Welcome to our weekly programme "Path towards Enlightenment" in which we present you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an. We start from where we left you last Friday and here is ayah 7 of Surah Zumar.

"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."

Last week, we ended our programme with explanation of ayah 6 of Surah Zumar, which focused on Divine Bounties in the creation of mankind and the provisions, including livestock and their many uses, bestowed upon human beings as the best of creation, with a reminder that we should worship the One and Only God alone, and abstain from disbelief, polytheism and all sorts of deviated thoughts and crooked ways whose end result is our destruction.

The ayah that we recited to you now mentions our obligation to Divine Favours through expression of gratitude, which is a welcome characteristic, instead of being thankless, a trait which Allah does not approve although He the All-Glorious is needless of our actions, and whatever we do, whether expression of ingratitude or gratefulness, we reap the recompense. In other words, Divine Needlessness does not mean that we are not supposed to be grateful for God’s Blessings, nor should we be ingrates, since obligation is also a Divine Bounty. While it is evident, God does not need the gratitude of human beings, that is, if all the people of the world disbelieve and deny God, it makes no difference for Him, because the Almighty Creator is not in need of our existence, let alone our expression of gratitude. The truth is that if God obliges us to thank Him for His blessings, it is not because He requires the gratitude of mankind, but because the spirit of thanksgiving leads to our own moral and spiritual growth and perfection. In view of this fact, the holy Qur’an, along with the command of thanksgiving to God, stresses obedience and gratefulness to both the father and the mother for their efforts in our proper grooming, as is clear by the wordings of ayah 14 of Surah Luqman, where the Almighty says: "Give thanks to Me and to your parents."

The ayah proceeds to tackle another issue, that is, any person’s responsibility for his/her acts and deeds, since the question of obligation will remain incomplete without such obligation, or to be more precise obligation without recompense is meaningless. This is clear by the phrase “No bearer shall bear another’s burden”.

The ayah ends with the fundamental belief of Resurrection after death, and our eventual return to God, Who shall inform us of our past deeds, since He the Omniscient Creator of the universe knows what we harbour in our hearts and the thoughts that flash across our minds, in view of the fact that Divine Reward and Retribution for our acts and deeds necessitate being fully aware of our inner secrets.

This ayah which concisely explains the philosophy of obligation, its features, human responsibility, and Divine Reward and Retribution, is a decisive reply to those believing in predestination which unfortunately are also found amongst Muslims not well acquainted with the tenets of faith.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Religious obligations such as prayer and fasting, in no way mean that God is in need of our worship, but similar to a teacher who gives  assignments and exercises for the intellectual development of students, God's commandments are for the spiritual growth and perfection of human beings.
2. God treats His creatures on the basis of justice, and after showing much mercy and forgiveness, rewards or punishes them, as per their cases and record of deeds, which means that on the Day of Resurrection, ethnic, lingual and family relationships, are of no use.
3. The Almighty Creator is fully aware of our intentions and inner motives, even if we do not express them through our tongues, and He the All Merciful evaluates us accordingly, rewarding us for our sincere intentions and overlooking our evil thoughts if that sin or wrongful deed has not been committed.

Now we listen to or read ayah 8 of Surah Zumar:

"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."

In continuation of the previous ayah’s focus on gratitude or ingratitude, this ayah refers to one of its examples and states: Some people of weak faith turn to God when they encounter problems in their lives, seeking forgiveness for their sins and faults. But these same people, when the problem is resolved or God grants them a new blessing, conveniently forget Divine Favours, and return to their former crooked ways, trying to justify their disbelief and other forms of deviation including polytheism.

Thus, this ayah deplores such attitudes, warning that the respite given to them to enjoy the pleasures of the world is only for a short time, and if they die in such a state, without repentance for their misdeeds and without firming up their faith, in spite of the Great Mercy shown by the All-Merciful Lord, they end up in the eternal fires of hell.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Faith ought to be firm and unflinching and not temporary, which means whatever the vicissitudes of life, we should never forget God and His Favours, which cover every aspect of our life.
2. One of the major benefits of hardships and problems in life is to jolt human conscience from slumber in order to realize the purpose of life and the eventual dawning of the Day of Resurrection.
3. People of weak faith, on attaining ease and comfort in life, forget about previous problems and ignore the Divine Assistance to them.
4. Every success of the world is not a sign of real happiness, and real prosperity is firm belief in God and His commandments.

AS/ME