (in a way) as if we have been created just now. Whatever deeds we do today, is it because of the fact they have been predetermined and written, or is it our doing that determines them?”
Thereupon he said:
“Everything has been predetermined and written.”
(Suraqa b. Malik) said: “If it is so, then what is the use of doing good deeds?”
Rasulullah said:
“Act, for everyone is facilitated what he intends to do. He who does good will be facilitated towards the good.” (Muslim, Tirmidhi)
Tirmidhi narrates:
Omar (r.a.) asked: “O Rasulullah, what do you say, are our activities created as we engage in them, or have they already been predestined?”
Rasulullah (saw) answered:
“O Hattab’s son, everyone is facilitated to carry out that which has been predestined for him. He who is from the good will strive for the good, and he who is from the bad will strive for the bad!”
Imran b. Husain (r.a.) said:
Two people from the Muzaina tribe came to Rasulullah (saw) and asked:
“O Rasulullah! Were all the activities we partook in today predestined and written before we carried them out, or were they determined and recorded after we carried them out?”
Rasulullah (saw) said:
“No, everything has been predestined and preordained. The verse in the Book of the Exalted Allah confirms this: ‘The self and the One who orders (fashions, guides) the self and shows the self how to do good and bad.’” (Quran 91:7-8)
Abdulwahid b. Sulaim (r.a.) narrates:
“I came from Mecca and met with Ata b. Abi Rahah and asked him: “O Abu Muhammad, the people in Basra are saying there is no such thing as predetermining?”
Ata said: “Dear son, do you read the Quran?”