The Plan That Never Fails
A reflection on Surah An-Nahl and the futility of scheming against the Divine
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, Master of the Day of Judgment. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone with no partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, his family, his companions, and all who follow them in righteousness.
أَوْ يَأْخُذَهُمْ فِي تَقَلُّبِهِمْ فَمَا هُم بِمُعْجِزِينَ
أَوْ يَأْخُذَهُمْ عَلَىٰ تَخَوُّفٍ فَإِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ لَرَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
“Have those who plot evil deeds become secure that Allah will not cause the earth to swallow them, or that the punishment will not come upon them from where they do not perceive? Or that He will not seize them during their [frequent] movements, and they cannot escape? Or that He will not seize them gradually? Indeed, your Lord is most merciful and most compassionate.”
— Surah An-Nahl (Quran 16:45-47)
These are mighty verses from the Book of our Lord, the Most High, and they confirm two things at once: the arrogance of man, and his ignorance. Any creature of Allah who feels secure from Allah’s plan is, without doubt, a creature unaware of the true status of his Lord. For who, really, can feel secure from the plan of Allah, when our Lord Himself asks:
“Do they then feel secure from the plan of Allah? But none feels secure from the plan of Allah except the losing people.”
— Surah Al-A’raf (Quran 7:99)
This verse is broader and more comprehensive, establishing an undeniable, general truth. The verses from Surah An-Nahl we began with, by contrast, are specific: a warning to those who plot evil — who scheme and conspire against others. Together, these verses tell us something that is easy to overlook: there is also a divine plan for good, a matter known fully only to those firmly grounded in knowledge.
It’s worth pausing here on the word itself. Makar — “plotting” or “planning” — simply means to plan and scheme. It is not, as some assume, an accusation that God’s response is deceptive; nor is it, as some among the People of the Book and others hostile to Islam have claimed, a term that casts suspicion on the faith itself. It describes exactly what it says: a plan, met with a greater plan.
The Folly of False Security
In the verses of Surah An-Nahl, our Lord expresses something like amazement at the folly of people who have no real control over their own affairs, yet feel entirely secure from His plan for them. But these verses also carry deep reassurance for believers: our Lord, the Possessor of Might, does not leave the believers alone in the face of schemers and deceivers. Rather, He gives the wrongdoers respite, and — if He wills — turns their own scheming into their undoing, just as we have seen, and continue to see, every day.
The verse then lays out, in order, the punishments that those who scheme should fear:
- The earth swallowing them up — their paths, cities, and homes, or even themselves and their children.
- Punishment from where they do not expect it — materially, through loss of life, wealth, or crops; or spiritually, in ways only Allah fully knows. Spiritual punishments can surpass physical ones in severity.
- Seizure in the midst of their comings and goings — while they are busy gathering, meeting, plotting in secret, never realizing that no scheme happens without preparation, and no preparation escapes Allah’s notice.
- A gradual seizure — Allah exposing their scheming little by little, sometimes through nothing more than their own hands undoing what they built.
Our Lord is not incapable of anything, in the earth or in the heavens. He may expose the schemers’ plans, and what they conceal even in their own homes, and they will not know where the exposure came from — they may, in fact, be the very ones who exposed themselves.
“And Allah Is the Best of Planners”
“And they planned, and Allah planned. And Allah is the best of planners.”
— Surah Aal Imran (Quran 3:54)
People may scheme — but our Lord reassures us that Allah also plans, and that He is the best of planners. What a warning, and what a comfort, at the very same time.
“Evil plotting does not encompass except its own people.”
— Surah Fatir (Quran 35:43)
This is not only a reassurance; it is a statement of fact. Any evil scheme will not succeed except against the very people who devised it. Look closely, and you’ll find that those who scheme are always the first to be burned by their own fire, and the first to witness its consequences — yet arrogance and pride take hold of them, and they remain blind, dodging one disaster only to fall into a greater one.
“And they had planned their plan, but with Allah is [recorded] their plan, even if their plan had been such as to remove the mountains.”
— Surah Ibrahim (Quran 14:46)
Even schemes as mighty as mountains are never beyond Allah’s reach.
Beyond the punishments already mentioned — the earth swallowing them, punishment from an unseen direction, seizure in their comings and goings — schemers also remain within reach of a fourth kind of reckoning: Allah seizing them through their own scheming and deceit against people of truth, people who uphold nothing but the truth, who fear none but Allah, and whose hearts are pure.
“And We certainly seized the people of Pharaoh with years of drought and a shortage of fruits, that perhaps they would be reminded.”
— Surah Al-A’raf (Quran 7:130-131)
From the Words of the Prophet ﷺ
“Beware of scheming, for scheming is in the Fire.”
— Ibn Majah
“Whoever schemes against a Muslim, it is as if he has schemed against Allah, and whoever schemes against Allah will find his scheme turned back upon him.”
— At-Tabrani
Let every person who believes he will succeed in life through scheming and deceit remember: Allah’s plan is greater, and the end belongs to the righteous. And let every person who has fallen into evil scheming repent before it turns back on him — before he is left only with regret, at a time when regret can no longer help him.
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