Question 5: On the meaning of Allah’s words: “They plotted, and Allah plotted; and Allah is the best of plotters.”

Question 5: Allah, exalted and sublime, speaks of Himself, saying, “They plotted, and Allah plotted; and Allah is the best of plotters” (Qur’an 3:54). Some people may find it difficult to accept this verse at face value, and since there is no need for figurative interpretation, how, then, is Allah the best of plotters?

Answer: The matter is straightforward, by Allah’s grace. Plotting, in and of itself, is not intrinsically or invariably evil, just as it is not intrinsically or invariably good. A disbeliever may plot against a Muslim, yet that Muslim may be shrewd and alert—neither naïve nor foolish—so he notices the disbeliever’s scheme and counters it with one of his own, thereby nullifying the disbeliever’s wicked stratagem. Would anyone claim that the Muslim, by doing so, has perpetrated something unlawful? No one would say that.

You can easily grasp this reality from his—peace and blessings be upon him—statement