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mā ʾaṣāba min muṣībatin ʾillā bi-ʾidhni llāhi wa-man yuʾmin bi-llāhi yahdi qalbahū wa-llāhu bi-kulli shayʾin ʿalīmun
No affliction visits [anyone] except by Allah’s leave. Whoever has faith in Allah, He guides his heart, and Allah has knowledge of all things.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Taghabun – Verse 11
11. No calamity befalls but by the Leave of Allah and whoever believes in Allah, He guides his heart. And Allah is the Omniscient.
The blessed Verse makes a reference to the afflictions and the painful torments in this world perhaps to the effect that such afflictions have always served as pretexts for disbelievers to deny Justice in this world. Such reference may also reflect that there are impediments on the path to true belief and doing righteous good deeds without confronting them the believer may not succeed. Thus, the link between the blessed Verse in question and the preceding Verses becomes manifest.
The blessed Verse opens by saying that no affliction befalls on mankind without Allah’s Leave. All the happenings in this world indubitably depend upon Divine Leave, since the Unity of Divine Acts requires that nothing may realize in the world of existence without Divine Will, but since befalling of afflictions has always raise questions, emphasis is laid upon it. It is worthy of note, however, that Divine Will reflects Divine Existential Will rather than His Legislative Will.
The significant question raised here is this: Do many of these afflictions befall on mankind consequent to the wrong doings of the oppressors and the will of the tyrants or man is entangled with them owing to his ignorance, negligence, and committing vices or they all befall on mankind owing to Allah’s Leave? To provide a response to this question one may say that all the Qur’anic Verses dealing with afflictions reflect that they are of two kinds: those essential to the nature of human life absolutely unaffected by human will, e.g. death and some of the natural excruciating disasters and those which are somehow affected by human will.
Regarding the first category, the Holy Qur’an says that they are all dependent upon Divine Leave. Concerning the second category, the Glorious Qur’an says that they are the consequences of human acts. Therefore, one may not use such pretexts and regard all afflictions befalling on mankind by Allah and thereby remain inactive against wrong doers and refrain from confronting them. One may not even refrain from addressing and encountering ailments, blights, poverty, and ignorance. It is worthy of note, however, that the afflictions stemming from human acts befall man upon Divine Leave and any cause is rendered ineffectual upon His Will.
The blessed Verse proceeds with bearing glad tidings to the believers saying that God Almighty guides the believers’ hearts such that they never abandon hope in the face of afflictions nor be turned restless. Man is granted Divine Guidance when he is grateful for Divine Bounties, patient in the face of afflictions, and submits to Divine Decree. The Guidance of the heart embraces a broad semantic range from patience, gratitude, being content with Divine Satisfaction, submission to Divine Will to uttering the formula
Some Qur’an exegetes have treated with one of these attributes, though the blessed Verse covers all of them. The blessed Verse closes with
which may briefly reflect the causes behind the afflictions in store for fostering His servants out of His Infinite Knowledge aiming at giving warnings against arrogance and vanity such that His servants may not consign into oblivion their obligations and refrain from disobedience to Him.