Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:99
Then did they feel secure from the plan of Allah? But no one feels secure from the plan of Allah except the losing people.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The statement concerning the explanation of His saying: أَفَأَمِنُوا مَكْرَ اللَّهِ فَلا يَأْمَنُ مَكْرَ اللَّهِ إِلا الْقَوْمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ (7:99) (Do they then feel secure from the plan of Allah? Indeed, no one feels secure from the plan of Allah except the people who are lost.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Do they then feel secure, O Muḥammad (the Prophet ﷺ) — these who deny Allah and His messenger and reject His signs — from the gradual leading to destruction (istidrāj) with which Allah deals with them through that with which He has favored them in their earthly life, such as soundness of bodies and ease of livelihood, just as He gradually led to destruction those whose stories He has related to them, of the nations before them? For no one feels secure from the plan of Allah; He says: one does not feel secure that this might be a gradual leading to destruction, while they persist in their disbelief and continue in their disobedience = (except the people who are lost), and they are the damned.