The first to speak on Divine decree in al-Basrah was Ma`bad al Juhani. I and Humaid b. `Abd al-Rahman al-Himyari proceeded to perform Hajj or `Umrah. We said : would that we meet any of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) so that we could ask him about what they say with regard to divine decree. So Allah helped us to meet `Abd Allah b. `Umar who was entering the mosque. So I and my companion surrounded him, and I thought that my companion would entrust me the task of speaking to him. Then I said : Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman, there appeared on our side some people who recite the Qur'an and are engaged in the hair-splitting of knowledge. They conceive that there is no Divine decree and everything happens freely without predestination. He said : When you meet those people, tell them that I am free from them, and they are free from me. By Him by Whom swears ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar, if one of them has gold equivalent to Uhud and he spends it, Allah will not accept it from him until he believes in Divine decree. He then said : ‘Umar b. Khattab transmitted to me a tradition, saying : One day when we were with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) a man with very white clothing and very black hair came up to us. No mark of travel was visible on him, and we did not recognize him. Sitting down beside the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), leaning his knees against his and placing his hands on his thighs, he said : tell me, Muhammad, about Islam. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said : Islam means that you should testify that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is Allah’s Apostle, that you should observe prayer, pay Zakat, fast during Ramadan, and perform Hajj to the house (i.e., Ka`bah), If you have the means to go. He said : You have spoken the truth. We were surprised at his questioning him and then declaring that he spoke the truth. He said : Now tell me about faith. He replied : It means that you should believe in Allah, his angels, his Books, his Apostles and the last day, and that you should believe in the decreeing both of good and evil. He said : You have spoken the truth. He said : now tell me about doing good (ihsan). He replied: It means that you should worship Allah as though you are seeing him; if you are not seeing him, he is seeing you. He said: Now tell me about the hour. He replied : The one who is asked about it is no better informed than the one who is asking. He said : Then tell me about its signs. He replied : That a maidservant should beget her mistress, and that you should see barefooted, naked, poor men and shepherds exalting themselves in buildings. ‘Umar said : He then went away, and I waited for three days, then he said : Do you know who the questioner was, `Umar? I replied : Allah and his Apostle know best. He said : He was Gabriel who came to you to teach you your religion.

we met ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar. We told him about divine decree and what they said about it. He then mentioned something similar to it. He added : A man of Muzainah or juhainah asked : What is the good in doing anything, Messenger of Allah ? should we think that a thing has passed and gone or a thing that has happened now (without predestination)? He replied : About a thing that has passed and gone (i.e. predestined). A man or some people asked: Then, why action? He replied: Those who are among the number of those who go to Paradise will be helped to do the deeds of the people who will go to Paradise, and those who are among the number of those who go to Hell will be helped to do the deeds of those who will go to Hell.

Abu Dawud said: 'Alqamah was a Murji'i.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to sit among his Companions. A stranger would come and not recognize him (the Prophet) until he asked (about him). So we asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to make a place where he might take his seat so that when a stranger came, he might recognise him. So we built a terrace of soil on which he would take his seat, and we would sit beside him. He then mentioned something similar to this Hadith saying: A man came, and he described his appearance. He saluted from the side of the assembly, saying: Peace be upon you, Muhammad. The Prophet (ﷺ) then responded to him.

I went to Ubayy b. Ka’b and said him : I am confused about Divine decree, so tell me something by means of which Allah may remove the confusion from my mind. He replied : were Allah to punish everyone in the heavens and in the earth. He would do so without being unjust to them, and were he to show mercy to them his mercy would be much better than their actions merited. Were you to spend in support of Allah’s cause an amount of gold equivalent to Uhud, Allah would not accept it from you till you believed in divine decree and knew that what has come to you could not miss you and that what has missed you could not come to you. Were you to die believing anything else you would enter Hell. He said : I then went to ‘Abd Allah b. MAs’ud and he said something to the same effect. I next went to Hudhaifah b. al-Yaman and he said something to the same effect. I next went to Zaid b. Thabit who told me something from the Prophet (May peace be upon him) to the same effect.

Son! You will not get the taste of the reality of faith until you know that what has come to you could not miss you, and that what has missed you could not come to you. I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: The first thing Allah created was the pen. He said to it: Write. It asked: What should I write, my Lord? He said: Write what was decreed about everything till the Last Hour comes. Son! I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say : He who dies on something other than this does not belong to me.

Ahmad b. Salih said from 'Amr from Tawus who heard Abu Hurairah.

Moses said : My lord, show us Adam who caused us and himself to come out from Paradise. So Allah showed him Adam. He asked : Are you our father, Adam? Adam said to him : Yes. He said : Are you the one into whom Allah breathed of his spirit, taught you all the names, and commanded angels (to prostrate) and they prostrated to you? He replied : Yes. He asked : Then what moved you to cause us and yourself to come out from paradise? Adam asked him : And who are you? He said : Yes. He asked : Did you not find that was decreed in the book (records) of Allah before I was created? He replied : Yes. He asked : Then why do you blame me about a thing for which Divine decree had already passed before me ? The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) said : So Adam got the better of Moses in argument (peace be upon him).

Muslim ibn Yasar al-Juhani said: When Umar ibn al-Khattab was asked about the verse "When your Lord took their offspring from the backs of the children of Adam" - al-Qa'nabi recited the verse--he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say when he was questioned about it: Allah created Adam, then passed His right hand over his back, and brought forth from it his offspring, saying: I have these for Paradise and these will do the deeds of those who go to Paradise. He then passed His hand over his back and brought forth from it his offspring, saying: I have created these for Hell, and they will do the deeds of those who go to Hell.

A man asked: What is the good of doing anything, Messenger of Allah? The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: When Allah creates a servant for Paradise, He employs him in doing the deeds of those who will go to Paradise, so that his final action before death is one of the deeds of those who go to Paradise, for which He will bring him into Paradise. But when He creates a servant for Hell, He employs him in doing the deeds of those who will go to Hell, so that his final action before death is one of the deeds of those who go to Hell, for which He will bring him into Hell.

I was with ‘Umar b. al-Khattab when he transmitted this tradition. The tradition of Malik is more perfect.

The boy whom al-Khidr had killed was created an infidel. Had he lived, he would have moved his parents to rebellion and unbelief.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) explaining the verse “As for the youth his parents were people of Faith,” he was created infidel the day when he was created.

Ubayy b. Ka’b told me that the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) said : Al-khidr saw a youth playing with boys. He took him by his head and uprooted it. Moses then said : Hast thou slain an innocent person who had slain none.

The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) who spoke the truth and whose word was belief told us the following : The constituents of one of you are collected for forty days in his mother’s womb, then they become a piece of congealed blood for a similar period, then they become a lump of flesh for a similar period. Then Allah sends to him an angel with four words who records his provision the period of his life, his deeds, and whether he will be miserable or blessed ; thereafter he breathes the spirit into him. One of you will do the deeds of those who go to Paradise so that there will be only a cubit between him and it or will be within a cubit, then what is decreed will overcome him so that he will do the deeds of those who go to Hell and will enter it; and one of you will do the deeds of those who go to hell, so that there will be only a cubit between him and it or will be within a cubit, then what is decreed will overcome him, so that he will do the deeds of those who go to Paradise and will enter it.

The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) was asked : Is it known who are those who will go to paradise and those who will go to hell? He said : Yes. He asked : Then what is the good of doing anything by those who act? He replied : Everyone is helped to do for which he has been created.

Do not sit which those who believe in free will and do not address them before they address you.

Allah knows best about what they were doing.

I said : Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) what happens to the offspring of believers ? He replied : They are joined to their parents. I asked : Messenger of Allah! Although they have done nothing ? He replied : Allah knows best what they were doing. I asked : what happens to the offspring of polytheists, Messenger of Allah ? he replied! They are joined to their parents. I asked : Although they have done nothing? He replied : Allah knows best what they were doing.

The Prophet (May peace be upon him) was invited to the funeral of a boy who belonged to the ANSAR and I said; Messenger of Allah! This one is blessed, for he has done no evil, nor has he known it. He replied : It may be otherwise, ‘A’ishah, for Allah created Paradise and created those who will go to it, and He created it for them when they were still in their father’s loins; and he created hell and created those who will go to it, and created it for them when they were still in their father’s loins.

Every child is born on Islam, but his parents make him a Jew and a Christian, just as a beast is born whole. Do you find some among them (born) maimed? The people asked : Messenger of Allah! What do you think about the one who died while he was young? He replied : Allah knows best what he was going to do.