Divine Will (Al-Qadar)

Sahih al-Bukhari 6595

Hadith Text

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Allah puts an angel in charge of the uterus and the angel says, 'O Lord, (it is) semen! O Lord, (it is now ) a clot! O Lord, (it is now) a piece of flesh.' And then, if Allah wishes to complete its creation, the angel asks, 'O Lord, (will it be) a male or a female? A wretched (an evil doer) or a blessed (doer of good)? How much will his provisions be? What will his age be?' So all that is written while the creature is still in the mother's womb."

Commentary on Divine Decree

This profound hadith establishes the comprehensive nature of Allah's preordainment (qadar). The angel's successive announcements - from semen to clot to flesh - demonstrate Allah's creative power at each embryonic stage, affirming that human development occurs solely by Divine will.

The four questions posed by the angel encompass the entirety of human existence: gender determining social roles, moral disposition indicating spiritual destiny, provision defining material circumstances, and lifespan marking temporal boundaries. All are recorded in the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mahfuz) before birth.

Scholarly Insights

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani notes in Fath al-Bari that the conditional phrase "if Allah wishes to complete its creation" indicates that some embryos may not reach full term, further emphasizing Divine control over life and death.

Al-Qurtubi explains that recording one's destiny in the womb does not negate free will; rather, Allah's foreknowledge encompasses how each person will freely choose, with guidance available to those who seek it.

The specification "wretched or blessed" refers to one's ultimate destination in the Hereafter, determined by both Divine decree and human choice within the framework of Allah's eternal knowledge.