Matters in which a person has no will

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what are the matters in which a person has no will?

Answer:
The matters in which there is no will are things like illness. A person gets sick, and he has no will in getting sick; rather, he does not want to be sick and flees from it. Poverty, hunger, and calamities—these are matters in which a person has no will, but they are decreed upon him, either as a punishment for him, or as a purification and cleansing for him from sins and disobedience, and as expiation for his bad deeds. But he has no choice in them: illness, hunger, fear, and having his wealth stolen. He has no choice and no power over it; Allah decreed it upon him for a wisdom. All these hardships are decreed by Allah upon him for a wisdom, and he is being tested by them, or purified and cleansed by them, or his ranks are being raised with Allah the Exalted. Allah is Wise and All-Knowing; He does not send upon His believing servant except what is in his good and benefit.