with the strength, resolve, and patience to carry it out, and averts from him the perils to which choosing for himself would expose him. He shows him such good outcomes of His choice as he could not attain even in part through his own choices.
Another benefit is that He relieves him of exhausting thoughts about the various choices, freeing his heart from calculations and plans that take him up one steep path and down another.
For all this, he cannot escape what has been decreed for him. If he is content with Allah’s choice, the decree befalls him while he is praised, appreciated, and treated with kindness through it. Otherwise, the decree takes its course while he is blameworthy in His sight and receives no such kindness through it, even as he chooses for himself.
When his entrusting of his affairs and his contentment are genuine, compassion and gentle care surround him amid what is decreed. He thus remains between His compassion and His gentle care: His compassion protects him from what he fears, and His gentle care eases for him what He has decreed.
When the decree takes effect upon a servant, one of the greatest causes of its taking effect is his scheming to repel it.
Nothing, then, benefits him more than surrendering and casting himself down before the decree like a dead man, for a beast of prey will not eat carrion.
[Surah al-Baqarah (2): Verses 226 to 227]
“For those who swear to abstain from their wives, there is a waiting period of four months. If they return, then Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (226) But if they resolve on divorce, then Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (227)”
Allah Most High says:
2: 226, 227 “For those who swear to abstain from their wives, there is a waiting period of four months. If they return, then Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. But if they resolve on divorce, then Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.”
He affirmed the ruling concerning the husband’s return—which means returning to seeking his wife’s satisfaction and treating her kindly—by declaring that He is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. He turns towards His servant with forgiveness and mercy when the servant returns to Him. The recompense corresponds to the deed: just as the servant returns to the better course, Allah turns towards him with forgiveness and mercy.
“But if they resolve on divorce, then Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.” Since divorce consists of words that are heard and a meaning that is intended, He followed its mention with the name “All-Hearing,” referring to what the husband utters, and “All-Knowing,” referring to its intended meaning.