Exalted is Allah far above what the wrongdoers allege—exalted in the highest way. They fail to see that the verse is actually proof against them, for its purport—as the eminent Ibn al-Qayyim and others have demonstrated—is that, owing to Allah’s wisdom and the justice inherent in His rulings, no one is entitled to ask Him about what He does; all of His decrees are manifest justice, leaving no room for questioning.

Shaykh Yusuf al-Dajawī has a useful treatise on the exegesis of this verse, apparently drawn from Ibn al-Qayyim; it is worth consulting.

This has been a brief word on the foregoing hadiths, in which I have tried to dispel the doubts some people harbor about them. If I have succeeded, then all praise is due to Allah; if not, I refer the reader to the lengthier works on this critical subject, such as the aforementioned book by Ibn al-Qayyim and the comprehensive writings of his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah—of which this topic is one important theme.

51 – “Any household, whether Arab or non-Arab, for whom Allah intends good, He causes Islam to enter upon them; then tribulations befall them like overhanging clouds.”

Narrated by Ahmad (3/477); al-Hakim (1/34); al-Bayhaqi as well in al-Asmāʾ (p. 117); and Ibn al-Aʿrabi in Ḥadīth Saʿdān ibn Naṣr (1/4/1).

Al-Hakim said, “Authentic; it has no defect,” and al-Dhahabi agreed—and so it is, exactly as they stated.

Al-Hakim (1/61–62) also related, through the chain of Ibn Shihab: “ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab set out for Syria with us, and with us was Abu ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrah. They came to a ford while ʿUmar was riding a camel. He dismounted, removed his leather socks, placed them on his shoulder, and took hold of the camel’s rein …”