Praise be to Allaah.
Understanding this aayah is easy for the one whom Allaah
enables to understand it. It is one of the unambiguous aayahs in the clear
Book of Allaah, and there is no contradiction in it, except in the minds of
some of the haters, who are aided by their ignorance of Arabic and of the
meanings of the Holy Qur’aan, so they think that the words of Allaah
(interpretation of the meaning): “but
whatever of evil befalls you, is from yourself” [al-Nisa’ 4:79]
mean that calamities, which are referred to here as “evil”, are created by
man himself. This is obvious ignorance which no one falls into but someone
who has no knowledge of the Arabic language, or an Arabic-speaker who is
misled and overwhelmed by his whims and desires. That is because the
preposition min (from) here, in the phrase min nafsika (“from
yourself”), refers to the cause, i.e., it is because of you yourself, O man,
because of your disobedience and your going against the command of Allaah,
that calamities befall you, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands
have earned. And He pardons much” [al-Shoora 42:30].
Al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer (may Allaah have mercy on him) says:
The words “And if some good reaches them” [al-Nisa’ 4:78] mean:
abundance and provision, of fruits, crops, children and the like. This is
the meaning of the words of Ibn ‘Abbaas, Abu’l-‘Aaliyah and al-Saddi.
“they say, ‘This is from Allaah,’ but if some evil befalls
them” [al-Nisa’ 4:78], i.e., drought, famine, lack
of fruits and crops, or death of children, and so on – as Abu’l-‘Aaliyah and
al-Saddi said.
“they say, ‘This is from you (O Muhammad
صلى الله عليه وسلم)’”,
i.e., because of you, and because of our following you and following your
religion, as Allaah said concerning the people of Pharaoh (interpretation of
the meaning):
“But whenever good came to them, they said: ‘Ours is
this.’ And if evil afflicted them, they ascribed it to evil omens connected
with Moosa (Moses) and those with him”
[al-A’raaf 7:131]
and as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And among mankind is he who worships Allaah as it were
upon the edge (i.e. in doubt): if good befalls him, he is content therewith;
but if a trial befalls him he turns back on his face (i.e. reverts to
disbelief after embracing Islam). He loses both this world and the
Hereafter”
[al-Hajj 22:11]
“Say: ‘All things are from Allaah’” [al-Nisa’ 4:78],
i.e., everything happens by the will and decree of Allaah, which applies to
the righteous and evildoer, to the believer and disbeliever, alike. ‘Ali ibn
Abi Talhah said, narrating from Ibn ‘Abbaas: “Say: ‘All things are from
Allaah” i.e., both good and bad. Al-Hasan al-Basri said something
similar.
Then Allaah said, addressing the Messenger (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him), but the message is to mankind, that the
answer to this question is: “Whatever of good
reaches you, is from Allaah”, i.e., by the grace, bounty, kindness and
mercy of Allaah.
“but whatever of evil befalls you, is from yourself”
i.e., from you, and because of your own actions, as Allaah says elsewhere
(interpretation of the meaning): “And whatever of misfortune befalls you,
it is because of what your hands have earned. And He pardons much”
[al-Shoora 42:30]. Al-Saddi, al-Hasan al-Basri, Ibn Jurayj and Ibn Zayd
said: “is from yourself” means, because of your sins.
Qataadah said: “Whatever of good reaches you, is from
Allaah, but whatever of evil befalls you, is from yourself” [means] it
is a punishment, O son of Adam, for your sins. And he said: We are told that
the Prophet of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used
to say: “No man is scratched by a thorn, or stumbles, or has a twitching in
a vein, except for a sin, and what Allaah forgives is greater.”
This which was narrated by Qataadah in a mursal report was
narrated in a muttasil report [i.e., with a complete isnaad] in al-Saheeh:
“By the One in Whose hand is my soul, no worry or grief or hardship befalls
a believer, not even a thorn that pricks him, but Allaah will expiate some
of his sins thereby.” End quote. Tafseer al-Qur’aan il ‘Azeem
(2/361-363).
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him)
says:
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Whatever of
good reaches you, is from Allaah,” [al-Nisa’ 4:79], i.e., what reaches
you of victory, provision and well being, comes from Allaah, a blessing that
He has bestowed upon you; even if it is because of your good deeds, He is
the One Who has guided you, helped you, made things easy for you, blessed
you with faith and made it attractive to you, and has made disbelief, evil
and sin hateful to you.
At the end of the saheeh hadeeth qudsi that was narrated by
Abu Dharr from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),
he tells us that his Lord, may He be blessed and exalted, said: “O My
slaves, they are merely your actions which I am recording for you, then I
will requite you for them. Whoever finds it to be good, let him praise
Allaah, and whoever finds it to be otherwise, let him blame no one but
himself.” According to the saheeh hadeeth: “The best prayer for forgiveness
is to say: ‘Allaahumma anta rabbiy laa ilaaha illa anta, khalaqtani wa
ana ‘abduka wa ana ‘ala ‘ahdika wa wa’dika ma astata’tu, a’oodhu bika min
sharri ma sana’tu aboo’u laka bi ni’matika ‘alayya wa aboo’u laka bi dhanbi,
faghfir li fa innahu laa yaghfir ul-dhunooba illa anta (O Allaah, You
are my Lord and I am Your slave, You have created me and I am faithful to my
covenant and my promise (to You) as much as I am able. I seek refuge with
You from the evil of that which I have done. I acknowledge before You all
the blessings You have bestowed upon me and I confess to You my sin. Forgive
me for there is no one who forgives sin except You).’ Whoever says this
during the day believing in it with certainty and dies that day before
evening comes, will be one of the people of Paradise, and whoever says it at
night believing in it with certainty and dies before morning comes will be
one of the people of Paradise.”
Then Allaah says: “but whatever of evil befalls you”,
such as humiliation, fear and defeat, such as what befell you on the day of
Uhud, “is from yourself”, i.e., because of your sins and errors, even
though that is already decreed and ordained for you, because the divine
decree is not a justification for anyone, and will not be accepted by
against Allaah, or by people. If it were permissible for anyone to refer to
the divine decree to justify what he does of bad deeds, then no wrongdoer
would be punished, no mushrik would be fought, no hadd punishment would be
carried out, and no one would refrain from wronging anyone else. This would
cause a great deal of mischief and corruption in both religious and worldly
affairs, which is something that no one can dispute, whether on a rational
basis or on a shar’i basis. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (8/113-114)
Al-‘Allaamah al-Sa’di (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
Allaah tells us of those who do not know, who turn away from
that which the Messengers brought, who are opposed to them: that if
something good comes to them, i.e., abundance, a lot of wealth, many
children, good health, they say: “This is from Allaah”, but if
something bad comes to them, i.e., drought, famine, poverty, sickness, death
of children and loved ones, they say: “This is from you (O Muhammad
صلى الله عليه وسلم)”, i.e., because
of what you have brought to us, O Muhammad; they regard the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as a bad omen as
others like them regarded the Messengers of Allaah as bad omens, as Allaah
tells us that the people of Pharaoh said to Moosa:
“But whenever good came to them, they said: ‘Ours is
this.’ And if evil afflicted them, they ascribed it to evil omens connected
with Moosa (Moses) and those with him”
[al-A’raaf 7:131]
And the people of Saalih said:
“They said: ‘We augur ill omen from you and those with
you’”
[al-Naml 27:47]
And the people mentioned in Soorat Yaa-Seen said to their
Messengers:
“They (people) said: ‘For us, we see an evil omen from
you; if you cease not, we will surely stone you…’”
[Yaa-Seen 36:18].
Just as the people of kufr think alike, so too their words
and deeds are similar. This applies to everyone who attributes the
occurrence of bad things or the loss of good things to what the Messengers
brought or to part of it; that comes under this stern criticism.
Allaah says in response to them: “Say: ‘All things”,
good and bad, “are from Allaah”, i.e., by His will and decree and
creation.
Then Allaah says: “Whatever of good reaches you”,
i.e., in your religious and worldly affairs, “is from Allaah” who is
the One Who bestows them and makes it easy to attain them by facilitating
their means.
“but whatever of evil befalls you”,
in your religious and worldly affairs, “is from yourself”, i.e.,
because of your sins and what you have earned, and what Allaah forgives is
greater.
Allaah has opened to His slaves the gates of His kindness and
has bid them enter by His grace and bounty. He has told them that sins
prevent His bounty, so if a person does them he should not blame anyone but
himself, because he is the one who has prevented the grace and bounty of
Allaah from reaching him.
End quote. Tafseer al-Kareem al-Rahmaan (p. 188).
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was
asked:
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “And if some
good reaches them, they say, ‘This is from Allaah,’ but if some evil befalls
them, they say, ‘This is from you (O Muhammad
صلى الله عليه وسلم).’ Say: ‘All things are from Allaah’” [al-Nisa’
4:78], then in the next verse He says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Whatever of good reaches you, is from Allaah, but whatever of evil
befalls you, is from yourself”. How can we reconcile between them?
He replied:
They may be reconciled by noting that the first verse refers
to the decree of Allaah, i.e., it is from Allah; He is the one who decrees
it. The second verse refers to the cause i.e., whatever of evil befalls you,
you are the cause, and the One Who decrees evil and decrees the punishment
for it is Allaah. End quote.
Liqaa’aat al-baab il-Maftooh
(no. 15, question no. 15).
And Allaah knows best.
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