understand any words?”—with “they say” supplied after it. They thereby distort both the wording and the meaning of the Quran, making what is Allah’s speech—His truthful speech—into the words of the hypocrites whose statements Allah condemned. They posit unexpressed words in the Quran for which there is no evidence; indeed, the context rules them out. Thus, both groups are ignorant of the meaning of the Quran and of the true implications of the position they defend.

As for the Quran, what is meant here by good and evil is blessings and calamities, not acts of obedience and disobedience. This is like His words, Most High:

“If good befalls you, it distresses them; but if evil befalls you, they rejoice in it. Yet if you are patient and mindful of Allah, their scheming will not harm you at all.”

And His words:

“If good befalls you, it distresses them; but if a calamity befalls you, they say, ‘We took our precautions beforehand,’ and turn away rejoicing. Say, ‘Nothing will ever befall us except what Allah has decreed for us. He is our Protector’”—to the end of the verse.

Another example is His saying, Most High:

“We tested them with good and bad things so that they might return.”

As He, Most High, also said:

“We test you with evil and good as a trial, and to Us you will be returned.”

That is, with blessings and calamities. This differs from His saying:

“Whoever comes with a good deed will have ten times its like, and whoever comes with an evil deed will be repaid only with its like.”

In this and similar passages, what is meant is obedience and disobedience. In each passage, there is something that clarifies the intended meaning of the expression. Thus, praise be to Allah Most High, there is no obscurity in the mighty Quran; rather, it is clear.

This is because, when He says “whatever befalls you,” “whatever touches you,” or similar expressions, it refers to something done to you by someone other than yourself. As He said:

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

And as He, Most High, said:

“If good befalls you, it distresses them.”

And He, Most High, said:

“But if evil befalls them because of what their own hands have sent ahead.”