An-Nahl • EN-TAZKIRUL-QURAN
﴿ وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا۟ لَوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَا عَبَدْنَا مِن دُونِهِۦ مِن شَىْءٍۢ نَّحْنُ وَلَآ ءَابَآؤُنَا وَلَا حَرَّمْنَا مِن دُونِهِۦ مِن شَىْءٍۢ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ فَعَلَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ فَهَلْ عَلَى ٱلرُّسُلِ إِلَّا ٱلْبَلَٰغُ ٱلْمُبِينُ ﴾
“Now they who ascribe divinity to aught beside God say, "Had God so willed, we would not have worshipped aught but Him - neither we nor our forefathers; nor would we have declared aught as forbidden without a commandment from Him." Even thus did speak those [sinners] who lived before their time; but, then, are the apostles bound to do more than clearly deliver the message [entrusted to them]?”
An unheeding person justifies his departure from the truth in various ways and one such way is to maintain that everything in this world happens according to the will and pleasure of God. In view of this, his present behaviour can be treated as a result of the will of God. He maintains that he would not have been able to do wrong if his misdeeds had not been backed by the will of God. He says that if his actions were not to God’s liking, He would not have allowed him to continue those actions. In other words, it should have been the rule that whenever he did something against the will of God, He should have prevented him from doing it. Man talks in this way because he is not serious about truth and untruth. Had he been serious, he would have immediately understood that the liberty of action pertains to the creation plan of God according to which man is being tested in this world. It has nothing to do with God’s approval.