(mercifully) and guided (him). He said, Go forth herefrom both — all (of you) — one of you (is) enemy to another. So there will surely come to you guidance from Me; then whoever follows My guidance, he shall not go astray, nor be unhappy” (20:122, 123). Thus Adam’s reply to Moses was that it was not due to his fault that men had to live in a state of struggle with the devil, for such was the Divine scheme even before he was born.
The details of the rest of the ḥadīth of Bukhārī need not be gone into. Many of them are wrongly interpreted. For example, one report mentions the death of a grandson of the Holy Prophet, and of the Holy Prophet comforting the child’s mother with the words: “Allāh’s is what He takes away and Allāh’s is what He gives; everyone has a term of life, so let her be patient (Bu. 82:3). This report makes no mention at all of any decree of good and evil deeds. It speaks of a term of life, for every person has a term of life in God’s knowledge. Many other ḥadīth of a similar nature are wrongly supposed to lend support to the doctrine of predestination. In one, the Holy Prophet is reported to have remarked in a certain company that there was not a man but his place in fire or in Paradise was written down. Thereupon a man said: “Shall we not rely then (and give up the doing of deeds), O Messenger of Allāh?” The Holy Prophet said: “No: do work, for to everyone it is made easy”(Bu. 82:3); and then he recited the following verse: “Then as for him who gives (charity) and keeps his duty and accepts what is good — We facilitate for him (the way to) ease. And as for him who is niggardly and considers himself self-sufficient and rejects what is good — We facilitate for him (the way to) distress” (92:5-10). If any conclusion of predestination could be drawn from the words of the ḥadīth, the verses quoted by the Holy Prophet, in support of what he said, negative such a conclusion, for they speak of two different ends for two different kinds of workers. The words of the Holy Prophet himself lead to the same conclusion, for he laid stress on works. Nor do his concluding words “to everyone it is made easy” lead to any other conclusion, for the meaning is that to the worker of good, the good end, and to the worker of evil, the evil end, is made easy, as stated in the Quranic verses quoted in support of his assertion.