Plans Of Men

Everyone who sets out on a journey has a particular idea in mind: “Once I arrive I will be able to gain advantages and improve my affairs. My business will be set in order, my friends will be delighted, and I shall defeat my enemies.”
Such are the ideas we have in mind, but God’s objective is something else. We make so many plans and think through so many ideas, and not one turns out according to our desire. Yet even with all of that, we continue to rely upon our own plans and choices.
Ignoring fate, people plot their little plans. God’s Will does not consult with the plans of man.
This is illustrated by the woman who sees in a dream that she has chanced into a strange city where no one knows her, and she knows no one else. She becomes bewildered, and depressed, saying to herself, “Why did I come to this city where I have no friend nor acquaintance to shake me by the hand, or press me on the lip?”
On awakening, this city and its people vanish, and she realizes that all her anguish and sorrow were over nothing. So she disregards the state she found herself in, thinking her worries were quite wasted.
However, the next time she falls asleep, she sees herself in exactly such a city again, and begins to feel the same sorrow and loneliness. She regrets coming to such a city and doesn’t remember when she was awake how foolish she see it was to worry, since it was only a dream and nothing to grieve about. This is exactly how people are. They have seen their desires come to nothing a hundred thousand times. Nothing proceeds according to their intricate plans.

But God appoints an oblivion to cover their eyes, so they forget all that has happened, and once again they plan out their own ideas and wills.
Fihi Ma Fihi - Discourse 44 - A. J. Arberry