‘Where has this come from?’ Say, ‘It is from yourselves.’” And the Most High says:

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

When calamities befall a person because of his sins and misdeeds, he is the one who has wronged himself. If he repents and seeks forgiveness, Allah grants him relief from every worry, a way out of every hardship, and provision from where he does not expect.

Committing sins is like consuming poison. If a person consumes poison, he falls ill or dies. He is the one who becomes ill, feels pain, suffers, and dies, while Allah is the Creator of all of this. He became ill because he consumed it, and he is the one who wronged himself by consuming poison. If he drinks an effective antidote, Allah restores him to health. Thus, sins are like consuming poison, and an effective antidote is like effective repentance.

The servant is in need of Allah Most High in every circumstance. Through His grace and mercy, Allah inspires him to repent; when he repents, Allah accepts his repentance. When the servant asks Him and calls upon Him, He answers his supplication. As He says:

“When My servants ask you about Me, I am indeed near. I answer the call of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me and believe in Me, so that they may be rightly guided.”

Whoever says that a person has no will, whether in good or evil, speaks falsely. Whoever says that he wills any good or evil independently of Allah’s will also speaks falsely. Rather, he has a will in everything he does by choice, whether good or evil, yet all of this occurs only by Allah’s will and power. Both must be believed, so that one affirms the commands and prohibitions, the promises and warnings, and the divine decree, both its good and its evil: whatever befalls the servant could never have missed him, and whatever misses him could never have befallen him.