Ash-Shuraa · Makki · ayah 23 of 53

Ash-Shuraa 42:23

ذَٰلِكَ ٱلَّذِى يُبَشِّرُ ٱللَّهُ عِبَادَهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ ۗ قُل لَّآ أَسْـَٔلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا إِلَّا ٱلْمَوَدَّةَ فِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ ۗ وَمَن يَقْتَرِفْ حَسَنَةً نَّزِدْ لَهُۥ فِيهَا حُسْنًا ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌ شَكُورٌ

“It is that of which Allāh gives good tidings to His servants who believe and do righteous deeds. Say, [O Muḥammad], "I do not ask you for it [i.e., this message] any payment [but] only good will through [i.e., due to] kinship." And whoever commits a good deed - We will increase for him good therein. Indeed, Allāh is Forgiving and Appreciative.[1421]”

Saheeh International

Essence

The Messenger asks for no fee but the love owed between kin, and the One who forgives much is also grateful for the smallest good.

A reflection

The teacher who thanked her pupil

The ayah closes with two names: Ghafūr, Shakūr. Forgiving, and Appreciative, or even Grateful. One commentary sums up the pair memorably. He forgives a great many sins, and He multiplies a few good deeds. He covers, and He rewards.

The root of shakūr has a lovely picture. The lexicons say the Arabs called a horse shakūr when a little fodder made it sleek. Its gratitude was that the fodder showed on it. A proverb mentions a plant that turns green at the mere passing of a cloud, before any rain falls. One lexicon defines shukr as bringing a favour into view: showing the good it has left in you.

So when Allah calls Himself Shakūr, the picture is astonishing. The smallest deed offered to Him shows, grows and comes back multiplied.

Picture a retired music teacher in her seventies who gives free lessons to a boy from the flats across the road. He has no piano at home, so she lets him practise on hers for ten minutes after school. After a month, she writes him a card. It thanks him for his ten minutes every day, and says she has noticed every one. He keeps the card for thirty years.

That card is a tiny human echo of Shakūr. And it shrinks the ego. We tend to want gratitude for large things and give it for very few. The Lord of everything is described as appreciating what we would never think to mention.

Someone may object that gratitude implies need. Why would God be grateful to anyone? One classical commentator explains that shakūr said of Allah means valuing obedience, paying its reward in full, and adding more out of grace. It is not that He gains. It is that nothing given to Him is overlooked.

So do not dismiss your small deeds. Ten minutes, offered sincerely, are noticed.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.