then recompense you for them in full. Whoever finds good should praise Allah, and whoever finds otherwise should blame no one but himself.”

Another authentic hadith states:

“The best supplication for forgiveness is for a servant to say: ‘O Allah, You are my Lord; none has the right to be worshipped but You. You created me, and I am Your servant. I hold to Your covenant and promise as best I can. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done. I acknowledge Your blessings upon me, and I confess my sin. So forgive me, for none forgives sins but You.’ Whoever says this in the morning with firm conviction and dies that day will enter Paradise. Whoever says it in the evening with firm conviction and dies that night will enter Paradise.”

Then He, Most High, says:

“Whatever evil befalls you”—such as humiliation, fear and defeat, as befell them on the day of Uhud—“is from yourself.”

That is, it is because of your sins and transgressions, even though it was written and decreed for you. For no one may invoke divine decree as an argument against either Allah or His creation. If anyone were permitted to invoke divine decree to excuse the evil he commits, no wrongdoer would be punished, no polytheist would be fought, no prescribed punishment would be carried out, and no one would refrain from wronging anyone else. The corruption this would cause in religious and worldly affairs is self-evident to sound reason, which accords with what the Messenger brought.

Divine decree must therefore be believed in, not invoked as an excuse. Whoever does not believe in divine decree resembles the Magians; whoever invokes it as an excuse resembles the polytheists. Whoever acknowledges both Allah’s command and His decree, yet impugns His justice and wisdom, resembles Iblīs. For Allah relates that he challenged His wisdom and opposed Him with his own opinion and desire, saying:

“Because You have led me astray, I will surely make evil alluring to them on earth and mislead them all.”

Some of the People of the Book, as well as certain writers on religious doctrines, such as al-Shahrastānī, have related