As for the “third category,” they are those who take no account of divine decree, either in misdeeds or in calamities caused by human actions. Rather, they attribute all of this to the person concerned. When they do wrong, they seek forgiveness, and this is good. But when a calamity befalls them through someone’s actions, they do not consider the divine decree by which it was ordained for them. Nor do they say of someone who has fallen short in fulfilling their rights, “Leave him alone. Had something been decreed, it would have happened.” Moreover, that calamity may have come about because of their own sins, yet they take no account of those sins. Allah Most High has said:

“When a calamity befell you, although you had inflicted twice as much, did you say, ‘How has this happened?’ Say, ‘It is from yourselves.’”

And Allah Most High has said:

“Whatever calamity befalls you is because of what your own hands have earned.”

And Allah Most High has said:

“But if evil befalls them because of what their own hands have sent ahead, then man is indeed ungrateful.”

Also relevant are His words, Most High:

“Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even if you are in lofty towers. 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 hardly understand any words?”

“Whatever good befalls you is from Allah, and whatever evil befalls you is from yourself.”

Many who affirm divine decree and many who deny it have disputed over this verse. The former say that all actions are from Allah, citing His words, Most High:

“Say, ‘All is from Allah.’”

The latter say that good is from Allah and evil is from yourself, citing His words:

“Whatever good befalls you is from Allah, and whatever evil befalls you is from yourself.”

The former may answer them by citing a fabricated reading of “from yourself,” with an a-vowel, giving it an interrogative meaning. Some of them instead supply an implied interrogative, yielding the meaning: “Is it, then, from yourself?” Others posit an implicit “they say” in the passage beginning with His words, Most High, “Whatever befalls you.” Thus they say that the verse is to be understood as: “What is the matter with these people that they can hardly