Tafseer of The Thunder · Ar-Ra'd · 13:18
For those who have responded to their Lord is the best [reward], but those who did not respond to Him - if they had all that is in the earth entirely and the like of it with it, they would [attempt to] ransom themselves thereby. Those will have the worst account, and their refuge is Hell, and wretched is the resting place.
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.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted says: Those who responded to Allah and believed in Him when He called them to faith, and obeyed Him and followed His Messenger and held him to be truthful in what he brought them from Allah — for them is "al-ḥusnā" (the best), which is Paradise (janna). As in:
20326 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatāda, his statement: لِلَّذِينَ اسْتَجَابُوا لِرَبِّهِمُ الْحُسْنَى — "that is Paradise."
And His statement وَالَّذِينَ لَمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا لَهُ لَوْ أَنَّ لَهُم مَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا وَمِثْلَهُ مَعَهُ لَافْتَدَوْا بِهِ (and those who did not respond to Him — had they all that is on the earth, and the like of it along with it, they would offer it as ransom): The Exalted says: Those who did not respond to Allah when He called them to accept His oneness (tawḥīd) and to acknowledge His Lordship — and did not obey Him in what He commanded them, and did not follow His Messenger so as to hold him truthful in what he brought them from their Lord — had they been able to dispose of all that is on the earth and the like of it along with it, and were this then accepted from them and taken as a substitute for the punishment (ʿadhāb) that Allah has appointed for them in the Hellfire of jahannam, and were it accepted as compensation — then they would have ransomed themselves with it. Allah says: أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ سُوءُ الْحِسَابِ (for them is an evil reckoning) — that is to say: it is decreed for them with Allah that He seizes them for all their sins — He pardons them nothing of it, but punishes them for all of it. As in:
20327 — Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAwn related to us, from Farqad al-Sabakhī, who said: Shahr ibn Ḥawshab said to us: سُوءُ الْحِسَابِ (evil reckoning) — that is that nothing of theirs is overlooked.
20328 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn Abī ʿUthmān related to me, saying: Farqad al-Sabakhī related to us, saying: Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī said: "O Farqad, do you know what sūʾ al-ḥisāb is?" I said: No! He said: "That is that a man is called to account for all his sins without anything of it being pardoned him."
And His statement وَمَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ (and their abode is jahannam): this means: their dwelling place in which they dwell on the Day of Resurrection is the Hellfire (jahannam). وَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ (and what an evil resting place!): this means: what an evil bed and resting place is the Hellfire that will be their abode on the Day of Resurrection.