Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:104
And you do not ask of them for it any payment. It is not except a reminder to the worlds.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: وَمَا تَسْأَلُهُمْ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَجْرٍ إِنْ هُوَ إِلا ذِكْرٌ لِلْعَالَمِينَ (104)
Abū Jaʿfar said: the Exalted says to Muḥammad ﷺ: and you, O Muḥammad, do not ask those who reject your prophethood and refuse to affirm you and to accept what you have brought them from your Lord, for that to which you call them — namely the sincere worship of your Lord, the abandonment of the veneration of idols, and obedience to the Most Merciful — من أجر — that is to say: no reward nor recompense from them; rather, your reward and the recompense for your work rest with Allah. He says: you do not ask them any reward for that, such that they would say to you: by calling us to follow you, you only wish to obtain some of our wealth when you ask us for it. And since you do not ask them for that, it was their duty to know that you only call them to that to which you call them out of compliance with the command of your Lord and sincere counsel to them, and that they should not doubt you.
As for His word: إن هو إلا ذكر للعالمين — the Exalted says: this with which your Lord has sent you, O Muḥammad, of prophethood and messengership إلا ذكر — He says: is only an admonition and a reminder for mankind, so that they may thereby be admonished and reminded.
