How to Avert Decree Through Supplication

Question:
In the hadith, the Shaykh asks: Does supplication avert the divine decree? And how is that?

Answer:
Yes, supplication is among the causes of averting the suspended decree. The decree can be suspended, and it can be cut off. If it is a suspended decree, Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) may have decreed that He will grant a person a child if he supplicates to his Lord. So he supplicates to his Lord, and He accepts his supplication; this is suspended upon the supplication. Or Allah may have decreed wealth for him if he supplicates to His Lord seeking that wealth. So when he supplicates to His Lord, Allah facilitates for him the wealth that was suspended upon the supplication. Or he may seek a wife, asking Allah to marry him to such-and-such a woman, and Allah has decreed for him that through this request, the decree is suspended upon this request. For example, Allah, in His prior knowledge, decreed that so-and-so would ask his Lord for Allah to marry him to the daughter of so-and-so. So when Allah inspires him with the supplication and guides him to supplicate, the suspended decree is realized.
As for the decrees that are cut off and are not suspended upon people, these are not affected by supplication. Death that is fixed on a specific day, without regard to supplication: when his appointed time of death arrives, he dies whether he supplicated or not. Yes.

The presenter: May Allah reward you, O Shaykh.