Short answer
Qadr is Allah's decree: the belief that Allah knew everything before it happened, wrote it, wills it and creates it. Belief in qadr, its good and its bad, is the sixth article of faith. It does not cancel human choice: people still choose, and are judged for what they choose.
Belief in qadr is fard. Maturidi creed teaches that Allah creates the servant's acts while the servant chooses and earns them (kasb), so reward and punishment are just. Both extremes are rejected: denying the decree (the Qadariyya) and saying humans have no choice at all (the Jabriyya).
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Qadr literally means measure. Allah says, "Indeed, all things We created with predestination" (54:49). In the hadith of Jibril, the Prophet ﷺ listed belief in the decree, its good and its bad, among the pillars of iman.
Scholars explain qadr in four parts:
- Knowledge: Allah knows everything, past, present and future.
- Writing: Allah wrote the measures of all creation fifty thousand years before creating the heavens and the earth (Sahih Muslim).
- Will: nothing happens unless Allah wills it.
- Creation: Allah creates all things, including people's acts (37:96).
Where does choice fit? Allah's knowledge does not force you, just as knowing the sun will rise does not make it rise. You feel and use real choice, and Allah creates the act you choose. When the Companions asked whether they should rely on what was written and stop working, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Act, for each is eased toward what he was created for." See free will and can dua change your destiny?
Qadr is not an excuse to sin; nobody knows what is written until it happens, so you are judged on what you chose. It is meant for comfort after the event: "No disaster strikes upon the earth or among yourselves except that it is in a register before We bring it into being" (57:22). Read Does everything happen for a reason?
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Qamar 54:49
إِنَّا كُلَّ شَىْءٍ خَلَقْنَٰهُ بِقَدَرٍۢ ﴿٤٩﴾
Indeed, all things We created with predestination.
Everything is created according to Allah's decree.
Quran, Surah Al-Hadid 57:22
مَآ أَصَابَ مِن مُّصِيبَةٍۢ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِىٓ أَنفُسِكُمْ إِلَّا فِى كِتَٰبٍۢ مِّن قَبْلِ أَن نَّبْرَأَهَآ ۚ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ يَسِيرٌۭ ﴿٢٢﴾
No disaster strikes upon the earth or among yourselves except that it is in a register before We bring it into being - indeed that, for Allah, is easy -
Events are written before they happen.
Sahih Muslim 2653
Sahih... كتب الله مقادير الخلائق قبل أن يخلق السموات والأرض بخمسين ألف سنة ...
"Allah wrote the measures of all creation fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth."
The decree was written before creation.
Sahih al-Bukhari 4949
Sahih... اعملوا فكل ميسر لما خلق له ...
"Act, for each is eased toward what he was created for."
Qadr is no reason to stop striving.
Sahih Muslim 8
Sahih... وتؤمن بالقدر خيره وشره ...
"And to believe in the decree, its good and its bad."
Belief in qadr is part of iman.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Fiqh al-Akbar (Imam Abu Hanifa), Section on the decree and the acts of servants. Affirms that Allah knew, wrote and willed all things, and that servants act by their own choice.
- al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Section on the decree. Calls qadr Allah's secret in His creation and warns against delving into it.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.