it is no concern at all of yours whether He relents to them or chastises them; for they are indeed evildoers. To God belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth; He forgives whom He wills and chastises whom He wills. And God is Forgiving Merciful. The deity is the One to whom belongs the command and the prohibition. Because there is no counterpart to Him in divinity [the Prophet] ﷺ has nothing to do with the command and the prohibition. It is said that in what He taught him and told him He divested [the Prophet] of everything else and every share or claim inasmuch as He stated that the command was in no way his. If no part of the command is permit- ted for the leader of the first and the last how can there be any part of the command for the one whose rank is lower in stationḍ It is said that He takes for Himself alone the secret of His servants in His decree ḥukm saying “I am the One who relents to whom I will among My servants and I punish whom I will. What happens in the end is hidden from you O Muḥammad and you are not aware of My secret regarding them.” It is said that He raised [the Prophet] up at one time to a station in which He said “and you threw not when you threw but God threw” [8:17]. [The Prophet] threw a handful of earth and hit all the faces [of the enemy]. But in another time He said to him “No part of the command is yours” [3:128] and then added in explanation “To God belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth” [3:129]. Therefore the right to possess is His right to pos- sess mulk the command is His command amr and the decree is His decree ḥukm. He punishes whom He will fa-man shāÌa ʿadhdhabahu and brings closer [to Him] whom He will wa-man shāÌa qarrabahu. He guides whom He will wa-man shāÌa hadāhu and leads astray whom He will wa-man shāÌa aghwāhu.
