Nawawi Hadith 4: Written Before Birth

Part One: The Pen That Wrote You Before You Were Born

Brothers,

Today’s khutbah is based on the 4th hadith in Imam Nawawi’s 40 Hadith:

On the authority of Abu 'Abd al-Rahman 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the true and truly inspired one, narrated to us: 'Verily the creation of each one of you is brought together in his mother's belly for forty days in the form of a seed, then he becomes a clot of blood for a like period, then a morsel of flesh for a like period, then there is sent to him the angel who blows the soul into him and who is commanded with four matters: to write down his provision, his life span, his deeds, and whether he will be wretched or happy. By Allah, other than Whom there is no god, one of you behaves like the people of Paradise until there is but an arm's length between him and it, and that which has been written overtakes him, and so he behaves like the people of the Fire and thus enters it. And one of you behaves like the people of the Fire until there is but an arm's length between him and it, and that which has been written overtakes him, and he behaves like the people of Paradise and thus enters it.' (Bukhari & Muslim)

Ibn Mas’ud was among the first to accept Islam and among the closest companions to the Prophet ﷺ. He memorized directly from the Messenger’s mouth, and this hadith, one of the most consequential in the entire collection, came from him.

It tells us where we came from, what was decided about us before we drew breath, and what still remains undecided until the very last moment of our lives. Few hadiths compress so much of human destiny into so few lines.

Part 1: Forty Days at a Time

The hadith describes three stages of forty days each: a seed, then a clot of blood, then a morsel of flesh. Fourteen centuries before an ultrasound could show a beating heart at six weeks, the Prophet ﷺ described the sequence of human development inside the womb with a precision no man of his time could have invented.

Indeed, We created humankind from an extract of clay, then placed each ˹human˺ as a sperm-drop in a secure place, then We developed the sperm-drop into a clinging clot ˹of blood˺, then developed the clot into a fetal lump, then developed the fetal lump into bones, then clothed the bones with flesh, then We brought it into being as a new creation. So Blessed is Allah, the Best of Creators! (Al-Muminoon, 23:12-14)

Brothers, reflect on this. You were once nothing anyone could see. Then a hidden seed. Then a clinging thing no larger than a grain. Then flesh forming around bone that had not yet hardened. Every stage, unseen by any human eye, watched and shaped by the One who made you.

This is the first lesson of the hadith: you did not build yourself, and you were not an accident. Every man in this room passed through this same sequence, under the same watchful decree, whether born into wealth or poverty, freedom or hardship.

Part 2: The Angel and the Four Decrees

At a hundred and twenty days, the hadith tells us, an angel is sent to breathe the soul into the fetus. And with that soul comes ink on a page: four matters are written before the child ever draws its first breath outside the womb.

His provision, meaning what he will earn and receive across his entire life. His life span, the exact number of days allotted to him, not one more, not one less. His deeds, the actions he will perform by his own choice. And whether he is wretched or happy, meaning his final destination.

No calamity ever befalls the earth or yourselves without being ˹written˺ in a Record before We bring it into being. That is certainly easy for Allah. (Al-Hadid, 57:22)

This is qadar, divine decree, one of the pillars of iman described in the second hadith of this collection. It means nothing that touches you, not your income, not your lifespan, not the trials of this place you now find yourself in, arrived outside the knowledge and permission of Allah.

Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ 'Nothing will ever befall us except what Allah has destined for us. He is our Protector.' So in Allah let the believers put their trust. (At-Tawba, 9:51)

Notice what this hadith does not say. It does not say your deeds are written and therefore meaningless. It says your deeds are among the four things recorded, alongside your provision and your lifespan. The writing does not erase your choice. It encompasses it. Allah knew what you would freely choose before you chose it, the way a teacher who has read tomorrow’s exam still watches the student solve each problem for himself.

Part 3: An Arm’s Length From Paradise

Now comes the part of this hadith that should unsettle every man who has grown comfortable in his own righteousness, or hopeless in his own sin.

The Prophet ﷺ swears by Allah, the strongest oath a believer can make, that a man may live his entire life performing the deeds of the people of Paradise. He may pray, fast, give charity, guard his tongue, for decades. And then, when there remains only an arm’s length between him and Paradise, what was written overtakes him, and he turns to the deeds of the people of the Fire and enters it.

And the reverse is equally true. A man may spend his whole life in open sin, in violence, in disregard for Allah’s commands, and then, an arm’s length from the Fire, mercy reaches him. He turns toward the deeds of the people of Paradise, and he enters it.

Actions are but by their endings. (Bukhari)

This single principle, khawatim, the endings of our lives, is why the scholars teach that no man should ever feel secure from his sin, nor despair over it. Not the pious man, however long his record of good deeds. Not the sinner, however long his record of failure. The book is not closed until the last breath leaves the body.

Part Two: Living Toward a Good Ending

Brothers,

Part 4: Why This Hadith Should Terrify the Proud and Comfort the Broken

There are two wrong reactions to this hadith, and this khutbah is meant to correct both.

The first wrong reaction belongs to the man who hears “my life span and my deeds are already written” and concludes that effort is pointless. Brothers, this is a corruption of the hadith, not its meaning. The Prophet ﷺ never told his companions to stop striving because the outcome was decided. He told them the outcome was decided and to strive anyway, because you do not know which side of the decree you are walking toward until you arrive.

The second wrong reaction belongs to the man who has done everything right and now assumes his place in Paradise is secured. Brothers, this hadith is a direct warning against that assumption. An arm’s length. That is how close a righteous man can be to losing everything, if his heart drifts from sincerity, if pride settles in, if he stops fearing for his own ending.

The correct response to this hadith is neither fatalism nor arrogance. It is a permanent, humble vigilance: keep striving, keep fearing for your own soul, and never assume the book is closed while you are still breathing.

Part 5: Your Sentence Was Written Before You Were Born

Brothers, some of you sit in this room with years still ahead of you here, and it is tempting to see this time as a gap in your life, a stretch of years that simply happened to you, disconnected from the plan Allah wrote for you before you were born.

But this hadith tells us otherwise. Your provision, your lifespan, your deeds, your ending, all four were written together, as one decree, before the angel ever breathed your soul into you. That means this facility, these walls, this sentence, however it came to be, exists inside the same decree that shaped you in your mother’s womb. It was never a detour from Allah’s plan for you. It is part of it.

What remains unwritten, what remains entirely in your hands right now, is which direction you walk from here. A man can enter a place like this walking toward the deeds of the people of the Fire, and Allah’s mercy can reach him before he leaves, turning him toward the deeds of the people of Paradise. It happens. It has happened to men in far worse conditions than this one.

Do not let the years already spent convince you that your ending is decided. The hadith is explicit: it can turn in the space of an arm’s length. Use every day you have left in here to walk toward the ending you want to stand before Allah with, because you genuinely do not know how many arm’s lengths remain in your own life.

Part 6: What to Do With an Unknown Ending

If the ending is what matters most, and the ending is hidden from us until it arrives, what should a believer do?

First, never rely on your current state, whether it is good or bad, as proof of your final destination. Keep working. Keep repenting. Keep returning to Allah regardless of how many times you have failed before.

When qadar is mentioned, restrain yourselves. (Tirmidhi)

The companions were taught not to turn qadar into an excuse for arguments or despair. It is a matter for submission and humility, not a puzzle to solve or a reason to abandon effort.

Second, ask Allah directly and often for husn al-khatimah, a good ending. This is one of the most important du’as a believer can make, because everything else in this hadith, the provision, the lifespan, the deeds performed, all of it is judged by how the story closes.

Third, surround yourself, as much as this place allows, with what strengthens your ending rather than what threatens it: righteous company, remembrance of Allah, the Qur’an, and distance from whatever pulled you toward the deeds of the people of the Fire before.

O Allah, You who wrote our provision, our lifespan, our deeds, and our ending before we were born, grant us a good ending.

O Allah, do not let us be of those who lived righteously and then, an arm’s length from Paradise, turned away from You.

O Allah, if there is a decree of misery written over any of us, erase it and replace it with happiness, for You alone hold the power to change what is written.

O Allah, keep us humble in our worship and never secure from our own sin.

O Allah, keep us hopeful in our repentance and never despairing of Your mercy.

O Allah, let the years we spend in this place be years that turn us toward the deeds of the people of Paradise, not away from them.

O Allah, grant us husn al-khatimah, a death upon la ilaha illallah, at a moment when You are pleased with us.

O Allah, do not test us with fitnah that overturns what good You have placed in our hearts.