(42–43) “Those before them also plotted, but all planning belongs to Allah. He knows what every soul earns, and the disbelievers will come to know who will have the ultimate outcome.”

Allah, exalted is He, says: “Those before them also plotted” against their messengers and against the truth the messengers brought. Yet their plotting availed them nothing, and they achieved nothing by it, for they were waging war against Allah and openly opposing Him. “But all planning belongs to Allah.” That is, no one can devise any plan except by His permission and under His judgment and decree.

If they plot against His religion, their plotting will inevitably rebound upon them in failure and regret, for Allah “knows what every soul earns”—its thoughts and intentions, and its outward and inward deeds.

Plotting must necessarily be among the deeds a soul earns, so their plots are not hidden from Allah. It is therefore impossible for them to devise a plot that harms the truth and its followers or brings them any benefit. “The disbelievers will come to know who will have the ultimate outcome”—will it be they or His messengers? It is well known that the ultimate outcome belongs to the God-fearing, not to disbelief and its deeds.