He Guides, Protects and Preserves Whomever He Wills by Grace

The next point is: He guides, protects and preserves whomever He wills by grace; and He misguides, forsakes and afflicts whomever He wills by justice. This was touched on above, but here it is again, to reiterate. Allah guides whom He wills, and He protects and preserves. Yaʿṣimu, from ʿiṣmah: He protects. Wa yuʿāfī faḍlan: wa yuʿāfī means He actually preserves — that is, gives them ʿāfiyah, wellbeing — whoever He wills. Faḍlan: that is a grace; that is a bonus; that is up to Him. It is not necessary for Him to do that.

If Allah (swt) wants, He can do whatever He wills, and He can do it as He wishes. There is nobody to ask Him: why are You doing that? Because we are all owned, and we are all the dominion of Allah (swt). It is only when the human being gets this kind of independence, and this feeling that there is something — that is when he starts questioning Allah, asking why Allah did this to his son, or why Allah did this to his people, or whatever it may be. It is Allah; He does what He wishes. Sometimes the grand plan of things, and the wisdom, is not understood. But even when He protects somebody, and He saves somebody, He does that out of His grace and benevolence. It is not necessary for Him to do that. That should be made clear. The Muʿtazilites believe that He has to do that. We believe God is benevolent; that is why He does that.

And then He lets astray. The text says: and He misguides — or, better said, He lets stray — and forsakes. Yakhdhul: forsake. Yakhdhul means to stop having mercy on somebody, to stop protecting somebody. To forsake someone is to let them do what they want. In the sense of Allah (swt), it is to take them out of His protection, His safety. And afflicts whom He wills: yabtalī — afflicts, tests, puts into trial — whoever He wills, by justice. He does that out of His justice, meaning He is allowed to do that; it is just for Him to do that.