What is the answer to the hadith: "Nothing averts the decree except supplication," given that all matters are decreed before the creation of the heavens and the earth?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Noble Shaykh, how do we answer the statement in the hadith that supplication averts the decree, when all matters are decreed before the creation of the heavens and the earth?

The Shaykh : Yes, we answer that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, decreed matters before the creation of the heavens and the earth by fifty thousand years. He decreed that the calamity which was about to happen would be prevented by something, and that is supplication. Thus, the supplication is decreed, and the calamity that was about to descend is also decreed. So, the calamity that was prevented or lifted after it had descended due to supplication was decreed from the beginning that it would be lifted by this supplication, or that it would be prevented by this supplication. Therefore, the supplication is written from the start, and the calamity is written from the start. If a person supplicates for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to lift the calamity after it has descended, and it is lifted by his supplication, as is observed now when a person supplicates and the calamity is lifted, this means that Allah has written in the Preserved Tablet that this calamity will descend and that He will lift it by what? Supplication. So, each of them is written; both are written. The expected descent of the calamity is prevented by supplication, so this calamity that was about to descend has been decreed by Allah to have a supplication... what is it? It is lifted; it is prevented. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us when the sun or moon is eclipsed to resort to prayer and supplication, because Allah warns us of something, a calamity that will descend. Therefore, He said If we pray and supplicate to Allah, then what He warned us of with this eclipse is prevented by Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Also, supplication itself is an act of worship, whether it is answered or not. Furthermore, no person supplicates to Allah with sincerity except that Allah, the Exalted, gives him one of three things: either He gives him what he asked for, or He averts from him an evil greater than it, or He stores it for him as a reward on the Day of Resurrection. Yes.