إِن تَكفُروا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ عَنكُم ۖ وَلا يَرضىٰ لِعِبادِهِ الكُفرَ ۖ وَإِن تَشكُروا يَرضَهُ لَكُم ۗ وَلا تَزِرُ وازِرَةٌ وِزرَ أُخرىٰ ۗ ثُمَّ إِلىٰ رَبِّكُم مَرجِعُكُم فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِما كُنتُم تَعمَلونَ ۚ إِنَّهُ عَليمٌ بِذاتِ الصُّدورِ

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.

EXEGESIS

Notice that the verse talks about God’s disapproval of ingratitude and His approval of gratitude for His servants (li-ʿibādih, lakum), not of or from them (ʿan, min). This is a delicate point that indicates that all of these injunctions and revelations are only for your own sake and benefit.

Wizr means a heavy burden, and taziru means to carry a heavy load.^{‎[1]Tahqiq, under w-z-r.} It can refer to both material and immaterial burdens, though the latter is more common in the Quran.

Dhāt is the feminine form of dhū, which is a possessive prefix.^{‎[2]Ayn; Raghib; Lisan; Fayyumi; Bahrayn, under dh-ū.} Thus, dhāt al-ṣudūr means the possessor of the breasts. In the Quran this refers to the thoughts and intentions that occupy (and thus possess) one’s soul. The usage of dhāt as an independent noun meaning the reality or essence of something is a usage that was derived and developed after the descent of the Quran, and therefore it does not apply to the verses of the Quran.

EXPOSITION

This verse revolves around the concept of choice. Given all of the bounties, blessings, and signs of God discussed in the previous verses, each person should choose to be either grateful or ungrateful. This choice does not benefit or harm God in any way: Allah has no need of you. Should you be faithless – you and everyone on the earth, all together – indeed Allah is all-sufficient, all-laudable (14:8); And whoever gives thanks, gives thanks only for his own sake (27:40). However, it does not befit you – as My servants – to be ungrateful, irrespective of any negative consequence or punishment that it may involve.

If everyone in the world

Disobeys with a thrust,

Thy majesty doesn’t shrink,

Not even by a dust.^{‎[3]Khwājah ʿAbd-Allāh al-Anṣārī, Rubāʿiyyāt.}

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: this is among the most beautiful, delicate, and touching verses of the Quran. It is replete with so much mercy and affection that it completely overwhelms the readers, and renders one immersed in shame and embarrassment from head to toe.

Who am I to be

Remembered by Thee?

May the dust where Thou tread

Be a crown on my head.^{‎[4]Ḥāfiẓ, ghazal 328.}

The verse does not talk about an excruciating chastisement or a severe reckoning. Rather, it touches on the noblest kind of relationship between a servant and his master; a consideration that would determine one’s decision once and for all: He does not approve ingratitude for His servants; and if you give thanks He approves that for you. It talks about the pinnacle of one’s achievement and the highest human perfection: Yet Allah’s pleasure is greater (9:72).

The verses of the Quran encompass all individuals according to their levels and capacities. Many rewards and punishments that are discussed in the Quran pertain to an intermediate level of motivation, where physical pleasures and pains play a central role. This verse, however, takes the reader to a much higher horizon, and invites him to ponder upon what should matter the most to a servant: do you not want your Lord to be pleased with you? Can you imagine any higher bliss? Or do you want to incur the dissatisfaction of your Master? That is the biggest sorrow and the most dreadful affliction for a bondman.

This is what is seen in many supplications by the Prophet and his household, as Imam al-Husayn (a) pleaded to God: ‘O God, do not send down Thy wrath upon me, for indeed, I do not mind anything else as long as Thou art not wrathful against me … So I beseech Thee by the light of Thy face, by which the earth and the heavens are illuminated: do not make me die while Thou art angry with me, and do not descend Thy wrath upon me.’^{‎[5]Duʿāʾ al-ʿArafah (Iqbal, 2/79-80).} Nonetheless, the last part of this very verse involves an implicit threat of punishment – for those who are not motivated by the first part of the verse.^{‎[6]Qaraati, 8/147.}

It is notable that the verse could have said: He does not approve ingratitude for you, but instead of using a pronoun it has used: His servants. This is an example of God’s infinite mercy, for even when people are ungrateful to Him, He considers them as His own servants and attributes them to Himself.^{‎[7]Qaraati, 8/147.}

‘O My servant, if you’re ashamed of your Lord,

Then here’s My message: listen and record:

To Me you are not abject or low;

You are not My enemy, neither My foe;

If you’re fed up with Me, that’s okay and fine;

I love you still, because you’re Mine.’

Sometimes a baby turns down his mother,

The like of whom there is no other.

She grabs the baby unto her chest;

The baby refuses to grab on her breast.

The mother responds by kiss and caress:

‘I want your good, to grow and progress.’^{‎[8]Narāqī, Ṭāqdīs, pp. 249-250.}

Referring to the audience as the servants of God also serves the following points: 1. Anything that a servant has, belongs to his master. It is for this reason that you must be grateful to God, for you are His servants. 2. A servant must seek the approval and satisfaction of his master, and your master does not approve ingratitude for His servants. 3. He does not approve ingratitude for you because you are His servants. In other words, all of this approval and disapproval is because God cares about His servants and wants their growth and welfare.^{‎[9]Mizan, 17/239.} 4. If you are ungrateful, that is equivalent to exiting the servitude of God and losing the honour of being classified and referred to as God’s servants.^{‎[10]Alusi, 12/233.}

My creation was a case

Of mercy and grace.

It was not to attain

Some benefit or gain.^{‎[11]Rūmī, Mathnawī, v. 2, line 1760.}

No bearer shall bear another’s burden: this statement is exactly repeated in four other verses in the Quran (6:164, 17:15, 35:18, 53:38). This is among one of the fundamental principles of the Quranic worldview, that every soul will be a guest of its own earnings in the hereafter (2:134, 2:141, 2:286, 31:33, 52:21, 53:39, 74:38, 82:19). This is a warning against those who seek the approval of anyone other than God – their parents, relatives, friends, society, employers, or leaders – at the expense of God’s approval.

… 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 last part of the verse completes the story of choice by talking about the reckoning of all inward and outward acts by a judge that is at the utmost degree of justice and omniscience. Say: ‘Shall I seek a Lord other than Allah, while He is the Lord of all things?’ No soul does evil except against itself, and no bearer shall bear another’s burden; then to your Lord will be your return, whereat He will inform you concerning that about which you used to differ (6:164).

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Concerning He does not approve ingratitude for His servants; and if you give thanks He approves that for you, it is narrated from one of the Imams: ‘Here, kufr (ingratitude) means defiance, and shukr (gratitude) means the guardianship and the knowledge [of the Imams].’^{‎[12]Barqi, 1/149, h. 65.}

Note: Gratitude is a servant’s responsibility toward God’s bounty, and one of the loftiest bounties of God is guardianship, as per many narrations and Quranic verses, especially verse 5:3. Therefore, a clear example of gratitude is to know and accept the guardianship of the Imams, and an obvious example of ingratitude is to reject and disobey them.

2. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘There is that which God decreed, that which He did not like, and that which He did not approve of: He decreed and willed that nothing would happen without His knowledge; He did not like to be called the third [person] of a trinity [5:73]; and he did not approve ingratitude for His servants.’^{‎[13]Kafi, 1/151-152, h. 5; Tawhid, p. 339, h. 9, and p. 343, h. 12.}
3. Imam al-Hādī (a) has a long and famous letter on the topic of determinism (jabr) vs. empowerment (tafwīḍ). Among his arguments against empowerment, he points out that if God has delegated the affairs of His servants to themselves, that would entail His incapability to reward or punish them for their compliance or lack of compliance with His orders. This would be against the book of God, where it says: He does not approve ingratitude for His servants.^{‎[14]Tuhaf, p. 464.}

Note: This splendid tradition beautifully picks on the subtle difference between li-ʿibādih (for His servants) vs. ʿan ʿibādih (of or from His servants). The narration shows that He does not approve ingratitude for His servants means that God will punish ingratitude.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

This verse has instigated much controversy among the exegetes concerning whether the kufr (ingratitude, disbelief) of the people can be attributed to God’s will (irādah) or not. Each exegete has interpreted the verse according to his theological view. The whole discussion, however, seems to be irrelevant to this verse, because the verse does not talk about God’s disapproval of ingratitude from His servants, but it talks about His disapproval of ingratitude for His servants. Ālūsī has picked on this subtlety and explained it quite well:

‘When one says: “I approve of this deal for you” it does not mean “I am satisfied with your deal” but it means “I praise and commend this deal for you”. In other words, “It is befitting for you to be satisfied with this deal”. Likewise, when God says, He does not approve ingratitude for His servants, it means that you should not be satisfied with ingratitude, which effectively means that God will not reward you for it. This complies with a general principle about many attributes such as satisfaction and dissatisfaction (or approval and disapproval): when they are applied to God, what they really mean is that God acts and behaves as if He were satisfied or dissatisfied with the person, meaning that He rewards or punishes the person. Otherwise, no event can influence or affect God by causing His satisfaction or dissatisfaction. These terms rather signify their implications in terms of reward and punishment. This implication is more clearly observable where God says: Allah shall not be pleased with the transgressing lot (9:96). The sense of approval used in the current verse is also found where God says: I have approved Islam as your religion (5:3). Hence, whether or not God has willed kufr is not the point of this verse.’^{‎[15]Alusi, 12/232-234.}

To clarify the case of God’s will raised by many exegetes, it is pivotal to note that God has two wills: an existential one and a legislative one. Existentially, anything that occurs is according to God’s will and approval. Otherwise, it would be impossible for anything to occur against the existential will of God. Then, among what He has willed is the freedom and choice of humankind. He has endorsed some scope of freedom to His servants in order for them to be tested and thus grow. Hence, anything that humans choose within their scope of freedom occurs due to God’s existential will and approval. However, this does not mean that any choice they make is also in their best interest and benefit. God’s legislative will is what dictates what He approves for His servants, according to what befits and benefits them. Therefore, ingratitude and sin do not contravene God’s existential will, but they contravene His legislative will, as explained by Ibn Taymiyyah and his student, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah.^{‎[16]Alusi, 12/234; Ibn Taymiyyah, Daqāʾiq al-Tafsīr, 4/528-529; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Shifāʾ al-ʿAlīl, 1/280-281.} This is clearly seen in the verses that describe Satan and the devils as God’s agents, assigned with the task of misguiding and misdirecting the disbelievers (7:27, 19:83).

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

There are many verses in the Bible that confirm Indeed He knows best what is in the breasts. For example:

1. Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men).^{‎[17]1 Kings 8:39.}
2. And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.^{‎[18]1 Chronicles 28:9.}
3. … for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.^{‎[19]Psalms 44:21.}

There are also many verses in the Bible that confirm, No bearer shall bear another’s burden. For instance:

4. … for every man’s word shall be his burden.^{‎[20]Jeremiah 23:36.}
5. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.^{‎[21]Jeremiah 31:30.}
6. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.^{‎[22]Galatians 6:4-5.}

However, there are also some verses that apparently oppose this principle, unless interpreted otherwise, such as:

7. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was taken from prison and from judgement: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.^{‎[23]Isaiah 53:4-6 and 53:8.}
8. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.^{‎[24]Lamentations 5:7.}
9. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.^{‎[25]1 Peter 3:18.}

This contrast is seen clearly in two consecutive verses:

10. Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name, Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.^{‎[26]Jeremiah 32:18-19.}

It should be noted that since this world is a place of test and trial – and not a place for final judgement and retribution – the actions of one person sometimes has effects on other people. What the Quran does not accept is someone taking the burden of other people’s sins in the hereafter, as the verse mentions.

TOPICAL ARTICLES

See Topical Article: Bounty and Gratitude.

[1] Tahqiq, under w-z-r.
[2] Ayn; Raghib; Lisan; Fayyumi; Bahrayn, under dh-ū.
[3] Khwājah ʿAbd-Allāh al-Anṣārī, Rubāʿiyyāt.
[4] Ḥāfiẓ, ghazal 328.
[5] Duʿāʾ al-ʿArafah (Iqbal, 2/79-80).
[6] Qaraati, 8/147.
[7] Qaraati, 8/147.
[8] Narāqī, Ṭāqdīs, pp. 249-250.
[9] Mizan, 17/239.
[10] Alusi, 12/233.
[11] Rūmī, Mathnawī, v. 2, line 1760.
[12] Barqi, 1/149, h. 65.
[13] Kafi, 1/151-152, h. 5; Tawhid, p. 339, h. 9, and p. 343, h. 12.
[14] Tuhaf, p. 464.
[15] Alusi, 12/232-234.
[16] Alusi, 12/234; Ibn Taymiyyah, Daqāʾiq al-Tafsīr, 4/528-529; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Shifāʾ al-ʿAlīl, 1/280-281.
[17] 1 Kings 8:39.
[18] 1 Chronicles 28:9.
[19] Psalms 44:21.
[20] Jeremiah 23:36.
[21] Jeremiah 31:30.
[22] Galatians 6:4-5.
[23] Isaiah 53:4-6 and 53:8.
[24] Lamentations 5:7.
[25] 1 Peter 3:18.
[26] Jeremiah 32:18-19.