(78, 79) Then He said: “…If good befalls them, they say, ‘This is from Allah’; but if evil befalls them, they say, ‘This is from you.’ Say, ‘All is from Allah.’ What is the matter with these people that they can scarcely understand any statement? Whatever good befalls you is from Allah, and whatever evil befalls you is from yourself. We have sent you to humanity as a messenger, and Allah suffices as a witness.”
The Exalted informs us about those without knowledge, who turn away from what the messengers brought and set themselves against them. When good fortune comes to them—fertile seasons, abundant wealth, many children, and good health—they say, “This is from Allah.” But if adversity befalls them—drought, poverty, illness, or the death of children and loved ones—they say, “This is from you.” That is, “It is because of what you have brought us, O Muhammad.” They regarded Allah’s Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—as an evil omen, just as people like them regarded Allah’s messengers as evil omens. Allah informs us that Pharaoh’s people said to Moses: “Whenever prosperity came to them, they said, ‘This is ours’; but if adversity befell them, they regarded Moses and those with him as an evil omen.”
The people of Sālih said: “We regard you and those with you as an evil omen.”
The people mentioned in Yā Sīn said to their messengers: “We regard you as an evil omen. If you do not desist, we will surely stone you”—to the end of the verse. Because their hearts resembled one another in disbelief, their words and deeds also resembled one another. Likewise, anyone who attributes either the occurrence of evil or the loss of good to what the messengers brought, or to any part of it, falls under this grave condemnation.
Allah answered them: “Say, ‘All’”—that is, prosperity and adversity, good and evil—“is from Allah,” meaning by His decree, predestination, and creation. “What is the matter with these people”—namely, those who uttered that false claim—“that they can scarcely understand any statement?” That is, either they understand nothing whatsoever and do not even come close to understanding it, or they understand it only weakly. In either case, this censures and rebukes them for failing to understand Allah and His Messenger, which is due to their disbelief and their turning away.
Implicit in this is praise for those who understand Allah and His Messenger, encouragement to attain such understanding, and encouragement to pursue the means that assist in it: attending carefully to the words of Allah and His Messenger, reflecting upon them, and following the paths that lead to such understanding. Had they understood what Allah teaches, they would have known that good and evil, blessings and adversities, all fall under Allah’s decree and predestination; nothing whatsoever lies outside them.
They would also have known that neither the messengers—peace and blessings be upon them—nor what they brought could ever cause evil to occur, for they were sent to bring about all that is sound and beneficial in worldly life, the Hereafter, and religion.
The Exalted then said: “Whatever good befalls you”—in religion or worldly life—“is from Allah.” He is the One who bestowed it and made it accessible by facilitating its causes. “Whatever evil befalls you”—in religion or worldly life—“is from yourself,” meaning because of your sins and what you have earned, while what Allah pardons is far greater.
Allah the Exalted has opened the gates of His beneficence to His servants and instructed them to enter into His goodness and bounty. He has informed them that acts of disobedience prevent His bounty from reaching them. If a servant commits them, therefore, let him blame no one but himself, for he is the one who has deprived himself of Allah’s bounty and goodness.
He then declared the universality of the mission of His Messenger Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—saying: “We have sent you to humanity as a messenger, and Allah suffices as a witness” that you are truly Allah’s Messenger. He has supported you with His victory, astounding miracles, and manifest proofs, and these constitute the greatest testimony of all. As the Exalted says: “Say, ‘What is greatest in testimony?’ Say, ‘Allah is witness between me and you.’”
Once it is known that Allah the Exalted is perfect in knowledge, complete in power, and immense in wisdom, and that He supported His Messenger as He did and granted him a mighty victory, it becomes certain that he is Allah’s Messenger. Otherwise, had he fabricated some statements and attributed them to Allah, Allah would have seized him by the right hand and then severed his aorta.