4:79

Salaam all,

This is 4:79
مَّا أَصَابَكَ مِنْ حَسَنَةٍ فَمِنَ اللّهِ وَمَا أَصَابَكَ مِن سَيِّئَةٍ فَمِن نَّفْسِكَ وَأَرْسَلْنَاكَ لِلنَّاسِ رَسُولاً وَكَفَى بِاللّهِ شَهِيدًا
Ma asabaka min hasanatin famina Allahi wama asabaka min sayyiatin famin nafsika waarsalnaka lilnnasi rasoolan wakafa biAllahi shaheedan

The Aya says:
What hit you (O Muhammad) of good then from Allah, and what hit you (O Muhammad) of hated entity, then from yourself. And We sent you as envoy to the people, and Allah is sufficient as witness.

My personal note:
This aya touches on some important issues to be looked at in conjunction with the previous one. It raises some questions?

How does 4:78 say that all is from Allah, while this one says that the bad comes from “yourself”?

In the previous Aya we said that every thing comes from Allah directly or indirectly. If it comes indirectly from God, then we as people or other creation carry it’s more direct responsibility, even though it still has it’s connection to God indirectly. For example, the owner of a lab has his name as an author of a scientific article, because of his relatively indirect involvement, while the scientist working under him or her will carry the direct authorship. So, the two Ayat are not necessarily contradicting themselves.

The next question: What does from yourself mean?

This can be pointing to several things at the same time:
1- The person is responsible for the bad that hits him. An example would be in doing actions that necessitate them being hit by the bad that happened to them. This is a known idea by religious Jews and Christians and Muslims. The Muslim view here, is that the suffering that the person goes through will help cleanse the burden of sin, and helps forgive it. Therefore the suffering has a hidden blessing within the suffering.
2- The bad is bad because we feel bad when it happens. The self is the one that feels the badness and therefore the bad is mainly in our own perception through our own self. We see this everyday in the different things that make some of us suffer, while it does not affect others.
3- The self of a particular individual may need to go through some bad times as part of it’s growth and maturity and in order to help it reach the good. So, here, things may look bad, but can have a hidden blessing in them that help the future of some sort. An example would be the suffering that Joseph went through and that built his own Iman=safety in Allah.
4- It can be a test as happened in the order for Abraham to kill his son.

What is important is that there is not one only meaning or way to look at “bad from yourself” and one has to keep the wide coverage of this concept in view.

One will then ask another question: All those points about bad are true for the good that hits the person, then why does God take authority for the good and leave the bad to us as people?

The answer here is in:
1- In a sense, God suggests that the bad is linked to God only through indirect means, but the good is linked directly as well as indirectly to God.
2- Because the good that happens to us from god is more than what we deserve in our actions, and more than what we need to feel good and more than our selves need for their maturity. Because that generosity is not linked to our actions or needs or selves, then it is more linked to God through His generosity and mercy on us, than ourselves. The same is not true for the bad that hits us, because it is never more than what we deserve, or need for maturity or perception.

I end with the fact that we have to remember two main things:
1- God never burdens us with suffering that we cannot bear. This is what came to us from Aya 2:286. So, this reassures us that whatever bad hits us, then we can cope with it.
2- No matter how much suffering hits us, we are always blessed with so much more good that we will not only be able to cope with the suffering, but also be able to overcome, with God’s help.
Those two points are the message of Iman, the safety and trust in God and that He will not allow happen to us, except what is best for us.

I hope this helps and God knows best.

Translation of the transliterated words:



Ma: what
Asabaka: hit you (singular)/ targeted and hit you
Note: the root Sad-W-B and it means in one of the concrete usages the rain falling on a place. This word is then used to mean hitting the target correctly or being correct, because the rain is correct in hitting it’s target. ASABAKA is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means the hitting of the object (KA= singular you) was made to happen by the subject (third person singular masculine pointing to min hasanatin= of good or beauty).
Min: of/ from
Hasanatin: beauty/ entity of beauty/ goodness
Note: the root is Ha-S-N and it means beauty and goodness in all the aspects of beauty and goodness. HASANATIN is an entity of beauty or goodness which could be an act or a matter or any other entity.
Famina: then from/ of
Allahi: Allah
Wama: and what/ while what
Asabaka: hit you (singular)/ targeted and hit you
Note: the root Sad-W-B and it means in one of the concrete usages the rain falling on a place. This word is then used to mean hitting the target correctly or being correct, because the rain is correct in hitting it’s target. ASABAKA is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means the hitting of the object (KA= singular you) was made to happen by the subject (third person singular masculine pointing to min Sayyiatin= of bad or hated entity).
Min: of/ from
Sayyiatin: bad entity/ hated entity
Note: the root is S-Y-Hamza and it means hated word or deed. It can also mean ugly or vulnerable. All the meanings are linked somehow by one concept. This word then means different things according to the plane of thought that is being talked about. SAYYIATIN is the ugly or hated deed or any ugly or hate worthy entity.
Famin: then from
Nafsika: yourself
Note: NAFSIN is derived from the root N-F-S and it means to breath. This is the concept and then it can extend to self or anything that breathes. NAFSI means self of. KA means you (singular).
Waarsalnaka: and We sent you (singular)/ and we sent you as envoy or messenger
Note: WA is a letter that links what is before with what is after. This link is through inclusion, either one is included in the other or they are all included in the bigger sentence or bigger picture. WA often corresponds with “and/ addition” but the more encompassing meaning is in inclusion one in another or all in a bigger picture or sentence. ARSALNAKA is derived from the root R-S-L. The concrete word is RASL and it means to envoy someone means a group of people or animals that were sent by their owners or sender. ARSALNAKA is an action that is completed. It means: the action of sending the object (KA= singular you) as envoy or messenger happened by the subject (first person plural).
Lilnnasi: to the people/ society
Note: LI means to. ALNNASI is derived from the root the root is Hamza-N-S and it means socializing. ALNNASI are the society or the people.
Rasoolan: messenger/ envoy
Note: RASOOLAN is derived from the root R-S-L and it means to envoy someone or a group of people or animals. The concrete word is RASL and it means a group of people or animals that were sent by their owners or senders. RASOOLAN means envoy or messengers.
Wakafa: and sufficient
Note: WA is a letter that links what is before with what is after. This link is through inclusion, either one is included in the other or they are all included in the bigger sentence or bigger picture. WA often corresponds with “and/ addition” but the more encompassing meaning is in inclusion one in another or all in a bigger picture or sentence. KAFA is derived from the root K-F-W and it means meeting the challenge or the need in any way as in having done enough to meet that challenge and so forth. In this context, it takes the meaning of being sufficient.
biAllahi: by Allah/ in Allah
Note: Bi denotes that what comes after is a tool and/or an object or an association with an action that was mentioned. If it is an object of the action then it makes it stronger. ALLAH is Allah
Shaheedan: witness
Note: SHAHEED is derived from the root SH-H-D and it means witnessing of truth and it also denotes that the witness knows very well what he or she is witnessing about. The concrete meaning is the honey mixed with wax therefore the wax is the witness of the truth that the honey is the honey. Another concrete meaning is the baby that was just born and is covered with a membrane. In both, there is close association which is proof or witness of the fact. SHAHEEDAN means witness or witnessing.

Salaam all and have a great day