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evelation 171“All things are from Allah.” But what has come to these people thatthey fail to understand a single fact. ( Al-Nis§" 4:78)Whatever good, (O man!) happens to you, is from Allah, but whateverevil happens to you, is from yourself. And we have sent you as a messengerto (instruct) mankind. And enough is Allah for a witness.( Al-Nis§" 4:79)The first verse, by stating that ‘wherever you are, death will find youout’, makes it clear that truth is absolute and independent fromhuman acts, be they for or against it. Death will ‘find people out,wherever they are’. ‘What has come to these people that they fail tounderstand a single fact (hadÊth an )’, asks the verse. Note the term hadÊthhere, a term that we defined as relating to al-qur"§n. And indeed, thefirst verse does not talk about good and evil in human behaviour butabout good and evil in objective reality, the existence of life anddeath, of angels and the devil, which all have their origin in Allah.‘Say: “All things are from Allah.”’ This verse talks about al-qadar.The second verse, however, talks about good and evil in humanbehaviour. Whereas in objective reality angels (symbolising good)and the devil (evil) are both essential parts of the truth, and no preferenceexists for either of the two, angels are supposed to competewith the devil in what humans do. In saying, ‘Whatever good,(O man!) happens to you, is from Allah, but whatever evil happensto you, is from yourself’, the verse acknowledges: a) a distinctionbetween ‘what is from Allah’ and ‘what is from human beings’, andb) an autonomy in human acts. These acts of human behaviour arethought to be regulated by the rules of the umm al-kit§b that areMuÈammad’s (ß) messengerhood. MuÈammad (ß) was ordered byGod to give people instructions about His rules. ‘And we have sentyou as a messenger to (instruct) humankind.’ This verse talks aboutal-qa·§".The following verse will give us an indication as to why it is so significantto distinguish between the al-qadar and al-qa·§":Thy Lord has decreed [qa·§] that you worship none but Him, and thatyou be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old agein your life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, butaddress them in terms of honour. ( Al-Isr§" 17:23)This is clearly an instruction that falls into the category of ummal-kit§b, as people have a choice whether to follow it and treat their