The Pen Wrote Everything

When he was dying, Ubadah ibnu as-Saamit (radi Allahu anhu) told his son: O son, you will not find the taste of Emaan until you know that whatever you receive, you would have never missed it; and whatever you have missed, you would have never received it. I heard Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) saying: “The first thing which Allah created was the Pen. He commanded it to write. It asked: ‘What should I write?’ He said: ‘Write the Decree (Al-Qadr) of everything until the Day of Judgement.’” O son, I heard the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) say: “He who dies not believing in this is not one of my people.” [Abu Dawud – Jamu al-Fawaaid]

Where you will be born, where and when you will die, what you will receive, what you will miss, what joys or sorrows will come in your life – these are all written. This is the exam paper of life that you are presented with. How you will deal with these events will determine your rank before Allah (subhana wa ta’ala). Pray to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to strengthen your Emaan, pour His tranquility over you and keep you steadfast in faith, whatever your circumstances.

Concerning the issue of Al-Qadar, the Sahabah, the Tabieen, and all Ahlus-Sunnah have agreed that everything which will be in existence until the Day of Judgement is written in Al-Lawh al-Mahfud (The Book of Decree).

Watching from a high tower you can see which cars are headed which way. You can see where there is construction going on and which cars will have to take a detour. It is in your knowledge but you are not causing the car to detour. Similarly, Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) knows what we will do and it is the knowledge of all the events that will take place that is written down in The Book of Decree.