An-Naml · Makki · ayah 40 of 93

An-Naml 27:40

قَالَ ٱلَّذِى عِندَهُۥ عِلْمٌ مِّنَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ أَنَا۠ ءَاتِيكَ بِهِۦ قَبْلَ أَن يَرْتَدَّ إِلَيْكَ طَرْفُكَ ۚ فَلَمَّا رَءَاهُ مُسْتَقِرًّا عِندَهُۥ قَالَ هَـٰذَا مِن فَضْلِ رَبِّى لِيَبْلُوَنِىٓ ءَأَشْكُرُ أَمْ أَكْفُرُ ۖ وَمَن شَكَرَ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِۦ ۖ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ رَبِّى غَنِىٌّ كَرِيمٌ

“Said one who had knowledge from the Scripture, "I will bring it to you before your glance returns to you." And when [Solomon] saw it placed before him, he said, "This is from the favor of my Lord to test me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful. And whoever is grateful - his gratitude is only for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever is ungrateful - then indeed, my Lord is Free of need and Generous."”

Saheeh International

Essence

A throne crosses a kingdom in a blink, and the king's first words are about a test: will I be grateful, or ungrateful?

A reflection

Generous to the one who forgets to thank

A man stops lending his ladder to the neighbour who never says thank you. Three times was enough, he tells his wife. Nobody would call him unreasonable. Most of us keep the same ledger.

Sulayman ends his sentence by describing his Lord, and the description is not the one we expect. Wa man kafara fa-inna rabbī ghaniyyun karīm: whoever is ungrateful, my Lord is free of need, generous. Not severe. Not swift to cut him off. Generous.

The commentaries draw out both words. Ghanī: He needs no one's thanks, and the ingratitude of all creation would not harm Him. Karīm: it is of His generosity, one explains, that He keeps giving to the one who denies His gifts. Another says He does not cut His favours off because someone turned away from thanking. A third adds that He does not hurry the punishment. One concise commentary gives the balance: His good covers grateful and ungrateful alike in this world, and then all are called to account.

The Prophet ﷺ reported his Lord as saying this. Suppose the first and last of you, men and jinn, all had the heart of the most God-fearing among you. It would add nothing to My kingdom. If they all had the heart of the most wicked, it would take nothing away (Muslim). One great commentator cites this very hadith under this ayah.

That is where the ego has to shrink. Without admitting it, we half-believe our thanks is a favour to Allah. We picture Him waiting on our prayers the way a performer waits on applause. The ayah takes that picture apart. Your gratitude adds nothing to Him. Your ingratitude takes nothing away. And still He goes on giving.

The root of karīm holds the first hearers' picture. The vine was karm: its clusters hang low within reach, it carries much good and has no thorns. A cloud karuma when it brought rain. Generosity, in this language, bends down to whoever stands beneath it.

Picture the ladder lent a fourth time, a fortieth, a thousandth, to a neighbour who never once looked up. That is a faint shadow of the Lord Sulayman describes. Humility begins where our ledger ends.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.