It is certainly true that the giving of life and taking it away are actions that take place only by God's will. It is He alone who originates life, takes it away and brings it back. It is He who created the first human being and devised the system of procreation so that generations of human beings would succeed one another to maintain human life on earth until the day "when God will inherit the earth and all those living on it."

When God created man, He wanted him to be in charge of the earth and gave him a will of his own to make his life a trial. He has made it clear that our life on earth is not the final chapter in our existence. After we die we are brought back to life at a time determined by God when we are given our reward for our good deeds or punished for our bad ones. It is most important, therefore, to take the chance of this life in order to ensure our happiness in the life to come.

It is God's own will that our life span on earth is kept secret from us. No one can ever tell when his moment comes and how he will depart from this life. Very recently, a group of people survived a plane crash and a bus accident in two different countries within the same weekend. Either accident could have seen them all killed, but they survived. As human life is shaped by God, people die at all ages. Children may die when they are yet newborn, in their early years and before they reach adolescence. Young men die in wars and by accident. Young women die in childbirth or succumb to killer diseases. These days, people die in the prime of life as a result of contracting AIDS. Those who live to old age eventually wither away. No one can say whether he will survive the next moment or live for another forty or fifty years. That should be enough motivation for anyone to try to be always ready to meet God, having passed the test of life.

While we certainly cannot say when we are going to die, we can influence certain causes of death. This does not challenge or alter God's will, but works within it. It is God who has set into operation the law of cause and effect. It is He who has given fire the quality of burning. If a human being is caught up in a burning house, he will certainly die, unless the fire brigade arrives in time. This is because for a human being to die by burning or to suffocate by the fumes caused by a fire takes some little time. If he is taken away within that period, and given the right treatment, he will survive. In the first situation when he is caught in the fire, he is subject to the effects of certain causes in a particular situation. After the fire brigade has taken him away, he is subject to the effects of another set of causes which help preserve life rather than destroy it. In each situation he is subject to God's will which remains in operation.

Infant mortality rates throughout the world have been significantly reduced through the implementation of the immunization program. Incidence of the major childhood diseases has been controlled, but does that mean human beings have taken over the control of childhood mortality? By no means. What has happened is that children have moved from one set of prevailing conditions to another. Before they were immunized, they could easily suffer any of the childhood diseases which can cause death or disability. After a child is immunized, he is better able to fight those viruses and escape those diseases. The process of immunization does not function in isolation from God's will. In fact, it functions by God's will. This is exactly what Umar ibn Al-Khattab said to Abu Ubaidah, another companion of the Prophet, when the latter questioned him about his order preventing entry to and departure from an area where the plague was widespread. Abu Ubaidah asked him: "Are we trying to escape from God's will?" Umar answered: "Yes, we try to escape from God's will with God's will." This means that if we avoid certain causes of death we remain subject to God's will, because avoiding them and preventing certain causes of death is also part of God's will.

We apply this law everyday in our lives. We know, for example, that drinking clean and purified water will help us stay healthy. On the other hand, drinking polluted water can cause illness and death. Therefore, governments try to make drinking water safe. When we travel to an area where we are not sure of the quality of water, we drink either bottled or boiled water. Do we, as a result, avoid disease and death? The answer is yes, indeed. But do we prevent the operation of God's will? Certainly not, because we are taking precautions in order to produce new effects of another set of prevailing causes. In other words, we are benefiting by the operation of the law of cause and effect which is part of God's will. In the same vein, people who resort to birth control methods are likely to have a smaller number of children than those who do not. That is because such people resort to certain causes which have the effect of preventing conception. It is also His will that a female egg will not produce life unless conception takes place.

This is not different from a woman remaining childless if she does not get married. Similarly, those who are killed in wars or riots would have survived if they did not happen to be at the receiving end of a bullet or shrapnel, or have not been too close to where a bomb exploded.

These days, many Muslims understand this fact in a very narrow sense. They have learned that when a human being is still an embryo his life duration and means of livelihood are written down. They understand this an impossible position from which they cannot be released. Hence, they are not ready to do anything that does not take their fancy. They wait for things to happen to them because whatever they do is not going to affect them. This attitude is not acceptable from the Islamic point of view. Indeed, God has encouraged us to take every possible means to improve the quality of life. This applies to all aspects.

The examples we have cited are mostly concerned with health, but if you look at social life, you find that the Islamic system provides social security through the working of zakah, and ensures that wealth is not concentrated in the hands of the few while the overwhelming majority of people suffer poverty and deprivation. If Muslims implement that system then they have taken steps which have the effect of making their social life much better and happier. It is unfortunate that the majority of Muslim communities today do not take such measures and steps to improve the quality of life. They try to put the blame for their suffering on God's will.

The early Muslims understood the operation of God's will in a very positive way. Hence, they were able to deal with every situation and try to ensure a better life for their community and the next generation. They took the fact that the duration of a person's life is written before his birth in a definitely positive manner. When they faced tyrants they stood up to them. They realized that tyranny cannot shorten their life span. They will die at their time known to God. But if they remained idle, they would still die at the same time. [This rectitude provided them with deeper faith to stand up against tyranny.]

Let me correct you on your point that there are three actions which abrogate all good deeds which ensure hell for their perpetrator. You have named these as suicide, murder and associating partners with Allah. This statement of yours is not correct. Allah states in the Qur'an that the only sin or act of disobedience which cannot be forgiven is the association of partners with Allah. He says: "Allah does not ever forgive the association of the partners with Him. He may forgive whomever He wills whatever else may be committed." This means that he forgives such cardinal sins as murder and suicide. The Prophet has explained this by relating the story of a man who had killed 99 people. He then went to a scholar and asked whether Allah would accept his repentance. The scholar told that he could not see that he could ever be forgiven after having committed all those murders. The man, then, killed the scholar and completed the number of his victims to 100. He then went to another scholar and asked him whether Allah would accept his repentance. This scholar told him that there was no reason why his repentance could not be accepted. He advised him to repent immediately and not to do any more crimes. When the man complied, the scholar advised him to go to a particular town which was full of good people. He would have there a good environment which would enable him to strengthen his resolve not to disobey Allah anymore. The man was on his way to that town when Allah caused him to die.

The Prophet then explains that the angel of paradise and the angel of hell disputed among themselves to which party the man belonged. The angels who are charged with administering punishment to sinners argued that the man never did a good deed, but the others argued that he repented and started acting on his repentance by traveling to this city. Allah sent to them an angel who advised them to measure the distance between the city of evildoers which the man had left and the distance to the city of good believers to which he was going. If he was nearer to the first, then he was still a sinner and should be punished. If he was nearer to the city of good believers, he should be counted among them. The Prophet then says: "When they began to make their measurements, Allah ordered the city of evil to move away and ordered the city of goodness to draw nearer. He was found to be closer to it [the city of goodness] and his soul was taken by the angels of mercy. He was forgiven."

This Hadith gives a clear example that Allah forgives all types of sins, with the exception of associating partners with Him. Forgiveness may be granted on the day of judgment through the intercession of the Prophet on behalf of his followers. The Prophet says that he extends his intercession "to those of his followers who commit cardinal sins". Let us then broaden our minds and not give a narrow interpretation of anything that Allah has willed to keep unrestricted.

The Hadith which you have mentioned about a change of direction in people's deeds which causes the eventual change of destiny in the hereafter is an authentic one. It may be given in translation as follows: "A person may do the deeds of the people of heaven until he is only a yard or so away from it, but then his destiny overtakes him and he does what the people of hell do and he is thrown in it. On the other hand, a person may do what the people of hell do until he is only a yard or so away from it, and his destiny overtakes him and he does what the people of heaven do which ensures his admittance into it." How can we reconcile this Hadith with the principle of balancing people's action?

The first point to make is that, this process of balancing of the good deeds against the bad ones benefits only the believers, because their faith ensures that they have their good deeds credited to them. As for non-believers, their lack of faith means that their good deeds avail them nothing. Allah does not accept any good action unless it is founded on faith. A person who denies Allah and associates partners with Him may do as many good deeds as he wishes, but he will receive no credit for them, because he lacks the very basis which ensures that he receives any reward from Allah. On the other hand, a person who has faith always hopes for Allah's forgiveness.

We can understand from the first Hadith on the basis of this principle. The first person who has done many good deeds betrays himself at the end of his life and shows that he really lacks faith. Hence, his actions do not merit any credit. Yet, he would have benefited by them, had he moved towards the establishment of faith in his heart. Instead, he chooses the opposite way and does something which takes him away from the faith altogether. He condemns himself and renders all his past good deeds worthless. His action must be of the type which cannot be reconciled with having any degree of faith. That is the only way to condemn him to hell-fire.

The first point to be made here is that most Muslim scholars agree that the shortest possible duration of pregnancy is six months, after which a woman may give birth to a developed baby. If a woman gives birth after six months, it is not possible for anyone to accuse her of adultery. At the time of Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) a woman gave birth to a baby after six months. Ali was assigned to inflict on her the punishment for adultery. But Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) whom he had appointed judge, told him that he would be exceeding his authority if he did that. Ali referred to two verses in the Qur'an, one stating that the full period of breast-feeding extends to two years. The other mentioned that the total period of pregnancy and breast-feeding is 30 month. Simple arithmetic shows that a pregnancy for six months is possible. Umar let the woman alone.

When you married this woman, you were aware that she was not a virgin. Her past sins are overlooked because she became a Muslim a few days before your marriage. Since you accepted her as she was, then you must not go back on your word and make issue with her about what she did before she married to you or question her. For this period of time, you are able to judge whether she has the features of making of a good Muslim wife or not. Only you can answer this question. If you know her to have become a good Muslim and she has stopped un-Islamic practices since she became a Muslim, then it is probably best for you to keep her. On the other hand, if she has not taken her conversion to Islam seriously, then you should consider leaving her.

There is another highly important point to consider. Although the shortest possible duration of pregnancy is six months, she might have been pregnant when you got married to her. Only she can tell. You should, therefore, emphasize to her the importance of knowing whether she was pregnant or not at the time when the marriage contract was made. If she was pregnant, then you should have a new marriage contract, because your marriage is not valid. It is not permissible for a Muslim to marry a pregnant woman until she has given birth. The Prophet says: "Anyone who believes in Allah and the last day must not irrigate with his water a seed planted by another person."

You should appreciate the figurative method of expression here. It does not refer to true irrigation because a fetus does not need any such irrigation. It is also reported that a man discovered that the woman he had married was pregnant. He put the matter up to the Prophet who nullified the marriage, gave the woman her dower and ordered the woman to be flogged 100 lashes, which is the punishment for fornication. You have to determine the status of your marriage in the light of the foregoing, but you must not treat your wife with suspicion, particularly if you know her to be honest. If you know her not to tell lies, and she tells you that she was not pregnant at the time of your marriage, you should accept that statement from her.