Chapter: And we believe in divine decree, its good and its evil, which is the decree of Allah the Exalted for all that exists, in accordance with what preceded in His knowledge and what His wisdom necessitated.

The Shaykh : Chapter: "And we believe in divine decree, its good and its evil, which is the decree of Allah the Exalted for all that exists, in accordance with what preceded in His knowledge and what His wisdom necessitated".
We believe in divine decree, its good and its evil, by virtue of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith of Jibril: These five, and praise be to Allah, we have all discussed them; they all preceded. What remains is the sixth, which is belief in divine decree, its good and its evil.
Belief in divine decree is obligatory, because it is part of belief in Allah. And His saying: "its good and its evil" — divine decree is the decree of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, for all that exists, in accordance with what His wisdom necessitates and what His knowledge necessitates. So the One who decrees good is Allah, and the One who decrees evil is Allah — pay attention — everything in the universe, whether good or evil, blessing or trial, poverty or wealth, honor or humiliation, disbelief or faith, where does it all come from? From Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Nothing is outside His dominion.
But the question remains: how is evil from Allah?
We say: Yes, evil is from Allah, but it is not unto Allah, by virtue of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the supplication of opening the prayer: And pay attention to the subtle difference between saying "evil is from Allah" and "evil is not unto Allah."
"Evil is from Allah" means: these evils that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, brings about — who created these evils? Allah. The fire that destroys wealth and lives is evil; Allah created it. The destructive storms, Allah created them. The devastating floods, Allah created them. The deadly plagues, Allah created them, and they are all evil. Sins, disbelief, atheism, and the conflict between believers and disbelievers are evil, but who created them? Allah.
Good. So everything is from Allah, but evil is not unto you, meaning: this evil that exists in the created things is not evil with respect to the action of Allah, it is not evil with respect to the action of Allah. Why? Because Allah the Exalted does not decree it except for a wisdom. So if its decree is for a wisdom, it is good with respect to the noble purpose. Is that clear, brothers? It is clear. A person may be afflicted with an illness that causes him pain and hardship, but this illness may be the cause of his rectitude. Is that not so? Many people became righteous when they were tested with a trial.
A man told me that he was one of the most atheistic of people; he did not pray, and he did not avoid zina, narcotics, or intoxicants. Glory be to Allah! An open sinner in the truest sense. Then his father died — his father, who was unable to raise him properly. His father died, and he said, "Glory be to Allah, when my father died and I knew the calamity, I believed, I believed." Glory be to Allah the Great! He believed because he came to know Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and he became righteous, and he became one of the committed whom we testify to as being good.
So this calamity that befell him through the loss of his father became what? It became good for him, it became good for him.
Likewise, a person is afflicted with illness after health; it is not possible for him to fully know the value of health until he is afflicted with illness. You are now, praise be to Allah, breathing easily, speaking easily, and relieving yourself easily. But if you were afflicted with an obstruction or shortness of breath, would you know the value of Allah's blessing upon you in your breath or not? Yes. If you were afflicted with urinary retention, would you know the value of Allah's blessing upon you in the ease of expelling it. If you were afflicted with incontinence, the opposite of retention, what is it? You would know Allah's blessing upon you in the ability to retain it.
So the evils that occur in the actions of Allah are not evil with respect to the action of Allah, with respect to the action of Allah. The action of Allah is all good, and the evil is in the created things.
Pay attention to the subtle difference so that the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) does not cause confusion for you: .
So you believe in divine decree, meaning you believe in the decreed, its good and its evil. As for the decree, which is the decree of the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, by Allah, it is all good, all good.
Good. Is the existence of Satan good?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Amazing. Good? Yes, were it not for the existence of Satan, we would not know the value of acts of obedience, because the one who fights us in acts of obedience is Satan, and the one who whispers to us regarding sins is Satan, and we do not know the value of the blessing except through that. Were it not for Satan, there would be no disbeliever, and jihad would not be established, nor enjoining good and forbidding evil, and so on. Are snakes and wild beasts good in their existence or not?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : But they are evil, but their existence is so that you may know through them the value of Allah's blessing upon you. What is the snake to the camel?
The student: Nothing.

The Shaykh : The snake and the camel, what is the relationship between them?
The student: A little.

The Shaykh : The snake is like the tail of the camel, and yet if the snake bit you, it would kill you. The camel comes to you docilely with great ease; a small boy, who is shorter than the camel's leg, leads it with great ease, makes it kneel, loads it, and rides it while it drags along. Do you know what "drags along" means? It eats the food, it eats the food, it does not care at all. Through this you know the power of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and His mercy and His wisdom, and many things whose explanation would be lengthy.
But the important thing is that we believe that everything that occurs in the heavens or on earth is what? It is by the decree of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, whether good or evil. You believe in divine decree, its good and its evil.
Sins are by the decree of Allah, did you understand? The amazing thing is that the Mu'tazilah, who purify Allah, Mighty and Majestic, say that sins are from the action of the servant and not from Allah. One of them said once: "Glory be to the One who is free from indecency" Glory be to the One who is free from indecency. A word whose apparent meaning is mercy but whose inner meaning is punishment. When you say "Glory be to Allah the Great," "Glory be to the One who is free from indecency," because Allah said in His Book: So he said: "Glory be to the One who is free from indecency," meaning that the zina of the fornicator is not by the decree of Allah. So the Sunni said to him: "Glory be to the One in whose dominion there is nothing but what He wills". Did he refute him or not? He refuted him, because if you say that sins are not creations of Allah, then there is in the dominion of Allah what He does not will, and the dominion of Allah becomes deficient, not encompassing everything. Good, is the time over?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "which is the decree of Allah the Exalted for all that exists, in accordance with what preceded in His knowledge" So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is aware of everything, even that which has not occurred; He is aware of it.
But here is a problem. Allah the Exalted said: And He said: . These two verses and their like necessitate the renewal of the knowledge of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
And we say: The knowledge of Allah is eternal and preceding, so how do we answer regarding these verses?
We say: The answer to these verses is from two angles:
The first angle: His knowledge of them after their occurrence is knowledge of their occurrence, and His knowledge of them before their occurrence is knowledge that they will occur, and there is a difference between the two. For example, when I know that the midday adhan will be at two and ten minutes, this is knowledge of it before its occurrence. So when the adhan is called at that time, this is not renewed knowledge, because I already knew it beforehand, but it is knowledge of it after its occurrence. So the knowledge of Allah of all that exists before its occurrence is knowledge that it will occur, and His knowledge of it after its occurrence is knowledge that it has occurred. This is one.
The second angle, which is stronger: We say that the knowledge of Allah of them before their occurrence is knowledge upon which no reward or punishment is based, and His knowledge of them after their occurrence is the knowledge upon which reward and punishment are based. And on this basis, His saying: means knowledge upon which what is based? Walk?
The student: Reward and punishment.

The Shaykh : Reward and punishment, because the first knowledge does not have reward and punishment based upon it, because this... did not exist at all, did not exist. Allah knew that the sinner would commit this sin before anything else, eternal knowledge, still in the mind of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, before He created this created being who disobeyed Allah, but His knowledge after the sin is the knowledge upon which what is based? Reward and punishment.
We said that because Allah the Exalted said in His Book: .
Yes. This decree "we believe that Allah the Exalted decreed everything in accordance with what preceded in His knowledge and what His wisdom necessitated".
Pay attention to this second phrase "what His wisdom necessitated" and wisdom is placing things in their proper places.
Know that everything that occurs among created things, and every matter that Allah decrees among the legislated matters, know that it is in accordance with wisdom. And if you believe in that, you will know that reality, whether it is a legal ruling or a decree of fate, is not to be objected to in any way. Pay attention, my brother, to this, because a person, due to the limitation of his knowledge, may perceive that a certain matter is contrary to wisdom; he may perceive that a certain matter is contrary to wisdom. We say: if it appears to you that a matter is contrary to wisdom, then suspect what? Suspect your own opinion, for the One who decreed it or legislated it is Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and He is the Wisest of the wise. So it is not possible that there is anything among created things or among legislated matters except that it is in accordance with wisdom. Therefore, it is obligatory for us to submit to the Shari'ah and surrender to the divine decree; it is obligatory. If we did not do that, we would not be pleased with Allah as our Lord. The one who is pleased with Allah as his Lord is the one who submits to His Shari'ah and surrenders to His decree, and says: "There is no doubt that this is for a great wisdom, either that I know it now, or that I will know it later."
For this reason, we give you a small example. A person sometimes wants something, then finds obstacles that prevent him from doing it, or conditions that require him to do something else. He finds himself regretting and being distressed, but then the matter turns out that the good is in what Allah chose. He knows that if he had done the matter as he had intended, it would have rebounded on him, but Allah decreed the matter contrary to what he wanted for a wisdom, which is in the interest of the servant.
And I do not know if that happens in your daily lives, or in your months, or in your years, or in your lifetimes, or if none of that has happened to you? It is a reality, a reality. I am telling you about myself; sometimes I want something and insist on it, and if it does not become easy for me, I regret it. Then the matter turns out that the good is in what I did not want, but in what actually happened.
For example, a person is transferred in his job from one country to another. He finds himself distressed, thinking, "How will I leave my companions with whom I was, to go to a country I do not know?" Then it is decreed for him in that country.