It is established in the authentic hadith collection:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to supplicate against some disbelievers or curse them during the supplication in prayer. When Allah revealed this verse, he ceased doing so.”

Thus, the verse means that the decision belongs exclusively to the Lord, Most High, and that no one else has any share in it. Rather, if Allah, Most High, wills, He cuts off a portion of the disbelievers; if He wills, He subdues them so that they turn back having suffered loss; if He wills, He turns to them in mercy; and if He wills, He punishes them.

This is like His statement in another verse:

“Say, ‘I have no power to benefit or harm myself except as Allah wills. Had I known the unseen, I would have acquired much good, and no harm would have touched me.’”

Similar to this are His words, Most High:

“They say, ‘If we had any part in the decision, we would not have been killed here.’”

“Say, ‘Indeed, the decision belongs entirely to Allah.’”

The second reason is that His words,

“And you did not throw when you threw, but it was Allah who threw,”

do not mean that the servant’s action is Allah’s action—as some who are mistaken suppose. If that were true, the same would have to be said to everyone. One would even say to someone walking, “You did not walk when you walked, but it was Allah who walked”; to someone riding, “You did not ride when you rode, but it was Allah who rode”; and to someone speaking, “You did not speak when you spoke, but it was Allah who spoke.” The same would be said to someone eating, drinking, fasting, praying, and so forth.

Taking this to its logical conclusion would require saying to a disbeliever, “You did not disbelieve when you disbelieved, but it was Allah who disbelieved”; and to a liar, “You did not lie when you lied, but it was Allah who lied.” Anyone who says such things is a disbeliever and a heretic, outside the bounds of reason and religion.