بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Can Du’a Change the Qadr?…
All praise is for Allah, The Mighty, The Mejestic. And may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon His final Messenger, Muhammad and upon his family and companions.
Sheikh Abdul Muhsin Al Abbad (May Allah preserve him) was asked: “Does supplication (i.e. du’a) change what is divinely written (i.e. Qadr)? And his response was as follows:
“Allah is the only one who knows what He decreed in the Lowhim Mahfuth (i.e. Preserved Tablet). And the Qadr (i.e. Divine Decree) is from the secrets of the unseen that are with Allah that none from amongst mankind has any knowledge about. The human being does not know what is decreed for him or what is divinely written for him, although he is commanded to work diligently for his salvation.
The Prophet (Sallahu alaihi wa salam) said: “Work diligently, for everyone will find easy for them what they were created for.” (Collected in Saheeh Al Bukhari) However there is another hadeeth where he (Sallahu alaihi wa salam) said: “Nothing will change the Qadr (i.e. Divine Decree) except supplication and nothing will cause the life-span to be increased except righteous deeds.” (Collected in Musnad Imam Ahmad). But this statement does not imply that what is divinely written will be altered or changed. Rather the intended meaning is that Allah decreed the means (i.e. Sabab) and the motive (i.e. musabib) meaning He decrees something to happen by the presence of something else.
For example: He decreed that the way to remove calamity and the way to attain safety from any harm is through supplication (i.e. du’a) and that one of the reasons by which a person can obtain a long life is by doing righteous deeds. However, this does not imply that the individual’s life-span hasn’t already been written for him and when he does something worthy of virtue that his life-span is increased even more, while beforehand his life-span was less. What is written will not change. Your life-span is already written by the Qadr and set by its execution (i.e. Qadhaa’), however, Allah may decree the individual’s life to be long as a result of the cause, which, in essence, is the righteous deeds mentioned in the hadeeth.”
Translated by Shadeed Muhammad on November 22, 2011 corresponding to the 26th of Thul Hijjah 1432H. in the City of Phlidelphia.
The abovementioned commentary can be found in his explanation of the Sunan of Abu Dawud. Hopefully this will provide an adequate answer to those who, throughout the years, have struggled with understanding this issue correctly. Below is the original Arabic text for those readers who can read and better understand it in the Arabic language.
السؤال: هل الدعاء يغير المكتوب؟ الجواب: الله تعالى هو الذي يعلم ما كتبه في اللوح المحفوظ، والقدر سر الله عز وجل ولا يعلمه الناس، وما يعرف الإنسان ماذا قدر له وماذا كتب له، ولكنه مأمور بأن يعمل، وقد قال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: (اعملوا فكل ميسر لما خلق له)، لكن جاء في الحديث: (لا يرد القدر إلا الدعاء، ولا يزيد في العمر إلا البر)، وليس معنى ذلك أن المكتوب يغير ويبدل، وإنما المقصود أن الله عز وجل قدر السبب والمسبب، فقدر شيئاً يحصل بوجود شيء، فقدر أن من أسباب دفع الضرر والسلامة من الضرر الدعاء، وأن من أسباب طول العمر البر، وليس معنى ذلك أن الإنسان يكتب عمره ثم لما بر غُيِّر عمره وزيد في عمره، وقبل ذلك كان مكتوباً أقل من ذلك، فالعمر المقدر واحد، لكن الله تعالى شاء أن يكون عمره طويلاً، وأن يكون من أسبابه البر، وليس معنى ذلك أن عمره كان أربعين سنة، ولكنه لما بر غُيِّر وصار ستين أو سبعين، فالمكتوب لا يغير، والعمر مقدر ومحدد، وسبق به القضاء والقدر، ولكن الله تعالى شاء أن يكون هذا عمره طويلاً لذلك السبب الذي هو البر.
