Some people say, “Had it not been for So-and-so, such-and-such would never have happened,” while others claim, “This came about through the intercession of our gods.”
In this way every group credits the blessing to whatever ancestors, deities, or individuals it venerates, forgetting its real source and the One who truly bestows it—Allah, exalted is He.
Similarly, there are those who attribute the blessing of sailing and being kept safe from danger at sea to the wind and the skill of the helmsman, saying, “The wind was favorable and the navigator was clever.”
The same pattern is common today: many people ascribe the arrival of blessings or the removal of afflictions to the efforts of governments or individuals, or to advances in experimental science. They will say, for example, “Medical progress has conquered diseases,” or, “Such-and-such initiatives will wipe out poverty and ignorance,” and the like. A Muslim must steer clear of such statements with the utmost caution, attributing every blessing to Allah alone and thanking Him for it. Whatever efforts are made by created beings, whether individuals or groups, are merely causes that may succeed or may fail. Those people can be thanked in proportion to their exertion, but the actual results must never be credited to anyone but Allah, glorified be He.
Allah has mentioned in His Noble Book peoples who denied His favor upon them and ascribed the wealth and blessings they enjoyed to other than Him—either on the grounds that they deserved them or because of their own expertise, knowledge, and skill. He says about man:
“And if We let him taste mercy from Us after hardship has touched him, he will surely say, ‘This is mine, and I do not think the Hour will ever come; yet even if I am returned to my Lord, I will certainly have only good with Him.’ But We shall surely inform the disbelievers of what they used to do, and We shall make them taste a severe punishment.” ⦗1⦘
His words, “This is mine,” mean: I obtained this by my own knowledge and I am entitled to it; it is not a gracious gift from Allah or His bounty, nor does it come through any power or might of the servant.