إِنّا هَدَيناهُ السَّبيلَ إِمّا شاكِرًا وَإِمّا كَفورًا
Indeed We have guided him to the way, be he grateful or ungrateful.
EXEGESIS
The verse describes the grateful and the ungrateful side by side with the expressions shākir (grateful) and kafūr (ungrateful). The conjugated form of kafūr expresses much stronger emphasis compared to that of shākir. Consequently, this verse could read as: Indeed we have guided him to the way, be he grateful or most ungrateful. Note that the core gift alluded to is that of guidance that points to the Creator and the Sustainer.
EXPOSITION
The guidance towards the right path is provided to every human being be they grateful or ungrateful. Everyone has access to guidance from two complimentary sources. First, there is their innate guidance (fiṭrah) that is intrinsic to every human being by divine decree (91:7-8, 30:30). Second, there is the guidance through revelation that reinforces the fiṭrah by way of messengers, prophets, and scripture (4:165, 2:136, 30:47, 3:84). While all guidance from God is pointing to the same direction, each human being’s response and resulting outcome depends on their free will (18:29-30, 9:106).
Note that the amount of divine guidance received and the resulting accountability is coherent with divine justice. In the case of innate guidance, it is first inbred in each human being to the same degree. The only way an individual can lose sight of this guidance is if they persistently choose to oppose it (45:23). In the case of guidance through revelation, while all nations have been sent a godly guide (35:24), some peoples or communities have existed without having heard the prophetic message (36:6). Other communities may have received the divine call after it had been subject to distortions by dishonest predecessors (2:75, 5:13, 5:41), and therefore could not find their way to the complete truth. All such individuals will be held accountable to the degree to which guidance had reached them (2:38, 4:98-99). Finally, those who show gratitude for the guidance received will be rewarded with further guidance (14:7, 18:13, 19:76, 47:17).
In line with the close relationship between guidance and gratefulness, this verse actually equates being guided on the right path to being grateful. This is because the essence of gratefulness is the utilisation of any blessing, such that it recognises and reflects its grantor and provider. In other words, one is grateful if they fulfill two conditions. First, they recognise and exhibit their recognition to the gift-giver. Second, they utilise the gift in the purpose for which it was intended. Hence, an individual who is grateful for the gift of guidance devotes themselves to the guider, and utilises the divine guidance to conduct themselves such that they gain His proximity. This is the definition of the right path. Therefore, being grateful is the same as being guided on the right path.
As for ungratefulness, it is clearly manifested in the one who benefits from God’s blessing while seeking to hide its provenance from Him. This is the case of all disbelievers on earth, since none of them can claim that they did not benefit from a bounty that was not God’s doing, yet they remain on the position that He does not exist or that these bounties did not come from Him (14:34, 16:18, 82:6-8). Hence, we can equate faithlessness with ungratefulness.
In reality, divine guidance always comes with accountability and responsibility, and thus acts as a sifting agent that exposes the essence of people (40:4-6, 98:1, 45:17, 6:157, 29:2-3, 47:31).
As mentioned in the Exegesis, the conjugated form of kafūr expresses much stronger emphasis compared to that of shākir. As for the most ungrateful (kafūr), they are those who deny and cover this guidance while benefitting from all of the other bounties brought to them from their Creator. They are the most ungrateful because they have accepted to use all of the gifts while denying their provenance from the gift-giver. The only benefaction they refuse to recognise and use is that of divine guidance to Him and His way. Little do they see that these presents can bring no fulfilment without being paired with adherence to the divine guidance that comes with them. Hence, even the blessings of hearing and sight become misused and are ultimately of no avail (7:179).
As for the grateful (shākir), this includes all those who recognise and accept celestial guidance. However, the degree to which they are grateful is based on the extent to which they honour and adhere to this guidance. With this in mind, shākir encompasses all the grateful at different levels. Note that with this understanding of shākir and kafūr, these two qualifiers are encompassing of all human beings.
As for the most grateful (shakūr), they are a subset of the grateful and they are those who hold most firmly to any guidance that comes to them either innately, or by way of prophets, or through direct revelation. They are the most true to all guidance, both in their faith and practice (46:15, 27:40, 3:144). Such individuals are called shakūr in the Quran, an expression with the same level of emphasis as kafūr. They are few (34:13). As for complete gratitude, it can never be achieved, because every expression of gratitude to God itself calls for another expression of gratitude to Him.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- Ḥumrān said that he asked Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) about we have guided him to the way, be he grateful or ungrateful, and he said: ‘Either he [the human being] takes [guidance] and thus he is grateful, or he is leaving [guidance] and thus he is ungrateful.’ Qummī narrates from Muhammad ibn Abī ʿUmayr, from Imam al-Bāqir (a) the same meaning.
- From Aḥmad and Ibn al-Mundhar, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd-Allāh, that the Messenger of God said: ‘Every person is born upon the innate built-in sense of morality (fiṭrah) until their tongue expresses what they [truly] mean. The moment their tongue expresses what they [truly] mean, whether he is grateful or ungrateful [becomes manifest].’
Note: This hadith explains that all human beings are endowed with inner guidance and free will, both of which are endowments from their Creator to help them actualise themselves. In turn, they can only be deemed grateful or ungrateful after they reach an age at which they begin to consciously and independently express and act upon their own free choices.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Depending on the theological schools to which Muslim scholars have associated themselves, they have interpreted this verse as either that God provides guidance to all human beings, irrespective of their faith or faithlessness, or that, knowing beforehand in His infinite knowledge that the disbeliever will be faithless, God Himself predecrees to make a person grateful or ungrateful, believing or unbelieving.
In reality, this question goes back to the question of free will and predestination.
To explain the variation in emphasis found in the conjugated forms of shākir and kafūr, Makārim Shīrāzī proposed that shakūr (most grateful) is not used because it is impossible to achieve perfect gratitude. On the other hand, he explains, those who turn their back on the priceless gift of guidance and choose an opposite path are committing a severe act of ingratitude. However, the Quran has used the term shakūr in a number of instances. Instead, we have presented an alternative interpretation for the weighted expressions shākir and kafūr under the Exegesis.
[1] Tabrisi, 10/615.
[2] Mizan, 20/123.
[3] Qummi, 2/398.
[4] Mizan, 20/123-124.
[5] Mizan, 20/123-124.
[6] Mizan, 20/123-124.
[7] Mizan, 20/123-124.
[8] Alusi, 15/169.
[9] Mizan, 4/38.
[10] Mizan, 20/122.
[11] Kafi, 2/384, h. 3-4.
[12] Qummi, 2/398.
[13] Suyuti, 6/298.
[14] Tabrisi, 10/615.
[15] Razi, 30/742.
[16] Amthal, 19/247.