The Commentary of Guidance, Misguidance, Direction, and Forsaking is from Allah, the Exalted

I asked Abu `Abd Allah Ja`far ibn Muhammad (AS) about the Word of Allah, the Mighty and High: Whomsoever Allah guides, he is the rightly guided one and whomsoever He causes to err, you shall not find for him any friend to lead (him) aright. Therefore, he (AS) explained: Verily, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, leads astray the oppressors on the Day of Judgment from the abode of His Kindness, and guides the Faithful ones and the ones with good deeds, to paradise, as He, the Mighty and High, says: And Allah causes the unjust to go astray, and Allah does what He pleases. The Mighty and High says: Surely (as for) those who believe and do good, their Lord will guide them by their faith; there shall flow from beneath them rivers in gardens of bliss. He says: I asked, “What about the Word of Mighty and High: And with none but Allah is the direction of my affair to a right issue, and His Word, the Mighty and High: If Allah assist you, then there is none that can overcome you, and if He forsakes you, who is there then that can assist you after Him? Thus, he (AS) replied: If a servant carried out what Allah, the Mighty and High, commands him to do in terms of obedience, then his action would be in accordance with the Command of Allah, the Mighty and High, and the servants will be directed. However, if a servant intends to disobey Allah, then Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, obstructs him from that disobedience, refraining him from it. If the servant was refrained from disobedience it was due to Allah’s guidance, Exalted be His Remembrance. Whenever He leaves him to disobedience, and does not present him from disobedience, then Allah has forsaken him, and decided not to guide him and assist him.

“The Messenger of Allah (SA) only knew that Jibra’il was from Allah, the Mighty and High, through (divine) direction [tawfiq].”

I asked Abu Ja`far Muhammad ibn `Ali al-Baqir (AS) about the meaning of “there is no power and no strength save in Allah” [la hawla waw la quwwata illa bi Allah]. Therefore, he (AS) answered: “It means that we have no power to disobey Allah except by the help of Allah, and we have no strength to obey Allah except by the direction of Allah, the Mighty and High.”

I asked Abu al-Hasan `Ali ibn Musa al-Rida (AS) in Naysabur about the Word of Allah, the Mighty and High: Therefore, (for) whomsoever Allah intends that He would guide him aright, He expands his breast for Islam. He clarified, Whoever Allah intends to guide with faith in Him in this world, and to His Paradise and abode of Kindness in the Hereafter, He expands his breast in submission to Allah, trust in Him, and satisfaction with His Promises and Rewards until He is tranquil And whosoever He intends that He should cause him to err from His Paradise and abode of His Kindness in the Hereafter for his disbelief and disobedience of Allah in this world, He makes his breast strait and narrow so that he doubts due to his disbelief, and his heart is confused concerning his faith until he becomes as though he were ascending upwards; thus, does Allah lay uncleanness on those who do not believe.