The Covenant: Aren't I Your Lord?

The next point is 51: wa-l-mīthāqu alladhī akhadhahu Allāhu taʿālā min Ādama wa dhurriyyatihi ḥaqq.

Article 51. The covenant that Allah made with Ādam (peace be upon him) and his progeny is true.

From what is to come after death, the text now goes all the way back to what came before our birth: the creation before we came into this world. This refers to the ʿahd Alast, the covenant of Allah: the covenant of "Aren't I your Lord?" It is based on a hadith, and at the end of that hadith it begins to speak about the decree. That is why the next point Imam al-Ṭaḥāwī mentions after this one is about the decree. So it is a very smooth transition.

As for this covenant, what happened is that Allah (swt) says in the Qur'an: wa idh akhadha rabbuka min banī Ādama min ẓuhūrihim dhurriyyatahum wa ashhadahum ʿalā anfusihim, alastu bi-rabbikum: when your Lord took from the children of Ādam, from their loins, their progeny, and made them bear witness against themselves: aren't I your Lord? They said: of course You are.

There is a hadith about this which describes it in great detail, related by ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him). The hadith is in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim^**. When ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about this verse, he said that he had heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) being asked about it. The Prophet said that verily Allah (swt) created Ādam (peace be upon him), then He rubbed his back with His right, and He took out his progeny. He took out his progeny, and He said that these people are for paradise.

This should be read carefully, and anything here which insinuates limb or movement on the part of Allah (swt) is, again, a matter of tafwīḍ. He said: these people are for paradise, and they will do the actions of the people of paradise; that will be their practice. Then He rubbed the back of Ādam, and from it He took out his progeny, another group, and He said that He had created these for the Hellfire, and that they would act like the people of the Hellfire, meaning they would do the actions of the people of the Hellfire. Up to here is the ʿahd.

Somebody who heard this asked the Prophet (peace be upon him): fa-fīma al-ʿamalu yā Rasūl Allāh? What is the point of action then, yā Rasūl Allāh? If it has all been decided, this group for paradise and this group for hell, what is the point of action?

Fa-qāla Rasūlullāhi ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam: inna Allāha ʿazza wa jalla idhā khalaqa al-ʿabda li-l-jannah, istaʿmalahu bi-ʿamali ahli al-jannati ḥattā yamūta ʿalā ʿamalin min aʿmāli ahli al-jannah, fa-yudkhilahu bihi al-jannah. That is: verily Allah, ʿazza wa jalla, when He creates a servant for Paradise, puts him in the service, or puts him to doing the things that the people of Paradise do: actions similar to the actions of the people of Paradise, worthy of the actions of the people of Paradise, or worthy of the people of Paradise, until he dies doing those actions that are worthy of the people of Paradise. Then He enters him by that into Paradise, or he enters by that into Paradise.

When He creates somebody for the Hellfire, He uses him, and He puts him to those actions. He allows him to go into the actions of those who are in the Hellfire, until they die upon those actions, and by that they are entered into the Hellfire. Abū ʿĪsā, al-Tirmidhī, says that this is ḥadīthun ḥasan.