Is the choice to take or not to take means predetermined, or is the divine decree singular and the outcome certain?

Everything that exists until the Day of Resurrection is inscribed in the Preserved Tablet (Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz) and does not change. What is subject to change, effacement, and affirmation is what is in the scriptures of the angels. This change and affirmation in the angels' scriptures, its details and its end, are inscribed in the Preserved Tablet. Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah was asked about supplicating for Allah to efface what He has written upon a servant and to write good for him. He replied that Allah inscribes a term for the servant in the angels' scriptures. If he maintains kinship ties, what is written increases, and if he does what necessitates a decrease, it decreases from what is written. This is the meaning of what was narrated from Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) in his supplication. Scholars have stated that effacement and affirmation occur in the scriptures of the angels, but in Allah's knowledge and the Preserved Tablet, there is no effacement or affirmation.

Sheikh Saleh Aal Al-Sheikh explained that there are types of written destiny: 1. The general destiny in the Preserved Tablet: This is the origin of destiny and does not change. 2. Detailed writings: Lifelong writing: When the fetus is created, the angel is commanded to write its provision, its lifespan, its deeds, and whether it will be wretched or happy. This is a detail of what is in the Preserved Tablet. Annual destiny on Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree): In it, affairs are separated from the Preserved Tablet to the scriptures of the angels. These two writings (lifelong and annual) involve suspension, meaning that destinies therein are suspended upon the servant's actions, such as an increase in provision and lifespan due to maintaining kinship ties. This is what accepts effacement and affirmation.

The servant performs actions by choice and is recompensed for them. He should not refrain from performing actions on the pretext that the outcomes are predetermined. Rather, he must exert effort and does not know what has been destined for him.