Because of His attribute of Justice He would not wrong anyone. Allah is the Ultimate Truth and anything called upon besides Him is falsehood 20:6,62,24:25,31:30.
He is the best (Khair means best in the sense of good and positive) Al Makireen 3:54,8:30, the best of planners because He always plans for the good, and only Him knows what is ultimately good. In 3:54 for example, that planning came to oppose the Jews' plans to kill Jesus. It resulted in Allah raising Jesus to Himself and honoring him above his enemies. MAKARA (to plan) from the point of view of the humans can mean to plan for the good or plan for the bad and if it is for the latter then it is preceded by sayia/bad as in 40:45 or 16:45.
When speaking of Allah protecting Musa from Pharaoh's plans, the Quran specifies that this plan of Pharaoh was bad sayiaat plur. Again in 35:10,43 the Quran uses sayiaat to specify how the things people are planning for are bad. When sayia is not used then the context specifies what type of makar the people are devising 27:48-50,8:30,10:21 by showing who is trying to deceive who. It is the never changing sunna/way of Allah that He will always counter the evil plans of those people planning against Him no matter how elaborate their plan is
14:46"though their plan was such that the mountains should pass away thereby".
Ultimately, Allah's plan is always good, even when it brings about total destruction. He is the best (Khair) Al Makireen as in Ibrahim, Jesus or the early Muslims' cases when He defeated the machinations of the wicked people by countering them with an elaborate, comprehensive plan that ultimately only leaves the "good" standing.
The Hebrew Scriptures speak in similar terms of God's slowly but surely unfolding His destructive plan against the disbelieving oppressors without them realizing it Isa19:17. He is also said to be One who lays snares Jer50:24,Ezek17:20 plots evil towards the sinners Micah2:3, acts crookedly with the crooked Ps18:27 and creates not only good but also evil Deut30:15,Isa45:7,1Sam16:14.
The Quranic notion of Allah planning therefore always comes in the context of moral reflexivity, never as an initial action. The reflexive nature of good and evil deeds is a common theme in the Quran; spending in charity is like spending on oneself 2:272, eating the wealth of the orphans under care is like filling one's belly with fire 4:10. Stinginess ultimately translates into miserliness unto nobody but oneself 47:38, trying to lead astray leads oneself first and foremost astray 3:69,4:113 etc.
The planning of Allah is thus a a reciprocal effect in direct return to attempts at planning against Allah. The Quran states in the context of Yusuf/Joseph's story and the deception of his brothers to get rid of him
The planning of Allah is thus a a reciprocal effect in direct return to attempts at planning against Allah. The Quran states in the context of Yusuf/Joseph's story and the deception of his brothers to get rid of him
12:21"And thus, We established Joseph in the land that We might teach him the interpretation of events. And Allah is predominant over His affair, but most of the people do not know".
The story of Yusuf illustrates in one of the most beautiful ways the notion of Allah "planning", how He counters the plan of the evil doers with a more intricate plan that always prevails. Once the plan was fulfilled and all matters were settled, Yusuf said
12:100"Indeed, my Lord is Subtle in what He wills. Indeed, it is He who is the Knowing, the Wise".
The planning of Allah is subtle beyond human capacity, implemented with perfect knowledge and wisdom.
The Arabic for "to deceive" is khada'a, as in 2:9 when speaking of those trying to deceive Allah and the believers while they only deceive themselves. It is the law of Allah that if one intends to deceive Him, mock His communications 6:10,15:11-15 or actively fight His guidance 4:115 then that deceit, mockery or violence will encompass him 45:33.
Its effect is in the metaphysical sphere first and foremost; hardening his heart through a seal of his spiritual senses, eventually taking him to his doom at his appointed time
16:33-34,86:15-17,21:38-41"And they say: When will this threat come to pass if you are truthful? Had those who disbelieve but known (of the time) when they shall not be able to ward off the fire from their faces nor from their backs, nor shall they be helped. Nay, it shall come on them all of a sudden and cause them to become confounded, so they shall not have the power to avert it, nor shall they be respited. And certainly messengers before you were scoffed at, then there befell those of them who scoffed that at which they had scoffed".
Their attempted deceptive plans against Allah, were always 14:46"with Allah" ie fully controlled by Him
85:20"And Allah encompasses them on every side (wara2 as is used in common speak doesnt only signify "back" but "all sides")".
He renders their plans ineffective by reversing the intended purpose;
In accordance with Allah's law of causality 2:9, the Quran shows in 4:142 the hypocrites striving to deceive Allah, then this same deception is returned to them by Allah, and this is the only verse attributing khada'a (to deceive) to Allah. That deception, which is in other words self-deception and the result of one's actions, is attributed to Allah because as in all phenomena, natural or spiritual, it is in accordance with His laws that the disbelievers or those seeking to harm His cause will destroy their own souls without perceiving it, whether through the
41:23"(evil) thought which you entertained about your Lord that has tumbled you down into perdition"
or through the active struggle of the enemies of Islam who
40:25,4:113"do not bring (aught) to perdition but their own souls"
deceiving their own selves without perceiving
16:45-7,6:123"and they do not plan but against their own souls, and they do not perceive".
Not only do they not perceive that higher reality, but in fact so deep and intricate is a single of God's decree that all humans together would need a 1000 year of unceasing planning and reflecting to equal the lapse of time needed for it to be divinely decreed and concretely implemented 22:47,32:5. This is another way of expressing the impossibility for humans to come up with such intricate concepts.
The evil plotting of those who reject the truth and actively oppose it, aiming at ruining the faith of the believers
6:26"only bring destruction upon their own souls while they do not perceive".
As stated in the Quran, deceivers do not perceive that their very behaviour is causing their own destruction in degrees. This is the plan devised by Allah in regards to them, the fact that their deception inevitably causes a chain of events that puts the deceiver at the receiving end of his own actions
7:182-3,68:44-45"We will overtake them by degrees, from whence they perceive not: And I do bear with them, surely My plan is firm".
Destruction coming on them "from whence they perceive not" refers to it coming from the very reality they denied and called a lie
39:25-48"Those before them denied, so the chastisement came to them from whence they perceived not..and what they never thought of shall become plain to them from Allah".
At that time, when they are all gathered, they will be challenged to unleash that plan they believed would bring them victory
77:38-9"This is the day of decision: We have gathered you and those of yore. So if you have a plan, plan against Me (now)".
The Quran in 16:26 uses the image of a building collapsing on the one devising evil plans, starting from the place one would normally seek refuge in when hiding from an attack, the foundations. This is because
35:43"the evil plans shall not beset any save the authors of it".
Their deception is returned to them while they do not perceive
16:34"So the evil (consequences) of what they did shall afflict them and that which they mocked shall encompass them"
causing them destruction through their own hands
8:51"This is for what your own hands have sent on before".
That gradually unfolding self-deception takes them to a destination, described in the Quran as "lying in wait" for those heedless of it 78:21. It is but a natural concept, that of the misdeeds accumulating to a point that they cannot but suddenly overwhelm the guilty.
The idea is present throughout the HB as here stated by the prophet Hosea
Hos7:2"They do not say in their heart that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds have surrounded them; they were before My face".
David's eloquent Psalms says
7:16-17"He dug a pit and deepened it, and he fell into the pit that he made. The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads" Ps35:8"May darkness that he does not know come upon him, and his net that he hid shall ensnare him; in the darkness may he fall into it".
It is also to be noted that, contrary to 3:54,8:30 Allah never describes Himself as "khair al khadieen" because khair (good) cannot be used with khadaa which is an evil act. Makar therefore does not mean to deceive but to plan, either for good or for bad, this is further irrefutable through the following
7:123"Firon said: Do you believe in Him before I have given you permission? Surely this is a plot which you have secretly devised (makar makartumuhu) in this city".
If makar meant to deceive, this verse would be liguistically flawed "this is a deception which you have deceived". Makar instead, means to plan "this is a plan which you have planned". To determine the nature of that plan, as said earlier, one needs to look at the context in which the word is used as well as whether the word sayia is related to it.
The same case is repeated in 27:50 where makara can only mean to plan
"And they planned (makaru) a plan (makran), and We planned (makarna) a plan (makran) while they perceived not".
Kayd, which may also be used for the good 12:76, is used in the same manner as makar 7:183,8:18,12:52,37:98,40:25,68:45etc and in particular 86:15 to see that it does not mean to "deceive".
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