The Quran

ما أَصابَ مِن مُصيبَةٍ إِلّا بِإِذنِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَمَن يُؤمِن بِاللَّهِ يَهدِ قَلبَهُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيءٍ عَليمٌ

Ali Unal

No affliction befalls except by God’s leave. Whoever believes in God (truly and sincerely), He guides his heart (to true knowledge of His eternal Will, and how He acts with regard to the life of His creatures, and so leads him to humble submission to Him, and to peace and serenity).¹ God has full knowledge of all things.

Everything in the world occurs according to certain laws God has established, and whatever a person meets as a consequence of whatever he or she does is also according to these laws. It is God Who has established and created both the causes and the effects. However, He is never dependent on these laws and, if He so wills, He can create or bring about different things, or nothing, as a result of the same cause; or He can annul a law for whomever He wills. So, though things usually occur according to certain laws which God has established, and we should consider these laws in our lives, we should never hold back from praying to God because we think that these laws are absolute, or that whatever we do we cannot escape its consequences. Those who know that God has this power and believe in Him accordingly, or those who believe in God inthe perception of how He acts, submit to Him wholly and find peace and rest in their hearts in this life. For the same meaning, see 57: 22–23: No affliction occurs on the earth (such as droughts, famines, or earthquakes), or in your own persons (such as diseases, damages to your property, or the loss of loved ones), but it is recorded in a Book before We bring it into existence – doing so is surely easy for God— So that you may not grieve for what has escaped you, nor exult because of what God has granted you: God does not love anyone proud and boastful… Also see notes 12 and 13 concerning these verses.