calamities.” As Allah Most High says:

“Among the people is one who worships Allah on the brink: if good befalls him, he is content with it; but if a trial befalls him, he turns back, losing both this world and the Hereafter.”

This includes everyone who regards obedience to the Messenger and acting upon what he was sent with as a cause of some evil that has befallen him, whether from heaven or at human hands. Such people are many. When they said, “This is from you,” they did not mean, “You are the one who brought it about,” for they knew that the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had brought about none of those things. Nor were they addressing one another when they said, “from you”; rather, they were addressing the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Whoever understands this will see clearly that His statement:

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

does not contradict His statement:

“All is from Allah.”

Rather, it confirms it. For they—and those like them until the Day of Resurrection—regard what the Messenger brought, and acting upon it, as a cause of whatever calamities may befall them. The same applies to those who obey him until the Day of Resurrection.

At times, they would disparage what he brought and say: “This is not something Allah has commanded. Had it been something Allah commanded, those who followed it would not have suffered this affliction.”