and with whom He became angry and made of them monkeys and pigs} [Sūrat al-Mā'idah: 60].
And some of them said: God's anger upon those of His servants with whom He is angry is a condemnation from Him of them and their actions, and a verbal denunciation of them from Him.
And some of them said: Anger from Him is an understood concept, like that which is known among the meanings of anger; except that—even if it is so from the standpoint of affirmation—its meaning from Him differs from the meaning of what occurs in the anger of human beings, which agitates them, moves them, causes them hardship, and harms them.
Because God—exalted be His praise—His Essence is not subject to afflictions; rather, it is an attribute belonging to Him, just as knowledge is an attribute belonging to Him, and power is an attribute belonging to Him, according to what is understood from the standpoint of affirmation, even if its meanings differ from the meanings of the knowledge of servants, which are the realizations of hearts and their faculties that exist with the existence of actions and cease with their absence.
The discourse regarding the interpretation of His statement—exalted be His praise: {nor of those who are astray}.
Abū Ja'far said: Some of the people of Basra used to claim that "not" ("lā") in "nor of those who are astray" ("wa-lā al-ḍāllīn") was inserted to complete the speech, its intended meaning being redundant, citing as evidence for his claim the poetic verse of al-'Ajjāj:
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