Destiny is God's perfect knowledge of all events past or future, as if a single moment. This expresses the absolute sovereignty of God over all beings and events. People can be aware of a certain event when they experience it. But God knows all events prior to their occurrence. For God, past, present and future are all the same. They are all within the knowledge of God since He is the One Who creates them.
As the verse, "Indeed, all things We created with predestination." (Surat al-Qamar: 49) also suggests, every thing in the world is part of that destiny. The majority of people do not give a moment's consideration to the nature of destiny, and, thus, fail to recognize that it is God's infinite might that exists behind this flawless order. Some consider that destiny encompasses only human beings. However, everything in the universe, from the furniture in your home, to a pebble on the road, or a dried-up weed, a fruit or a jar on the super-market shelf, are all part of the destiny predetermined by God. The fate of every created thing has been determined within the infinite wisdom of God.
Every event a person sees, and every noise he hears, are in ever instance part of a life that has been created for him as a unit. Whether major or insignificant, no event in the universe happens by coincidence. No flower either blooms or fades by chance. No man comes into existence or dies out of pure coincidence. No man becomes sick by mistake, and neither does his sickness develop in an uncontrolled manner. In each case, these occurrences are especially predestined by God, from the very moment they were created. Anything that exists, within the depths of the earth or the oceans, or the fall of a single leaf, all occur in compliance with destiny, as the following verse indicates:
The keys of the Unseen are in His possession. No one knows them but Him. He knows everything in the land and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it. There is no seed in the darkness of the earth, and nothing moist or dry which is not in a Clear Book. (Surat al-An'am: 59)
God's Messenger, the Prophet Muhammad (saas) also said that everyone's actions are ordained by God:
God, the Exalted, the Glorious, has ordained for every servant amongst His creation five things: his death, his action, his abode, the places of his moving about and his means of sustenance. (Tirmidhi)
However, people are generally not conscious of the reality that every moment of their lives is predestined by God. Some have never considered how they were created, or how the blessings they have been enjoying came into existence. Others, though, although they know that it is God Who creates life and death, believe it is the coincidences that are responsible for events of minor significance. However, in the Qur'an, God informs us that even the smallest detail is predetermined by His infinite wisdom, and in accordance with a divine purpose:
Nothing occurs, either in the earth or in yourselves, without its being in a Book before We make it happen. That is something easy for God. (Surat al-Hadid: 22)
It is crucial that man have a grasp of this reality. Because, the fate of every thing in this universe is known by God, the All-Knowing, the Wise. Consequently, every detail is perfectly planned, and for a purpose and "everything is by decree" as stated by the Prophet Muhammad (saas). A person who attains full consciousness of this fact will be benefited with being pleased with every moment of his life; good times and those that seem to be bad. The reason being that His truthful servants succeed in recognizing that it is God who created their destiny without a flaw. They will be aware that it is ignorant to regard something as misfortune when there must necessarily be a purpose for it in God's sight. Such a profound comprehension of this fact enables them to discern the blessings in things that happen.
To assume that what one goes through is not created by God, but believing that someone or something else was instrumental in its occurrence, is again an indication of the failure to grasp fate. Every thing that seems not go one's way is, in actuality, the "lesson of destiny". People must wholeheartedly set out to recognize the good and divine purpose of events. People tend to refer to events that turn out unfavourably as "misfortune". There is, however, a good and purpose in what may appear to be a "misfortune". It is only a "misfortune" because we choose to regard as such; in actuality, it is the best of all possible occurrences, because it is what has been predetermined.
If God had shown the good and purpose of the apparently adverse incidents, or of the difficulties that distress and irritate people, they would understand how senseless is their disappointment. Recognizing the blessing in things, a person of faith instead feels joy, not distress. This being the case, what is incumbent on a man is that he seeks to identify the good and benefits in destiny, that is, in events that are, in reality, part of the purpose of God's creation, and feel appreciative of the benefit of such insight.
