come together to benefit you in any way, they could never benefit you except with something Allah has already written for you! Therefore, whenever any advantage reaches you through them, recognize that it is from Allah, for He alone is the One who decreed it. Notice that the Prophet — peace and blessings be upon him — did not say, “If they all unite to benefit you, they will not benefit you”; he said instead, “they will not benefit you except with what Allah has already written for you.” People, without doubt, help, support, and aid one another, yet every bit of that assistance is only what Allah has pre-ordained for a person. The credit thus belongs first and foremost to Allah; He is the One who has subjected someone to benefit you, treat you kindly, and remove your distress.

Conversely, were they all to conspire to harm you, they could not harm you except with something Allah has already written against you. Believing this necessarily leads a person to attach his heart to his Lord and rely on Him, unconcerned about anyone else. He knows that even if all created beings combined to harm him, they could not do so except with what Allah has decreed. Thus he pins his hope on Allah, seeks refuge in Him, and is undisturbed by the creation, even if they gather against him. For that reason we find that the early generations of this community, when they placed their trust in Allah, were not harmed by the scheming of plotters or the envy of the envious:
“And if you are patient and remain mindful of Allah, their plot will not harm you in the least. Indeed, Allah encompasses all that they do” (Q 3:120).

He — peace and blessings be upon him — then said, “The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried,” meaning that whatever Allah has written is final; the pages have dried of their ink and there is no room for revision. Consequently, whatever has reached you could never have missed you, and, as the second wording states, “whatever missed you could never have reached you.”