Can a person actually change bad character, or is it fixed from birth?

Character is partly a gift and partly acquired. The Prophet (ﷺ) said to al-Ashajj of ʿAbd al-Qays, "You have two qualities that Allah loves: forbearance (ḥilm) and deliberateness (anāh)" (Sahih Muslim 17) — and in another narration al-Ashajj asked whether he had acquired them or been created upon them, and was told that Allah had moulded him upon them; so some traits are innate. But other texts prove that traits can be earned: the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Whoever seeks chastity, Allah will make him chaste; whoever seeks self-sufficiency, Allah will enrich him; and whoever strives to be patient, Allah will grant him patience" (al-Bukhari 1469, Muslim 1053) — the verb forms are those of forcing oneself to a quality until it becomes second nature. Allah also promises, "And those who strive for Us, We will surely guide them to Our ways" (Quran 29:69). So the path is real effort plus duʿāʾ: in his opening supplication for the night prayer the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Guide me to the best of character, none guides to the best of it but You" (Sahih Muslim 771, the ḥadīth of ʿAlī).

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