فَلَمْ تَقْتُلُوهُمْ وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ قَتَلَهُمْ وَمَا رَمَيْتَ إِذْ رَمَيْتَ وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ رَمَىٰ
"You did not kill them, but God killed them. And when you threw, it was not you who threw, but God who threw."
| Half | Pattern |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fa-lam taqtulūhum wa lākinna'llāha qatalahum — the act is denied outright |
| 2 | Wa mā ramayta idh ramayta wa lākinna'llāha ramā — the act is first granted, then denied |
The expression idh ramayta (when you threw) in the second half records that the act of throwing did take place — and in the same sentence it is said that the outcome does not belong to it.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the presence of that expression: the verse does not discount the human act. What it denies is that the act produced the outcome.
And this cuts from the same place as the four proofs treated in al-Wāqiʿa 56/58-72: there too the human share is granted (pouring out, sowing, striking fire) and the outcome was kept separate. I rely on that treatment.
A record per the method (Method): this verse has been used in the theological tradition in the debates over human action and human power. This commentary does not enter into that debate; the linguistic and word-order side of the verse is what is given.
وَلِيُبْلِىَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنْهُ بَلَآءً حَسَنًا — and the ground: a good testing. The sense of balāʾ as "testing" was treated in al-Baqara 2/155.