The Quran

لِيُعَذِّبَ اللَّهُ المُنافِقينَ وَالمُنافِقاتِ وَالمُشرِكينَ وَالمُشرِكاتِ وَيَتوبَ اللَّهُ عَلَى المُؤمِنينَ وَالمُؤمِناتِ ۗ وَكانَ اللَّهُ غَفورًا رَحيمًا

Muhammad Asad

[And so it is] that God imposes suffering on the hypocrites, both men and women, as well as on the men and women who ascribe divinity to aught beside Him.¹ And [so, too, it is] that God turns in His mercy unto the believing men and believing women: for God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace!

In other words, on those who offend against what their own reason and conscience would have them do. This suffering, whether in this world or in the hereafter, is but a causal consequence - as the lam al-'aqibah at the beginning of this sentence shows - of man's moral failure, and not an arbitrary act of God. (Cf. in this connection note 7 on 2:7, which speaks of God's "sealing" the hearts of those who are bent on denying the truth.)