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How can one reconcile the Hadith, "Indeed, the devil has a special portion in the son of Adam..." which negates the emanation of evil from God, with the verse, "He guides whom He wills and He leads astray whom He wills," which affirms the emanation of leading astray (which is evil) from God? And can God inspire a servant to die as a disbeliever, then make him despair of His mercy as a form of leading astray?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The hadith narrated by Tirmidhi and Ibn Hibban from Ibn Mas'ud explains that the devil has a touch (lamah) that promises evil and denies the truth, and the angel has a touch (lamah) that promises good and affirms the truth. So, whoever finds the angel's touch should praise Allah, and whoever finds the devil's touch should seek refuge in Allah.

Evil is attributed to the devil and not to Allah, out of reverence for Him, Glory be to Him. Allah Almighty creates good and evil with wisdom. Evil is not attributed to Him in isolation but is included in generalities, or attributed to its cause, or its doer is omitted.

The Lord, Glory be to Him, His actions are all good, virtuous, and wise. He never does evil. Everything He created contains benefit and wisdom, even if it contains a partial, additional evil.

As for the question of whether Allah inspires a servant that he will die as a disbeliever, this is from the whispers of Satan and opens a door to ill-conjecture about Allah.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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