and it does not come through any power or might of the servant.

Likewise, Allah speaks about Qārūn, to whom He had granted immense treasures. When Qārūn then behaved arrogantly toward his people, sincere advisers urged him to acknowledge Allah’s favor and to show gratitude for it. Yet he stubbornly retorted, “I have been given all this only because of knowledge I possess.” ⦗1⦘ In other words, “I acquired these stores through my own skill and mastery of the ways of gain; they are not a gracious gift from Allah.” His end was therefore among the worst of endings, and his punishment among the most severe: Allah caused the earth to swallow him and his house because he denied Allah’s blessing, attributed it to other than Him, and claimed to have obtained it by his own power and might.

How deserving of the same punishment are those in our own age who have been deluded by the inventions and capabilities that Allah allowed them to reach only as a test! They have shown no gratitude for His favor; instead they boast and strut about, crediting their own strength and power, spreading corruption on earth without right, and looking down on Allah’s servants—how truly deserving they are of chastisement!

Before them, the people of ʿĀd were likewise deceived by their strength. Concerning them Allah says:
“As for ʿĀd, they waxed arrogant in the land without right and said, ‘Who is mightier than we are in strength?’ Did they not see that Allah, who created them, is mightier than they are in strength? Yet they went on rejecting Our signs. So We unleashed upon them a screaming wind on a number of ill-starred days, that We might make them taste the punishment of disgrace in the life of this world; and surely the punishment of the Hereafter is even more humiliating, and they will not be helped.” ⦗2⦘

Now consider a story related by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about a group who lived before us. Allah tried them and then bestowed favor upon them: some denied Allah’s blessing and claimed the wealth they had received was merely an inheritance from their forefathers, so Allah became displeased with them; others acknowledged Allah’s grace and thanked Him, and Allah was pleased with them.

Abū Hurayrah (d. 59 AH) reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “Three men from the Children of Israel—a leper, one bald, and a blind man—Allah wished to test them, so He sent to them an angel…”