he does wrong, he acknowledges his sin, seeks his Lord’s forgiveness, and repents of it. He follows the example of his forefather Adam, who said:

“Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will surely be among the losers.”

He does not follow the example of Iblīs, who said:

“My Lord, because You have led me astray, I will surely make evil alluring to them on earth and mislead them all, except Your chosen servants among them.”

He does not invoke divine decree to justify neglecting a command or committing a prohibited act, despite believing in divine decree, both its good and its evil; that Allah is the Creator, Lord, and Sovereign of everything; that whatever Allah wills happens, and whatever He does not will does not happen; that He guides whom He wills and leads astray whom He wills; and other such truths.

These are the people who obey Allah’s words in this authentic hadith:

“Whoever finds good, let him praise Allah; and whoever finds otherwise, let him blame no one but himself.”

However, a full exposition of this, and a precise explanation of how sin is attributed to oneself while knowing that Allah creates His servants’ actions, involve subtleties that this is not the place to discuss.

Nevertheless, in the words of the Most High:

“If something good befalls them, they say, ‘This is from Allah.’ But if something bad befalls them, they say, ‘This is from you.’ Say, ‘All is from Allah.’ What is the matter with these people that they can hardly understand any statement?”

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

The good and evil mentioned in this verse do not mean acts of obedience and disobedience, as many people suppose. Some go so far as to distort the Quran and read, “Then who are you?” Clearly, the meaning of this reading contradicts the mass-transmitted reading. Others even posit an implicit “they say,” treating the statement as something to be rejected, although it is the statement of