47/12. Chapter:
Jami at-Tirmidhi 3111 — Everyone Is Made Easy for What They Were Created For
Regarding Surat Hud
Hadith About Qadar and Human Action
Jami at-Tirmidhi : 3111
Jami at-TirmidhiHadith Number 3111
حَدَّثَنَا بُنْدَارٌ، مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ بَشَّارٍ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَامِرٍ الْعَقَدِيُّ، هُوَ عَبْدُ الْمَلِكِ بْنُ عَمْرٍو حَدَّثَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ سُفْيَانَ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ دِينَارٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ، عَنْ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِ، قَالَ لَمَّا نَزَلَتْ هَذِهِ الآيَةُ : ( مِِنْهُمْ شَقِيٌّ وَسَعِيدٌ ) سَأَلْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقُلْتُ يَا نَبِيَّ اللَّهِ فَعَلَى مَا نَعْمَلُ عَلَى شَيْءٍ قَدْ فُرِغَ مِنْهُ أَوْ عَلَى شَيْءٍ لَمْ يُفْرَغْ مِنْهُ قَالَ " بَلْ عَلَى شَيْءٍ قَدْ فُرِغَ مِنْهُ وَجَرَتْ بِهِ الأَقْلاَمُ يَا عُمَرُ وَلَكِنْ كُلٌّ مُيَسَّرٌ لِمَا خُلِقَ لَهُ " . هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ غَرِيبٌ مِنْ هَذَا الْوَجْهِ لاَ نَعْرِفُهُ إِلاَّ مِنْ حَدِيثِ عَبْدِ الْمَلِكِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو .
Ibn 'Umar Narrated from:
'Umar Bin Al-Khattab Said: "When This Ayah Was Revealed: Some Among Them Will Be Wretches And (Others) Blessed (11:105).I Asked The Messenger Of Allah (ﷺ) Saying: 'O Prophet Of Allah! Based Upon What Are We Then Working; Something That Has Already Finished Or Something That Has Not Yet Happened?' He Said: 'Rather Something That Has Happened, And The Pens Have Already Passed Over It O 'Umar! But For Everyone, What He Has Been Created For Is Made Easy.'"
Reference : Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3111In-book reference : Book 47, Hadith 163English translation : Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 3111
Summary of Jami at-Tirmidhi Hadith 3111
This Hadith about Qadar and human action records Umar asking the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم after the verse about some being wretched and others blessed. Umar asked whether people act based on something already finished or something not yet finished. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم answered that it is something already finished and that the pens have passed over it, but everyone is made easy for what he was created for. The Hadith brings together divine decree and human action without removing the need to act. It does not invite a person to stop working. It answers that Allah's decree is already written while people still move toward what has been made easy for them.
What we learn from this hadith
- The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم affirmed that the decree had already been written.
- The Hadith also states that each person is made easy for what he was created for.
- Belief in Qadar does not remove the wording about action and effort.
- Questions about decree should be answered with the balance found in revelation.
