[Sūrah viii. 17]: “God slew them, and those shafts were God’s, not thine.”
[Sūrah ix. 51]: “By no means can aught befall us but what God has destined for us.”
[Sūrah xiii. 30]: “All sovereignty is in the hands of God.”
[Sūrah xiv. 4]: “God misleadeth whom He will, and whom He will He guideth.”
[Sūrah xviii. 101]: “The infidels whose eyes were veiled from my warning and had no power to hear.”
The teaching of Muḥammad, as given in the Traditions handed down by al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim, is as follows:—
“God created Adam, and touched his back with his right hand, and brought forth from it a family; and God said to Adam, ‘I have created this family for Paradise, and their actions will be like unto those of the people of Paradise.’ Then God touched the back of Adam, and brought forth another family, and said, ‘I have created this for hell, and their actions will be like unto those of the people of hell.’ Then a man said to the Prophet, ‘Of what use will deeds of any kind be?’ He said, ‘When God createth His servant for Paradise, his actions will be deserving of it until he die, when he will enter therein; and when God createth one for the fire, his actions will be like those of the people of hell till he die, when he will enter therein.’ ”
“ ‘There is not one amongst you whose place is not written by God, whether in the fire or in Paradise.’ The Companions said, ‘O Prophet! since God hath appointed our places, may we confide in this and abandon our religious and moral duties?’ He said, ‘No; because the righteous will do good works and the wicked will do bad works.’ After which the Prophet read this verse from the Qurʾān: ‘To him who giveth alms, and feareth God, and yieldeth assent to the excellent creed, to him will we make easy the path to happiness. But to him who is worldly and is indifferent, and who does not believe in the excellent creed, to him will we make easy the path of misery.’ ”
“The first thing which God created was a pen, and He said to it ‘Write’; it said, ‘What shall I write?’ And God said, ‘Write down the quantity of every individual thing to be created,’ and it wrote all that was and that will be, to eternity.”
“God hath pre-ordained five things on his servants; the duration of life, their actions, their dwelling-places, their travels, and their portions.”