Ibn Abi al-Hadid in his commentary on the Nahjal-Balaghah says...

Ibn Abi al-Hadid in his commentary on the Nahjal-Balaghah says: ‘While on his way to Syria Umar ibn al-Khattab received a report that plague had broken out there. He consulted his companions whether he should visit the affected town. Most of them advised him not to take this risk. But Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah said: “O Commander of the Faithful! Do you flee from a divinely ordained destiny?” “Yes, I flee from one divinely ordained destiny to another”, said Umar.

At this stage a man claimed that he had heard the Prophet saying: “Do not enter a town where plague is raging. But if you are already in it, do not leave it”. Umar, who was somewhat hesitant before hearing this hadith, decided not to visit the place.’ The Shi’ah and the Sunni reports on the whole indicate that the Holy Prophet (s) raised the question of fate and destiny before his companions. Similarly Imam Ali (a) on several occasions talked about it.

It is remarkable that they dealt with this question with such a skill that it did not lead the early Muslims to predestinarianism, nor did it shake their self-confidence. The reports of their sayings and doings which have reached us, clearly bear out this fact. Later when the Muslim scholastic theologians started discussing and analyzing this question, they could not distinguish between a belief in destiny and in predestinarianism.

Since then the confusion is continuing with a result that a belief during the past fourteen centuries, very few scholars have been able to make a clear distinction between the two doctrines. Previous…