say:

‘May you encounter good and be spared evil—good for us and evil for our enemies.’”

When evil befalls a servant, his enemy’s heart rejoices; thus it is good for one and evil for the other. For someone who is neither his friend nor his enemy, it is neither good nor evil. Among Allah’s creations, nothing continually causes suffering to all creatures, nor does anything continually cause suffering to most of them. Rather, His creations benefit them, or most of them, most of the time, as do the sun and good health. Thus, among the things Allah has created, nothing is evil in an absolute and universal sense.

It is therefore clear that the evil that exists in creation is limited and particular. It has another aspect in which it is good and excellent, and this is the predominant of its two aspects. As Allah Most High says:

“Who perfected everything He created.”

And Allah Most High says:

“The work of Allah, who perfected all things.”

And Allah Most High says:

“We did not create the heavens and the earth and everything between them except in truth.”

And He says:

“And they reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: ‘Our Lord, You have not created this in vain.’”

Muslims know that Allah has created nothing without a wise purpose. That wise purpose is the aspect of its goodness and excellence. There is nothing in creation that is pure evil, containing no good or benefit whatsoever.

This clarifies the meaning of his words:

“And evil is not attributable to You.”

It also explains why evil is not attributed to Allah in isolation: rather, it is either included in a general attribution, attributed to its cause, or expressed without naming its agent.