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Is it true that Allah has decreed two types of destinies: an eternal one and a suspended one, and that sincere supplication on Laylat al-Qadr erases an evil decreed destiny and replaces it with what was requested, based on His saying, the Exalted: "Allah erases what He wills and establishes, and with Him is the Mother of the Book"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Allah's decree is of two types:

The first: An absolute decree (Qada' Mubram), which is what Allah already knew and recorded in the Preserved Tablet (Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz). This decree does not change.

The second: A conditional decree (Qada' Mu'allaq), which is what is in the scriptures of the angels. For example, it might be said: "Record the provision of so-and-so if he supplicates, then it is such-and-such, and if he does not supplicate, then it is such-and-such." This type admits change, increase, and decrease, and it is the effacing mentioned in His (the Almighty's) saying: (Allah effaces what He wills and establishes what He wills, and with Him is the Mother of the Book) [Ar-Ra'd: 39].

So, supplication changes the conditional decree, not the absolute one. This encourages the believer to frequently supplicate, due to the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "Nothing averts the divine decree except supplication."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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