Perseverance — Page 85
Part II – My Life as a Muslim 85 troubles that he may be tried, rewarded, or punished according to his actions. But man is so constituted that when he is at ease and affluent he regards it as the fruits of his own labor and superior intelligence [Holy Qur’ ā n 28:79]. And when misfortunes overtake him, he attributes them to God. The Qur’ ā n has treated this question whether God or man himself is the author of his destiny from different angles, where in 41:47 it says that man himself makes or mars his own destiny, in 4:80 it says that good comes from God but evil from man’s own self, but yet in chapter 4:79 it observes that both, good and evil, come from God. In fact, as God has created everything for the good of man, it is due to man’s misuse of his God-given gifts that harm befalls him. This is why it is said that good proceeds from God and evil from man. But as God authors the natural laws that produce the eventual result of man’s actions, both good and bad, it is said that both good and evil come from God. And as man is a free agent, both good and evil are attributable to him. Thus, these verses explain and support one another. There is no contradiction between them. That even when it is evil, it is created by man shutting his spiritual window to the Light of God. It has a negative side and a negative does not need a new god to straighten it out. It is a rule (note – rule is not the word to use here because when we think of a rule, someone has set a law, but with God it is different) about the attributes of God that those who are considered to be punished follow that their punishment never comes before a misdeed, and it cannot be a misdeed unless some gift of God is misused.