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Is everything in this world predestined by Allah, and why are we given free will if we cannot change fate? Does this include physical condition and death? And if a person's lifespan is predestined, is it permissible to inform someone of news that might lead to their death?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Everything in this world has been written, known, willed, and created by Allah. This is destiny (Qadar) with its four stages: writing, knowledge, will, and creation and bringing into existence. What Allah has written in the Preserved Tablet and what is in His knowledge cannot be changed. However, there is another destiny written in the scrolls of the angels, and this destiny can be changed by taking means, such as supplication (Du'a) and maintaining kinship ties. The lifespan and provisions written in the scrolls of the angels may change by Allah's decree. Humans have free will in their actions, and for this reason, they are held accountable for them. One should not be preoccupied with written destiny; rather, one should act upon what Allah has commanded and know that action is the path to achieving happiness. As for informing someone of news that might harm them, this should be referred to scholars to assess the situation.

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

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