As for mockery and plotting—whereby a person outwardly displays good while intending evil—if this involves denying the truth and wronging others, it is a forbidden sin. If, however, it requites someone who has acted in this way with the like of his own deed, it is good and just. Allah Most High says:

“When they meet those who believe, they say, ‘We believe.’ But when alone with their devils, they say, ‘We are with you; we were only mocking.’”

“Allah mocks them.”

For recompense corresponds to the deed. He Most High also says:

“They plotted, and We too plotted.”

Likewise, He says:

“They are surely plotting,”

“And I too am plotting.”

And He says:

“Thus did We plan for Joseph.”

The same applies to requiting an aggressor with the like of his own deed: recompense corresponds to the deed, and this is good and just. It constitutes plotting and scheming when one outwardly shows him something contrary to what one conceals.

He said:

“Whenever they kindle a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it.”

This expression originally refers to combatants kindling a fire around which their supporters gather to help their ally against their enemy. Their war effort cannot be fully mounted without it; when it is extinguished, they cannot unite their forces. The expression then came to be used proverbially of any combatant whose scheme is thwarted. It is like the saying, “Your own hands tied the skin, and your own mouth inflated it,” meaning: you brought this upon yourself.

Likewise, people say, “In summer you squandered the milk,” meaning: you neglected the opportunity when it was available. These expressions originally had a specific meaning, but customary usage transferred them to a meaning