Verses 1–10
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate
From the verses of this chapter, it appears that the polytheists from the Prophet’s people demanded that he give up his monotheistic stance, stop summoning people to believe in divine unity, and turn instead towards their deities, with whom they threatened him. This chapter was revealed in response to these circumstances, and it is in some ways a companion chapter to Sūrah Ṣād (Chapter 38). In it, God emphasizes His instructions to the Prophet to dedicate his faith exclusively to Him, pay no attention to the false gods of the idol worshippers, and tell them that he has been commanded to be a monotheist and dedicate his faith to God alone—a stance that has been supported by a succession of signs both in the form of revelation and in the form of rational argumentation.
Time and again throughout the chapter, God calls on His audience to dedicate their faith to Him. For example, in the opening verses, He says: …so worship Allah, putting exclusive faith in Him. Look! Only exclusive faith is for Allah… (). Then, He returns to the topic again and says: Say, ‘Indeed I have been commanded to worship Allah with exclusive faith in Him…’ (), until the verse: Say, ‘Only Allah do I worship, putting my exclusive faith in Him’ ().
Then He says: You will surely die, and they will surely die too (), followed by: Does not Allah suffice His servant? They would frighten you of others than Him… (), followed by: Say, ‘O my people! Act according to your ability. I too am acting…’ (), followed by: Say, ‘Will you, then, bid me to worship other than Allah, O you who have no sense?’ (). And there are other reminders besides the ones mentioned here.
God presents arguments in this chapter that demonstrate His unity in lordship and divinity, both by way of revelation and rational argumentation. He draws subtle comparisons between the believers and the disbelievers, time and again describing the believers with the most beautiful qualities and giving them glad tidings of the rewards that await them in the Hereafter. At the same time, He admonishes the idolaters and warns them of the loss and punishment they will suffer in the Hereafter as well as the afflictions that will befall them in this world, telling them that they will share the same fate as those past nations who denied God’s messengers—a humiliating punishment in this world and an even greater punishment in the next.
After this, the chapter turns to describing the Day of Resurrection, especially its outcomes, in the clearest and most complete detail.
Based on the tone and context of its verses, this chapter was revealed in Mecca, and it appears to have been revealed all at once because of the close relationship that exists between its verses.
The first ten verses we will examine comprise the summons to monotheism by way of revelation and rational arguments, which begin by addressing the Prophet directly.
Commentary
تَنْزِيلُ الْكِتَابِ مِنَ اللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَكِيمِ ١
(39:1) The gradually sent-down Book from Allah, the All-mighty, the All-wise
In terms of its syntax, this verse is the predicate of an implicit subject (namely, This is the gradually sent-down book). Tanzīl (gradually sent down) is a verbal noun, and it is used here with the meaning of a passive participle. It forms an iḍāfa (possessive construct) with the noun kitāb (Book) to signify an adjectival relationship with it. At the same time the prepositional phrase min Allāh (from God…) qualifies gradually sent-down. Therefore, the full meaning of the verse is: ‘This is the Book gradually sent-down from Allah, the All-mighty, the All-wise.’
Some have said that Tanzīl al-kitāb is the subject, and min Allāh is the predicate (which would render the meaning: ‘The gradual sending-down of the Book is from Allah…’). However, the first reading seems more plausible.
إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ فَاعْبُدِ اللَّهَ مُخْلِصًا لَهُ الدِّينَ ٢
(39:2) Indeed We have sent down the Book to you with the truth; so worship Allah, putting exclusive faith in Him.
Here, God uses the verb inzāl instead of tanzīl to express the meaning ‘sending down,’ even though the latter was used in the previous verse. This is because He wishes to explain that the revelation is true, and this applies to the entirety of what has come down to the Prophet from his Lord (and tanzīl signifies its sending down in parts, whereas inzāl signifies its sending down as a whole).
In the phrase bi al-ḥaqq (…with the truth), the preposition bi (with) conveys the meaning of accompaniment. In other words, it means: ‘We sent it down to You accompanied with the truth.’ Therefore, the command it contains to worship God alone is the truth. Accordingly, God draws the following conclusion from this point: so worship Allah, putting exclusive faith in Him, meaning: ‘Because this has been revealed with the truth, you should worship Allah putting exclusive faith in Him, as this is a commandment contained within it.’
The meaning of dīn (faith) in this verse, based on its context and tone, is ʿibāda (worship). It could also mean one’s way of life, which refers to the way in which one conducts oneself in this world and in human society. Worship, on the other hand, refers to practicing one’s servanthood (ʿubūdiyya) by following the method prescribed by God. This means that the servant should display their servanthood to God in all aspects of their lives by following His prescriptions and ordinances therein, as when someone dedicates their faith to Him alone, they do not stray from what He has legislated.
أَلَا لِلَّهِ الدِّينُ الْخَالِصُ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِهِ أَوْلِيَاءَ مَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونَا إِلَى اللَّهِ زُلْفَىٰ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَهُمْ فِي مَا هُمْ فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي مَنْ هُوَ كَاذِبٌ كَفَّارٌ ٣
(39:3) Look! Only exclusive faith is for Allah, and those who take guardians besides Him [claiming,] ‘We only worship them so that they may bring us near to Allah,’ Allah will indeed judge between them concerning that about which they differ. Indeed Allah does not guide someone who is a liar and an ingrate.
This proclaims and announces what was implied by with the truth and generalizes the specific command to worship Allah, putting exclusive faith in Him in the previous verse. In other words, God says: What We have revealed to you about dedicating your faith exclusively to Allah is obligatory for everyone who hears this call. And it is because this sentence is a proclamation in its own right that the verses use God’s proper name even though it might appear more appropriate to use a pronoun, such as Only exclusive faith is for Allah…
The phrase Only exclusive faith is for Allah means that He will not accept the worship of anyone who does not worship Him and Him alone, whether they worship Him at the same time as worshipping others or whether they worship others to the exclusion of Him.
As for the passage, …and those who take guardians besides Him [claiming,] ‘We only worship them so that they may bring us near to Allah…,’ and the rest of the verse, we have already discussed how the idolaters at the Prophet’s time believed that God was too exalted to be comprehended by the human mind, whether by reason, estimation, or sense, and in doing so they believed that He was too exalted to even be worshipped by human beings.
Therefore, they argued, it was necessary to seek nearness to Him via His intermediaries in creation, and they are the ones who were given authority over the affairs of this world. Therefore, the polytheists took them as lords (arbāb) besides God, then as deities to be worshipped in order to draw near to them so that they might intercede on their behalf with God and bring them closer to Him. These intermediaries were angels, jinns, and holy persons who the idolaters considered to be genuine divinities in their own right.
As for the idols that were shaped into various forms from wood, stone, and other materials and erected in temples, they are merely representations of these lords and deities—they are not lords or deities in their own right. However, the ignorant masses were unable to draw this distinction between the physical idols and the spiritual deities they were supposed to represent. As a result, they came to worship the idols as if they were the very same lords and deities to whom they clung. This was the religion of the pre-Islamic Arabs and the uneducated laypersons of the Sabaean faith, who also forgot the distinction between the idols of the stars they worshipped and the stars themselves, and between the stars—which were, in turn, celestial idols for the spirits that governed them—and the spirits that were the true lords and gods worshipped by the Sabaean priesthood.
In any case, they worshipped these lords and deities, even while they were contingent beings who had been created by God, because they believed they had the power to intercede on their behalf with God, bring them nearer to Him, and that He had endowed them with responsibility for the affairs of the material realm, each according to its specific station. As for God Himself, according to them, His only function was creation and origination. He was the Lord of Lords and the God of Gods.
Having recapitulated this, it is now clear what the Qur’an means by the phrase …and those who take guardians besides Him…—it refers to them believing in lords who governed the affairs of the universe, attributing lordship and rulership of the cosmos to them rather than to God. These idolaters believed it was these lords, not God, who governed the affairs of everything in this world. Therefore, it made sense to them that they should worship these deities and serve them, because to worship and serve them was to gain benefit, repel harm, or give thanks for their blessings. All of this stemmed from the fact that they believed these deities controlled the affairs of the world rather than God.
Therefore, when the Qur’an says they took awliyāʾ (guardians) besides Him, this means they took arbāb (lords) besides him, because guardianship and lordship are similar in meaning, for the lord is the sovereign ruler, while the guardian is the one who governs and rules. This is why, after mentioning their taking up these deities as guardians besides God, the verse mentions worship: We only worship them so that they may bring us near to Allah…
Hence, and those who take guardians besides Him is the subject of the sentence and Allah will indeed judge between them… is its predicate. Therefore, the word them here refers to the idolaters who assert the lordship and divinity of these associates, save for the fact that some of the ignorant have asserted that He is a partner to them in worship.
The statement, We only worship them so that they may bring us near to Allah…, is an exposition of take guardians besides Him, and it is supposed to be quoting their justification for this or paraphrasing it. In other words, when questioned, they say: We only worship these deities that they might bring us near to Allah through our worship of them. And, in doing this, they are turning aside from God and toward beings other than Him. Indeed, they are only given the Arabic name mushrikūn (literally, associators) because they associate others with Him by saying that they are lords and deities for this world and that God is Lord and Deity for them. As for these deities participating in either the creation or origination of the cosmos, this is not something either the idolaters or the monotheists have ever claimed.
Regarding the phrase, Allah will indeed judge between them concerning that about which they differ, some have said that the plural pronoun hum (them) refers to the idolaters and their guardians. In other words, God will judge between the idolaters and their guardians concerning those things about which they differed. Others have said these plural pronouns refer to the idolaters and their monotheistic opponents who dedicated their faith exclusively to God, based on the context of the verse. In other words, God will judge between the idolaters and between those who dedicated their faith to Him.
Allah does not guide someone who is a liar and an ingrate: A kaffār (ingrate) is either someone who displays extreme ingratitude (kufrān) for God’s blessings or someone who goes to extremes in covering the truth (kufr). This sentence indicates that God’s Judgment on the Day of Resurrection will go against the disbelievers and not in their favour, and that they will be heading to hell. The meaning of guidance here is to convey someone to a good outcome.
لَوْ أَرَادَ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًا لَاصْطَفَىٰ مِمَّا يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ ۚ سُبْحَانَهُ ۖ هُوَ اللَّهُ الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّارُ ٤
(39:4) Had Allah intended to take a son, He could have chosen from those He has created whatever He wished. Immaculate is He! He is Allah, the One, the All-paramount.
Here, God presents an argument against their claim: Allah has taken a son, or the claim of some others: The angels are Allah’s daughters. The idea that God had a son was a common belief amongst the various sects of idolaters, and the Christians had proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God, while the Qur’an reports that the Jews had claimed that the Prophet Ezra was the son of God, although it appears that they meant this merely as an honorific status rather than a metaphysical one.
In whatever form it takes, believing that God has a son is tantamount to associating partners with God, because of the relationship that exists between a son and a father or a parent and a child. If what is meant by son of Allah is a genuine son, this entails deriving one thing from another and separating it from it, which would consequently entail the son sharing in the essence of the father and all of the qualities and effects that flow from that. This is in the same way that when one human is the child of another, this entails the child sharing the humanity of the parent and all that this entails. On the other hand, if what is meant by son of Allah is a figurative son, such as a son taken through adoption, then this entails the son sharing in the status of the father, which includes his authority, dominion, nobility, rank, and some of the rules pertaining to lineage. The argument presented in this verse demonstrates the impossibility of either meaning of God taking a son.
The phrase Had Allah intended to take a son… is a conditional clause prefixed by the particle law (which is used in Arabic to signify something impossible) to show that this is an impossibility. Then, the phrase He could have chosen from those He has created whatever He wished means that He would have chosen from His creation whatever He willed for that, based on the context of the verse, and from those He created indicates that this is something other than Him because whatever is other than Him must have been created by Him.
Immaculate is He! declares Him transcendent above this, and He is Allah, the One, the All-paramount explains why the aforementioned hypothetical situation is impossible, namely that it is impossible that He ever intended to take a son, and therefore the consequent of that conditional clause (He could have chosen from those He has created…) is also impossible. This is because He is absolutely one in His essence and utterly transcendent, such that nothing shares any aspect of His essence and nothing is akin to Him in essence, as demonstrated by the proofs of divine unity. He is also absolutely one in His essential attributes—such as life, knowledge, and power—which are nothing other than His essence. And He is absolutely one in the affairs that flow from this essence, such as creation, sovereignty, might, and greatness. In other words, nothing else has a share in any of these with Him.
He is All-paramount because He is dominant over all things by virtue of His essence and attributes. Nothing that exists is independent in its essence or its existence from His essence and existence, nor can anything do without Him in its attributes or its effects. Therefore, everything that exists is humbled and low in relation to Him. Everything that exists is within His dominion. Everything that exists is in need of Him.
In short, the argument presented in this verse is a straightforward conditional syllogism which affirms the contradictory of the antecedent and, therefore, yields the contradictory of the consequent (if x then y, not-x, therefore not-y). It is as if to say:
(1) If Allah wanted to take a son, He would have chosen whoever He wanted from His creation for that purpose (if x then y);
(2) But it is impossible for Allah to want to take a son because He is the One, the All-paramount (not-x);
(3) Therefore, it is impossible that He should have chosen anyone from His creation for that purpose (therefore not-y).
Some commentators have adopted a strange reading of the verse in order to derive an argument from it. They argue:
‘It means: If God wanted to take a son, it would be impossible for Him to want this, because such a thing is impossible, and it is not possible for the Creator to will the impossible, as this would entail an arbitrary preponderance of some contingent beings over others.
‘This is because the principle behind the verse is: “If Allah took a son, this would be impossible because it would entail a contradiction of His divinity.” However, instead of saying this, it instead reduces that idea to, “Had Allah intended to take a son, this would be impossible…” because this phrasing is more eloquent and expressive. Then, the consequent (“this would be impossible”) is also omitted for reasons of eloquence and replaced with “…He could have chosen…” to call attention to the fact that this is possible, whereas the first (“this would have been impossible for Him to will”) is not. It also shows that if “choosing” one of His creatures is what is meant by “taking a son,” then this sense of “taking a son” is possible for God. Therefore, by adopting this form of expression and without introducing any complications, the association between the two parts of the conditional proposition is correct, as is the negation of the consequent and the affirmation of the antecedent.’
It appears that this argument is taken from al-Zamakhsharī writing about this verse in his al-Kashshāf, where he says:
‘It means that if God had wanted to take a son, this cannot happen and He could not will such a thing precisely because it is impossible. It could only occur if He were to choose some of His creatures, single them out, and bring them close to Him in the same manner that a man singles out His son and keeps him closer than others. God did this with the angels, which is what caused the polytheists to fall into error, believing that because God had given them a special station that they must be His offspring, because they were ignorant about the essence of God, which is contrary to the essences of bodies and the qualities that inhere in them.
It is as if God means to say: ‘If He wished to take a son, this would not go beyond what He did by choosing whatever He willed of His creation already—namely, the angels. However, you in your ignorance about Him believed that by choosing them He had made them His offspring, and then you went to extremes in your ignorance and called the angels daughters of God. In doing so, you became ingrate deniers, who invented lies about God and His angels of outrageous proportions and went to extremes in your disbelief.’
However, as you can see, the tone and context of the verse do not support this explanation. Nor does al-Zamakhsharī’s argument do anything to refute the claim of those who say that God adopted a son from His creatures and that being a ‘son of God’ is an honorific title (rather than a metaphysical state), such as when the Jews said that Ezra was the son of God. For when they make this claim, they simply mean that God chose whoever He willed from amongst His creatures for this honour.
There are still other readings of the argument present in this verse, which we will not mention here because of their lack of merit.
خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِالْحَقِّ ۖ يُكَوِّرُ اللَّيْلَ عَلَى النَّهَارِ وَيُكَوِّرُ النَّهَارَ عَلَى اللَّيْلِ ۖ وَسَخَّرَ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ ۖ كُلٌّ يَجْرِي لِأَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى ۗ أَلَا هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفَّارُ ٥
(39:5) He created the heavens and the earth with truth. He winds the night over the day, and winds the day over the night, and He has disposed the sun and the moon, each moving for a specified term. Look! He is the All-mighty, the All-forgiver!
It is likely that this reference to the grandeur of God’s creation and governance thereof is an exposition of His All-paramount-ness. However, the close connection between this verse and the following one and the fact that the latter ends with That is Allah, your Lord! suggests that this is a new passage, whose purpose is to lay out the argument for God’s oneness in divine lordship.
Therefore, both the present verse and the one following it were revealed within the context of expounding God’s oneness in lordship. Between them, they combine both the creation of the world and its governance, and this is because—as we have already mentioned previously—the idolaters did not believe that there was any contradiction between asserting the oneness of the creator and believing in a multitude of lords and deities, because they did not deny that God alone was the creator and the originator of all things. Therefore, when God presents His argument for His singularity in lordship and divinity, He combines creation with the governance of the cosmos to show that governance (tadbīr) is not extraneous to creation (khalq) but rather is an aspect of creation, just as creation is an aspect of governance. With that, He concludes the argument for the fact that governance belongs solely to Him just as creation belongs solely to Him.
Therefore, the statement, He created the heavens and the earth with truth, introduces the question of creation. The phrase bi al-ḥaqq (with truth)—where the preposition bi, as before, is indicative of accompaniment—is a reference to the Resurrection; the creation is true and with reason (ḥaqq) rather than false and in vain (bāṭil) because it has a purpose for which it was made and a destination towards which it is heading, namely the Resurrection. Elsewhere, God says: We did not create the sky and the earth and whatever is between them in vain ().
He winds the night over the day, and winds the day over the night: In Majmaʿ al-bayān, al-Ṭabrisī says that takwīr (to wind) means to put a part of something on top of another part of it. Therefore, to wind the night over the day and to wind the day over the night is a metaphor, similar to He draws the night’s cover over the day (), which refers to the continuous succession of day after night and night after day, which takes place by His making them follow one after another. This is an example of divine governance.
…and He has disposed the sun and the moon, each moving for a specified term: Meaning that He has made the sun and the moon subject to the cosmic order and set them in motion until a specified time, which they will not overstep.
Look! He is the All-mighty, the All-forgiver! It is possible that God chooses to invoke these two names to allude to what demonstrates His singularity in lordship and divinity in these signs, for the All-mighty is the one who is never cowed, and if God is All-mighty then He alone is worthy of worship, whereas others who are sometimes humbled and find themselves in need are not. The same is true for the one who forgives sins; when compared to others who do not have the ability to do this, He alone is worthy of worship.
It is also possible that God invokes these two names at the end of the verse to encourage the audience to believe in His oneness and have faith in Him, in which case the meaning would be: “He is the All-mighty, so believe in Him and become mighty through His might; He is the All-forgiving, so believe in Him, and He will forgive you.”
خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَأَنْزَلَ لَكُمْ مِنَ الْأَنْعَامِ ثَمَانِيَةَ أَزْوَاجٍ ۚ يَخْلُقُكُمْ فِي بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ خَلْقًا مِنْ بَعْدِ خَلْقٍ فِي ظُلُمَاتٍ ثَلَاثٍ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ ۖ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ فَأَنَّىٰ تُصْرَفُونَ ٦
(39:6) He created you from a single soul, then made from it its mate, and He has sent down for you eight mates of the cattle. He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, in a threefold darkness. That is Allah, your Lord! To Him belongs all sovereignty. There is no god except Him. Then where are you being led away?
Here, God is speaking to all mankind. A single soul—based on what similar verses say—is a reference to Adam, the first human, and its mate refers to his wife who was from the same species as him and alike him in her humanity. Based on the structure of the verse, then (thumma) signifies a passage of time between the two events.
Therefore, the meaning is that God created the human species and made it abundant from a single soul and its mate.
…and He has sent down for you eight mates of the cattle—anʿām (cattle) refers to camels, cows, sheep, and goats. This verse says there are eight mates (thamāniya azwājin) because each species has both a male and a female.
God says describes the creation of the cattle upon the earth as inzāl (sending down) because He uses the verb inzāl to denote coming into being of things that did not previously exist, as they came down from His treasure houses that are with Him and from the realm of the unseen to the realm of the visible, as per the verse: There is not a thing but that its sources are with Us, and We do not send it down except in a known measure ().
He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, in a threefold darkness: Here, God expounds how He creates the humans and animals aforementioned. By using the direct address (you), the focus is placed primarily on those beings endowed with intellects. Creation after creation (khalq min baʿd al-khalq) refers to the successive and consecutive stages of creation, such as creating a zygote from the egg and semen, then the embryonic mass from the zygote, and so on. The threefold darkness (ẓulumāt thalāth) refers to the darkness of the stomach, the womb, and the amniotic sac—at least, according to what some have said and what has been narrated from Imam al-Bāqir in Majmaʿ al-bayān.
Others have said that this threefold darkness refers to the darkness of the loins, the womb, and the embryonic sac. However, this is not correct, because the verse makes clear with the phrase in the wombs of your mothers that this darkness is within the women’s bellies, not in the loins of men.
That is Allah, your Lord! In other words, the one whose creation and governance has just been described to you in these two verses is your Lord, and no other. This is because a lord is the sovereign who governs the affairs of his domain, and if God created you and everything besides you, and set in motion the cosmic order that governs you and everything else, then He is the one who has dominion over you and looks after your affairs. Therefore, He—and no one else—is your Lord.
To Him belongs all sovereignty means that He has dominion over all of His creations in this world and the hereafter. Therefore He is the absolute sovereign. The position of lahu (To Him) before al-mulk (sovereignty) in the sentence lahu l-mulk shows that this sovereignty belongs exclusively to Him. This sentence is also an additional predicate for the sentence That is Allah, as is There is no god except Him. Furthermore, God’s exclusive claim to divinity is the logical corollary of His exclusive claim to lordship, because a deity is only worshipped because he is a lord who governs over the affairs of his servants and is therefore worshipped by them either because they fear him, because they place their hope in him, or because they wish to give thanks to him.
Then where are you being led away? In other words, how can you turn away from His worship to the worship of others, while He is your Lord, who created you and looked after your affairs, and your sovereign master?
إِنْ تَكْفُرُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ عَنْكُمْ ۖ وَلَا يَرْضَىٰ لِعِبَادِهِ الْكُفْرَ ۖ وَإِنْ تَشْكُرُوا يَرْضَهُ لَكُمْ ۗ وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ ۗ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ۚ إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ ٧
(39:7) If you are ungrateful, indeed Allah has no need of you, though He does not approve ingratitude for His servants; and if you give thanks He approves that for you. No bearer shall bear another’s burden; then to your Lord will be your return, whereat He will inform you concerning what you used to do. Indeed He knows best what is in the breasts.
This verse emphasizes that the call to monotheism and to dedicate one’s faith exclusively to God does not arise out of any need on His part; He does not need them to worship Him instead of worshipping other deities. On the contrary, He calls them to monotheism out of concern for them, as this is tantamount to calling them towards their own happiness in this world and the next. His concern for them in this regard is no different from the concern He shows for providing them with sustenance by pouring out His blessings upon them; it is because He is concerned for their wellbeing that He inspires them to protect themselves from harm.
If you are ungrateful, indeed Allah has no need of you: This is addressed to all free-willed moral agents (mukallifīn). In other words, if you disbelieve in God by rejecting monotheism, He has no need of you for His own sake; just as your faith and obedience do not benefit Him the least, neither do your disbelief and disobedience harm Him one iota. Benefit and harm only apply to beings that are contingent and needful; the Necessary Existent is absolutely self-sufficient by virtue of His own essence, and, therefore, it is inconceivable that benefit or harm could apply to Him.
He remarks though He does not approve ingratitude for His servants to prevent anyone from supposing that Allah has no need of you means that because God neither benefits from our belief nor is harmed by our disbelief, there is no reason why He should desire us to believe in and give thanks to Him. He repels this supposition by saying that divine solicitude (ʿināya) for humankind means that He does not approve of your disbelief while you are His servants.
The meaning of ingratitude (kufr) here is to be ungrateful for God’s blessings (kufr al-niʿma) based on the fact that this is juxtaposed with the sentence and if you give thanks He approves that for you. From this, it is clear that He uses the phrase for His servants rather than for you to call attention to the underlying principle behind why He does not approve of ingratitude.
In short, this is because you are God’s servants over whom He has dominion and who are immersed in His blessings. This is a relationship of masterhood and servanthood—which is a relationship between a master and a slave—and, as such, it does not allow for the servant to be ungrateful for the kindness of his master, to forget his master’s authority, to choose other masters for himself, to disobey his own master and obey His enemy, while in truth he belongs to his master and has no ability to benefit or harm his own self.
…and if you give thanks He approves of that for you: ‘That’ refers to thanksgiving, as in the verse Be fair; that is nearer to Godwariness (). Therefore, the meaning is that if you give thanks to God, which is the proper course of action as His servants, and dedicate your faith to Him, then He approves of this for you while you are His servants. The opposition between the concepts of shukr (gratitude) and kufr (ingratitude) corresponds to the opposition between those of īmān (faith) and kufr (disbelief).
From the above, it is clear that the term servants in the phrase He does not approve ingratitude for His servants is universal, encompassing all of God’s servants.
Some commentators have argued that this term is actually particular in its meaning, referring to those servants mentioned by God in the verse Indeed as for My servants you do not have any authority over them, except the perverse who follow you (), meaning those who are the devoted (mukhliṣūn) or divinely protected from sin (maʿṣūmūn) according to al-Zamakhsharī. This would mean that God approves of belief for those who believe and disbelief for those who disbelieve, save for those who are divinely protected, for He only desires them to believe and protects them from disbelief. However, this is evidently nonsensical, as the context of the verse does not admit such a reading. Were we to read the verse in this way, it would indicate that God approved of the disbeliever’s disbelief, in which case the full meaning would be as follows: If you are ungrateful, indeed Allah has no need of you, though He does not approve ingratitude for the prophets [for example], because He only approves of faith for them. And if you give thanks, then He approves of that for you, and if you are ungrateful He approves of that for you. As you can see, this renders the verse utterly pointless, especially given that it occurs within the context of a call to monotheism.
In addition to this, insofar as the prophets, for example, are included amongst those who give thanks and God has approved gratitude and faith for them, and He has not approved disbelief for them, there is no need for God to single them out for mention when He has already mentioned His approval of those who give thanks.
No bearer shall bear another’s burden: In other words, no soul shall carry the weight of another’s deeds, and no one will be punished for a sin they did not commit.
…then to your Lord will be your return, whereat He will inform you concerning what you used to do. Indeed He knows best what is in the breasts: Meaning that whether someone is grateful or ungrateful in this world, God will bring them back, reveal to them the reality of their deeds, and hold them to account for the content of their hearts, and we have already discussed the significance of such statements in the Qur’an previously.
Discourse
The discussion “A Discourse on the Meaning of God’s Approval or Displeasure” appears here in the printed volume. Read it in the Al-Mizan App.
Commentary continues:
وَإِذَا مَسَّ الْإِنْسَانَ ضُرٌّ دَعَا رَبَّهُ مُنِيبًا إِلَيْهِ ثُمَّ إِذَا خَوَّلَهُ نِعْمَةً مِنْهُ نَسِيَ مَا كَانَ يَدْعُو إِلَيْهِ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَجَعَلَ لِلَّهِ أَنْدَادًا لِيُضِلَّ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ ۚ قُلْ تَمَتَّعْ بِكُفْرِكَ قَلِيلًا ۖ إِنَّكَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ النَّارِ ٨
(39:8) When distress befalls man, he supplicates his Lord, turning to Him penitently. Then, when He grants him a blessing from Himself, he forgets that for which he had supplicated Him before, and sets up equals to Allah that he may lead [people] astray from His way. Say, ‘Revel in your ingratitude for a while. Indeed you are among the inmates of the Fire.’
According to Majmaʿ al-bayān, ināba (to turn penitently) means to return to God; takhwīl (to grant a blessing) means to bestow a great gift upon someone.
After what the previous verse said about being ungrateful for God’s blessings and that, while God has no need of people, He does not approve of disbelief for them, the present verse calls attention to the fact that the human being seems naturally predisposed towards ingratitude. This is despite his knowing God through his innate nature (fiṭra) and not hesitating to return to God in his hour of need and beg Him to alleviate his suffering. As God says elsewhere: And man is very ungrateful (); Indeed man is most unfair and ungrateful ().
When distress befalls man, he supplicates his Lord, turning to Him penitently—meaning that when the human being finds himself in difficulty, whether because of hardship, illness, drought, or the like thereof, he invokes his Lord—God, whose lordship he readily acknowledges—and turns to Him, casting aside everyone besides Him, pleading for Him to grant him relief from his suffering.
Then, when He grants him a blessing from Himself, he forgets that for which he had supplicated Him before…: Such that when his Lord answers his prayers and blesses him with relief from his suffering, the human being becomes completely occupied with this blessing and forgets the hardship which he had previously invoked God to alleviate.
Therefore, the mā in the phrase mā kāna yadʿū ilayh (that for which he had supplicated Him before) serves as a relative pronoun (mawṣūl), referring to the aforementioned distress (ḍarr) that had afflicted him, while ilayh signifies for which. On the other hand, some have said that mā here is gerundival (maṣdariyya, meaning that it causes the verb to behave as a noun), while ilayh signifies to Him (that is, God). This renders the meaning of the verse: ‘He forgets the supplications he had made to his Lord before he received these blessings.’ Others have said that the phrase means he forgets the one to whom he used to supplicate (meaning God). However, this is the most unlikely of the possible readings.
…and sets up equals to Allah that he may lead people astray from His way—andād (equals), according to some, refers to idols and false deities, while the lām in liyuḍill ʿan sabīlih (that he may lead people astray from His way) signifies the consequence of his actions. In other words: He sets up equals to God that share in His lordship and divinity, and, as a result, he leads people astray from the way of God, because people are naturally inclined to follow those in authority (taqlīd) and resemble one another. And he can lead people astray through his actions as readily as he can through his words.
It is not unlikely that the term equals here is being used to refer not only to idols or false deities but also to anything that people rely upon and depend upon instead of God, which also includes idols as well. This reading is to be preferred because it applies to all human beings, whether or not they are idolaters, although the focus of the verse is the disbelievers.
Say, ‘Revel in your ingratitude for a while. Indeed you are among the inmates of the Fire’: In other words, enjoy yourself while it lasts, because you are destined for hellfire and will soon enter it. This is an example of the imperative form (Revel) being used to convey a threat in the sense of foretelling the future. In short: ‘You are destined for hellfire, and your revelling in ingratitude for a few days will not protect you from it.’
أَمَّنْ هُوَ قَانِتٌ آنَاءَ اللَّيْلِ سَاجِدًا وَقَائِمًا يَحْذَرُ الْآخِرَةَ وَيَرْجُو رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ ۗ قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ۗ إِنَّمَا يَتَذَكَّرُ أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ ٩
(39:9) Is he who is devout in the watches of the night, prostrating and standing, apprehensive of the Hereafter and expecting the mercy of his Lord…? Say, ‘Are those who know equal to those who do not know?’ Only those who possess intellect take admonition.
This verse has a connection to the previous verse, No bearer shall bear another’s burden (), for its implication was that those who are ungrateful for God’s blessings and those who give thanks to their Lord are not equal, and they will not be mixed with one another. This is made explicit in the present verse, which says that the one who invokes God fearing His punishment and hoping for His mercy is not equal to others.
However, the sentence Is he who is devout in the watches of the night, prostrating and standing, apprehensive of the Hereafter and expecting the mercy of his Lord…? is just one half of the question, with the remainder left implicit. The implicit meaning is: ‘Is a person such as the one described above better or this one who is devout…?’
According to al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, qunūṭ (devoutness) means to be continuously obedient and humble before God, while ānāʾ (watches) is the plural of anā, which refers to a moment of time. Apprehensive of the Hereafter means to be fearful of God’s punishment in the Hereafter, as per the verse: Indeed your Lord’s punishment is a thing to beware of (). This, along with the description of such a person as expecting the mercy of his Lord combines the two traits of fearing punishment and hoping for mercy. Notice, however, that the verse does not restrict God’s mercy to the Hereafter, for perhaps the mercy of the Hereafter encompasses this world as well.
Hence, the meaning of this passage is as follows: ‘Is this disbeliever who is destined to be an inmate of the hellfire better or the one who is continuously obedient and submissive to his Lord in the depths of the night, prostrating himself in prayer sometimes and standing in worship at others, fearing the punishment of the Hereafter but also hoping for the mercy of his Lord?’ In other words: They are not alike.
Say, ‘Are those who know equal to those who do not know?’: Knowledge and its absence appear here as two absolutes. However, based on the context of the verse, what is meant here by knowledge (ʿilm) and the lack thereof is the knowledge of God, for it is through knowing God that the human being becomes complete. This is a knowledge that a human being benefits from in the truest sense of the word and whose absence is harmful to him. Other forms of knowledge are like wealth; a person benefits from them in the life of this world, but they pass away with this world.
Only those who possess intellect take admonition: This sentence serves as an explanation of why the two groups are not equal; one group ponders on the realities of things while the other does not, so they are not equal. On the contrary, those who have knowledge are superior to those who do not.
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ ۚ لِلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا فِي هَٰذِهِ الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةٌ ۗ وَأَرْضُ اللَّهِ وَاسِعَةٌ ۗ إِنَّمَا يُوَفَّى الصَّابِرُونَ أَجْرَهُمْ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ١٠
(39:10) Say, ‘O My servants who have faith! Be wary of your Lord. For those who do good in this world there will be good, and Allah’s earth is vast. Indeed the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning.’
The prepositional phrase in this world is attached to those who do good, meaning that those who do good—by continuously doing good deeds—shall receive goodness that is beyond description.
Notice that the good promised to them is absolute; it is not restricted to this world or the hereafter. This suggests that those who believe and do good deeds shall have good in this world in the form of a happy heart, a healthy spirit, and a soul kept safe from the confusion, inner conflict, anxiety, and powerlessness that the faithless feel in this world because they find themselves at the mercy of forces beyond their control without anyone to rely upon for aid or assistance or to find peace with in times of adversity. Meanwhile, those who believe will also have good in this world in the form of eternal happiness and everlasting comfort.
Some have said that in this world is attached to there will be good, meaning that the faithful are promised good in this world. However, this is not the case.
…and Allah’s earth is vast: This encourages the faithful to emigrate from Mecca, because remaining in it will be difficult for those who believe in the Prophet while the idolaters intensify their persecution and torment of them day-by-day. However, in terms of how it is phrased, this statement is intended to be understood as a universal maxim and not restricted to the time and circumstances of the Prophet and his followers.
Some have said that Allah’s earth is a reference to paradise, meaning that paradise is so vast that you will not be confined therein, so win paradise for yourselves through obeying God and worshipping Him. However, this meaning is unlikely.
…Only the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning: To be paid in full’ means to be given everything that you are owed, and the tone of the verse indicates that the restriction only is directed to the prepositional phrase without any reckoning, which qualifies paid in full. In other words, the patient (ṣābirūn) will only be given their rewards without any reckoning. Therefore, the patient will not be expected to account for their deeds, nor will their record of deeds be unfurled, and nor will their reward be measured out according to their deeds.
Note that the patient in this verse is left absolute; it is not restricted to those who are patient in obedience, those patient in avoiding sins, or those patient in times of hardship (even if the context of the verse suggests that it refers to patience in relation to the hardships of this world and especially persecution at the hands of the faithless for believing in God, dedicating their faith exclusively to Him, and being wary of Him).
Some have said: without any reckoning is an adverbial qualifier for their rewards and signifies the bounteous rewards with which they will be paid in full. However, the previous reading is more accurate.
Examining Narrations
- In al-Durr al-manthūr, Ibn Mardawayh narrates from Yazīd al-Raqqāshī that a man said to the Prophet: ‘O Messenger of God, we give our wealth charitably in the hopes of being remembered for our generosity, will we be rewarded for this kind of giving?’ The Messenger of God replied: ‘Indeed God does not accept the deeds of anyone save those who dedicate their faith exclusively to Him.’ Then he recited the verse: Look! Only exclusive faith is for Allah ().
- In the same source, Ibn Jarīr narrates via Juwaybir from Ibn ʿAbbās, about the verse, and those who take guardians besides Him (): ‘This was revealed about three tribes: the ʿĀmir, the Kināna, and the Banū Salama. They used to worship idols and claim that the angels were God’s daughters, claiming: We only worship them so that they may bring us near to Allah!’
Author’s comments: This verse is general and encompasses all manner of idolaters. The statement, ‘We only worship them so that they may bring us near to God,’ is what all idolaters say. The same is true of the belief that God has a son. Furthermore, there is nothing in the verse about believing that the angels were God’s daughters. Therefore, the truth is that this report is an example of applying a general verse to a specific situation (taṭbīq).
- In al-Kāfī and ʿIlal al-Sharāʾīʿ, al-Kulaynī and al-Ṣadūq narrate via their chains of narrators from Zurāra that he asked Imam al-Bāqir about in the watches of the night, prostrating and standing (). He said: ‘It means the night prayer (ṣalāt al-layl).’
- In al-Kāfī, al-Kulaynī narrates, via a chain of narrators going back to Imam al-Bāqir, about the verse ‘Are those who know equal to those who do not know?’ Only those who possess intellect take admonition (): ‘We are those who know, our enemies are those who do not know, and our followers (shīʿa) are those who possess intellect.’
Author’s comments: This interpretation of the verse is narrated via numerous chains from Imam al-Bāqir and Imam al-Ṣādiq. However, it is an example of extending the meaning of the verse (jarī) and not an explanation of it (tafsīr).
- In al-Durr al-manthūr, Ibn Saʿd narrates in his Ṭabaqāt and Ibn Mardawayh narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās about the verse Is he who is devout in the watches of the night, prostrating and standing (): ‘It was revealed about ʿAmmār b. Yāsir.’
Author’s comments: A similar report has been narrated from Juwaybir from ʿIkrima, and also from Juwaybir from Ibn ʿAbbās, that this verse was revealed about Ibn Masʿūd and ʿAmmār and Sālim, the freedman of Abū Ḥudhayfa. Meanwhile, Abū Nuʿaym and Ibn ʿAsākir narrate from Ibn ʿUmar that it was revealed about ʿUthmān, and there are others besides. However, all of these narrations are examples of applying a general verse to specific instances (taṭbīq) rather than genuine occasions of revelation (nuzūl), and this chapter was revealed in a single go.
- In Majmaʿ al-bayān, al-Ṭabrisī narrates from ʿAyyāshī via his chain of narrators from ʿAbdallāh b. Sinān from Imam al-Ṣādiq that the Prophet said: ‘When the records of deeds are unfurled and the scales for the weighing of deeds are set up, there will be no scale set up for the people of tribulation (ahl al-balāʾ), nor shall any record of deeds be opened for them.’ Then he recited the verse: Indeed the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning ().
Author’s comments: A tradition with the same meaning has been narrated in al-Durr al-manthūr from Ibn Mardawayh, from Anas b. Mālik, from the Prophet.