3.54 – God is the best of schemers.

The Arabic verb translated here as “to scheme” is makara, which is commonly defined as to deceive, delude, or cheat. The same description of Allah repeats at 8.30.

Perhaps because of its proximity to the next verse, 3.55, Muslim commentators have tended to interpret this verse to mean that Allah “deceived the deceivers” by causing the appearance of ‘Īsā to fall on someone else at the time of his arrest.