Provision, Laylat al-Qadr and Duʿāʾ Against the Decree

If Allah provides for everyone, some ask, then why not just sit at home all day?

Well, the thing is that He has also told us to work for it. He knows what we will get. So yes, if someone wants to sit back at home and just wait for somebody to come and feel sorry for them, that is also fine. But this world works by a system. At the top of it, Allah (swt) is in charge of everything, and He has told us the way to do it. So why take one command of Allah, which is that Allah provides for everything, while on the other hand ignoring another command, which is to go and seek one's sustenance? Both of those are from Allah. We take Islam in a wholesome way.

A related question: if everything is predestined, what is apportioned each year in Laylat al-Qadr? How does this affect the maktūb nature of the Tablet in pre-eternity? Is it possible for Laylat al-Qadr to change the decree?

It is a very good question, and again one of those additional questions that throw in some confusion. The answer is very simple: every year's decree is transcribed from the Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ and designated for the next year. There are in fact two types of taqdīr. One is called taqdīr mubram, and one is called taqdīr muʿallaq. There are certain things which have been written to be firm; they are going to be that way; they are not going to change. There are some other things which Allah (swt) leaves contingent, but He knows from pure eternity which way we are going to go. So, for instance, He said that if you are good with your kin, with your family, then you will be given barakah in your provisions. He obviously knows whether somebody is going to be this way or that way. Those are the suspended aspects; but Allah, obviously, knows. So He is privy to everything. In terms of us, we have that option; Allah simply knows about it.

Is asking the question ayna Allāh a bidʿah, just like asking about the kayfiyyah of istiwāʾ? Absolutely, it would seem so. And the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked it just to…

Can the decree be changed by making duʿāʾ? That is another of those questions, because it is said that even duʿāʾ cannot change the decree. But there is another hadith, which al-Jazarī has related, which says that when a duʿāʾ is made, the duʿāʾ becomes locked in battle with the decree, and remains like that until the Day of Judgment. But again, Allah knows best exactly. The main thing we understand is that duʿāʾ can perhaps change the muʿallaq, the decree which is suspended, which is open, which is contingent. But the mubram cannot be changed, because that is something which is firmly established. Obviously, though, making duʿāʾ has its benefits. And Allah (swt)… when we make duʿāʾ, it is possible that those things are muʿallaq, suspended, contingent, and that, knowing we are going to make duʿāʾ, Allah (swt) will know it, and have decreed it this way or that way.

As Allah knows who will go to hell, or how many people will, does that mean that making an effort to bring people to Islam, or to the dīn, will not help or have any effect?

This has in fact been dealt with in quite some detail above. That is the knowledge of Allah. We do not know whether a particular individual, a particular non-Muslim, is doomed forever, or is going to become a Muslim. So we have to try, because we do not know from Allah whether this person is going to be Muslim or not. So we have to try our best. That is our responsibility, because we do not have the information that Allah has.

How, then, can ayna Allāh be a bidʿah, when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked the same question of that same girl, even if it was to…?

It is because of the way it is asked. There is no problem with the question itself. The problem is with what it brings about. The problem is with the confusion that it causes. The problem is with what is intended by that question: it is basically to confuse a person to the point where they can then be told: look, you have to believe that Allah is above the ʿArsh in a physical location. That is why it is a bidʿah: because it takes a person to this problematic belief, which is not necessary. That is why it is a bidʿah. Not the essential question, necessarily; it is the muck behind it.