Arabic for It Was Written. A saying coined by alchemists and associated with the paradoxical belief in the compatibility of destiny and free will, namely in predestination. The belief that God, despite being omniscient and knowing the outcome of any choice, did not impose his or her will over an individual’s free will and freedom to make a choice. Also known in metaphysics as the compatibilist belief that the future was not unknowable, but an unknown knowable.