“All good is in Thy Hands and evil does not pertain to Thee.”

That is the translation you will read of the following Arabic words present in a Hadiith narrated in Sahih Muslim and Sunan Abi Dawud.

وَالْخَيْرُ كُلُّهُ فِي يَدَيْكَ وَالشَّرُّ لَيْسَ إِلَيْكَ


If you have a copy of the translation of Sunan Abi Dawud you will find the above English translation.

The translation of Sahih Muslim has

all goodness is in Your hands, and evil is not attributed to You


What does it mean that evil is not attributed to You?


As a Muslim it must be your Aqiidah that Allaah has created everything. That includes good and evil.

Allaah says in the Qur'aan:


Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is, over all things, Disposer of affairs.

[Qur'aan 39:62]


So what does it mean when you say evil is not attributed to You?

It means that it is not proper manners to annex evil to Allaah though we believe firmly that He created both evil and good.

For example, we know that Allaah created pigs. But have you ever heard anyone say O Creator of pigs when calling upon Him? This is not done because there is not ta'ziim of Allaah if you were to do so.

He is the creator of evil, but when calling upon Him you never say O Creator of evil.

Evil is not something by means of which you draw near to Allaah. You draw near to Allaah by good. You do not annex evil to Him, though He has created it, because there is not ta'ziim of Him in doing so.

Look at how Ibraahiim (alayhi al-salaaam) refers to Allaah


Who created me, and He [it is who] guides me.

And it is He who feeds me and gives me drink.

[Qur'aan 26:78-79]


He attributed created, guides, feeds, and gives me to drink to Allaah because there is ta'ziim in doing so.

But he attributes illness to himself


And when I am ill, it is He who cures me

[Qur'aan 26:80]


Allaah has created diseases and illness. However, Ibraahiim (alayhi al-salaam) did not annex it to Allaah. He annexed it to himself. Annexing illness to Allaah, though He is the creator of it, is not ta'ziim of Him.


Reference(s):

مرقاة المفاتيح شرح مشكاة المصابيح
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