1. O God, no one reaches a limit in thanking Thee without acquiring that of Thy beneficence which enjoins upon him thanksgiving,
2- nor does anyone reach a degree in obeying Thee, even if he strives, without falling short of what Thou deservest because of Thy bounty.
3- The most thankful of Thy servants has not the capacity to thank Thee, and the most worshipful of them falls short of obeying Thee.
4- To none of them is due Thy forgiveness through what he himself deserves or Thy good pleasure for his own merit.
5- When Thou forgivest someone, it is through Thy graciousness, and when Thou art pleased with someone, it is through Thy bounty.
6- Thou showest gratitude for the paltry for which Thou showest gratitude1 and Thou rewardest the small act in which Thou art obeyed, so that it seems as if Thy servants' thanksgiving for which Thou hast made incumbent their reward and made great their repayment is an affair from which they could have held back without Thee, and hence Thou wilt recompense them, and whose cause is not in Thy hand, and hence Thou wilt repay them.
Thou rewardest the small act in which Thou art obeyed, so that it seems as if Thy servants' thanksgiving for which Thou hast made incumbent their reward and made great their repayment is an affair from which they could have held back without Thee, and hence Thou wilt recompense them, and whose cause is not in Thy hand, and hence Thou wilt repay them.
7- Nay, my God, Thou hadst power over their affair before they had power to worship Thee, and Thou hadst prepared their reward before they began to obey Thee; and that because Thy wont is bestowal of bounty, Thy custom beneficence, Thy way pardon.
8- So all creatures confess that Thou wrongest not him whom Thou punishest and bear witness that Thou bestowest bounty upon him whom Thou pardonest. Each admits that he has fallen short of what Thou meritest.
9- Had Satan not misled them from Thy obedience, no disobeyer would have disobeyed Thee, and had he not shown falsehood to them in the likeness of truth no strayer would have gone astray from Thy path.
10- So glory be to Thee! How manifest is Thy generosity in dealing with him who obeys or disobeys Thee! Thou showest gratitude to the obedient for that which Thou undertakest for him, and Thou grantest a respite to the disobedient in that within which Thou art able to hurry him.
So glory be to Thee! How manifest is Thy generosity in dealing with him who obeys or disobeys Thee! Thou showest gratitude to the obedient for that which Thou undertakest for him, and Thou grantest a respite to the disobedient in that within which Thou art able to hurry him.
11- Thou givest to each of them that which is not his due, and Thou bestowest bounty upon each in that wherein his works fall short.
12- Wert Thou to counterbalance for the obedient servant that which Thou Thyself hadst undertaken, he would be on the point of losing Thy reward and seeing the end of Thy favour, but through Thy generosity Thou hast repaid him for a short, perishing term with a long, everlasting term, and for a near, vanishing limit with an extended, abiding limit.
13- Then Thou dost not visit him with a settling of accounts for Thy provision through which he gained strength to obey Thee, nor dost Thou force him to make reckonings for the organs he employed to find the means to Thy forgiveness. Wert Thou to do that to him, it would take away everything for which he had laboured and all wherein he had exerted himself as repayment for the smallest of Thy benefits and kindnesses, and he would remain hostage before Thee for Thy other favours. So how can he deserve something of Thy reward? Indeed, how?
14- This, my God, is the state of him who obeys Thee and the path of him who worships Thee. But as for him who disobeys Thy command and goes against Thy prohibition, Thou dost not hurry him to Thy vengeance, so that he may seek to replace his state in disobeying Thee with the state of turning back to obey Thee, though he deserved from the time he set out to disobey Thee every punishment which Thou hast prepared for all Thy creatures.
This, my God, is the state of him who obeys Thee and the path of him who worships Thee. But as for him who disobeys Thy command and goes against Thy prohibition, Thou dost not hurry him to Thy vengeance, so that he may seek to replace his state in disobeying Thee with the state of turning back to obey Thee, though he deserved from the time he set out to disobey Thee every punishment which Thou hast prepared for all Thy creatures.
15- Through each chastisement which Thou hast kept back from him and each penalty of Thy vengeance and Thy punishment which Thou hast delayed from him, Thou hast refrained from Thy right and shown good pleasure in place of what Thou hast made obligatory.
16- So who is more generous, my God, than Thou? And who is more wretched than he who perishes in spite of Thee? Indeed, who? Thou art too blessed to be described by any but beneficence and too generous for any but justice to be feared from Thee! There is no dread that Thou wilt be unjust toward him who disobeys Thee, nor any fear of Thy neglecting to reward him who satisfies Thee.2 So bless Muhammad and his Household, give me my hope, and increase me in that of Thy guidance through which I may be successful in my works! Surely Thou art All-kind, Generous.
1. The commentator suggests that the expression shakartahu, 'for which Thou showest gratitude', which is found in most texts, means qabaltahu, 'which Thou acceptest'. He adds that another ancient text has shukir bihi, 'for which Thou art thanked', and that this is clearer and more appropriate in the context. Cf. the similar passages in 46.6-7.
2. Allusion to such Qur'anic verses as:
Whoso brings a good deed shall have ten the like of it; and whoso brings an evil deed shall only be recompensed the like of it; they shall not be wronged Cf. 40:40.
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