And if Allah intends evil upon a people...

And if Allah intends evil upon a people, there is no turning it back; and they have, apart from Him, no protector.” The Qur’anic term /mu‘aqqib at/ is the Arabic plural form of /mu‘aqqibah/ and the ending letter ‘t’, included in it, does not allude to its grammatical gender as feminine, rather, it implies exaggeration like the Arabic word /‘allamah/. Therefore, the subject of the term /yahfazunahu/ is masculine.

Certainly, the purpose in the Qur’anic term /mu‘aqqib at/ is not to be considered as chasing and hunting man so as to be regarded as incompatible with the phrase /bayna yadayh/ (before him and behind him). On the contrary, it refers to succession and consecutive arrival of the angels during, day and night.

The Qur’anic phrase /’amrullah/, mentioned in this verse, does not imply the penalty and punishment of Allah, for it does not make any sense to say that the angels protect man from Divine punishment, but it implies that they protect man from dangers and natural accidents; since the nature has been created by Allah and whatever goes on in it, is done in accordance with His will.

Many verses of the Qur’an and Islamic traditions indicate that there are angels that guard and protect human beings from dangers and calamities and record their deeds. They protect them from those dangers which are not seriously ordained under the Will of Allah. Based upon the Islamic narrations in conformity with the Will of Allah, on various occasions, the protecting angels are allowed to abandon their role and allow some harm to come to man in accordance with Divine wisdom.

Certainly, according to the inferences from quotations, as soon as the decisive Will of Allah arrives, the protecting angels abandon their protection mission and leave man to his doom and death which is certain to happen. Thus there are two sides to Allah’s commandments: those that are certain to happen and those that are not certain. The angels only save man from those accidents which are not certain to occur.

It goes without saying that such a protection in fact does not relieve man of his duties and freedom of choice. The destinies of individuals and nations are always in their own hands. The protection of angels is not confined to that of the lives of men but it also involves their acts as well as their faith and thought against deviations and satanic temptations as the Qur’anic term /yahfazūnahū/ includes both the soul and the body.