What is the authenticity of the saying: "The son of Adam is both directed and given choice"?

Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence the Shaykh. The questioner asks: What is the authenticity of the saying, "The son of Adam is directed, guided, and given choice"?

Answer:
Yes, it is authentic. The son of Adam is both directed and given choice. In terms of his own actions, he is directed and given choice. In terms of the actions of Allah, he is directed and has no power to change the creation of Allah, nor any power to change what Allah the Exalted has decreed. He is directed in that he falls ill, that he becomes hungry, and that he dies.
This is where he is given choice, and this is where he is directed with no power over it. In terms of the actions of Allah, he is directed. But in terms of his own actions, such as prayer, fasting, Hajj, charity, and good deeds, he is given choice.
He does them by his will or leaves them by his will, so he is given choice. The point is that, in brief, in terms of the actions of Allah, he is directed, and in terms of his own actions, he is given choice.