Tafseer of Consultation · Ash-Shura · 42:26
And He answers [the supplication of] those who have believed and done righteous deeds and increases [for] them from His bounty. But the disbelievers will have a severe punishment.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: وَيَسْتَجِيبُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَيَزِيدُهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ وَالْكَافِرُونَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ (26) (And He answers those who believe and do righteous deeds, and increases for them out of His bounty; and the disbelievers, for them is a severe punishment) (26).
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: and He answers those who believe in Allah and His Messenger, and do what Allah has commanded them, and refrain from what He has forbidden them, when they call upon one another.
And in agreement with what we have said concerning this, the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿAththām related to us, saying: al-Aʿmash related to us, on the authority of Shaqīq ibn Salama, on the authority of Salama ibn Sabra, who said: Muʿādh delivered a sermon to us and said: you are the believers, and you are the people of Paradise (janna). By Allah, I truly hope that those among the Persians and the Romans whom you encounter will enter Paradise; and that is because when one of them performs the work for one of you, he says: you have done well, may Allah have mercy on you; you have done well, may Allah forgive you. Then he recited: وَيَسْتَجِيبُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَيَزِيدُهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ (And He answers those who believe and do righteous deeds, and increases for them out of His bounty).
And His statement: وَيَزِيدُهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ (and He increases for them out of His bounty). The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: and He increases for those who believe and do righteous deeds, in addition to answering their call and granting them what they ask, out of His bounty, beyond what they ask of Him, by giving them what they did not ask for. And it has been said: that bounty which He, praised be His praise, has promised to increase for them, is that He accepts their intercession for the brethren of their brethren when they intercede on behalf of their brethren, so they intercede for them.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿUbaydallāh ibn Mohammed al-Firyābī related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Abī Salama related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Bashīr, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, concerning the statement of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: وَيَسْتَجِيبُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ (And He answers those who believe and do righteous deeds), he said: their intercession is granted for their brethren, وَيَزِيدُهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ (and He increases for them out of His bounty), he said: they intercede for the brethren of their brethren.
And His statement: وَالْكَافِرُونَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ (and the disbelievers, for them is a severe punishment). He, praised be His praise, says: and the disbelievers in Allah, for them on the Day of Resurrection is a severe punishment for their disbelief in Him.
The linguists of Arabic have differed concerning the meaning of His statement وَيَسْتَجِيبُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا (And He answers those who believe). Some of them said: that is, they respond, and thus He made them the agents; so "those" in His statement is in the nominative and the verb is from them. And the explanation of the statement according to this view is: and those who believe and do righteous deeds respond to their Lord in believing in Him and rendering obedience to Him when He calls them to that.
And another of them said: no, rather the meaning of it is: and He answers those who believe. And this statement admits two possibilities: the first is the nominative, in the meaning: and Allah answers those who believe; and the second is what the author of the previously mentioned statement said.
And one of the grammarians of Kūfa said: وَيَسْتَجِيبُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — "those" may stand in the position of the accusative, in the meaning: and Allah answers those who believe. And in the Revelation has come: فَاسْتَجَابَ لَهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ (Then their Lord answered them), and the meaning is: then their Lord answered them, except that when you say istajāba, you insert the lām before the object; and when you say ajāba, you omit the lām. And istajābahum has the meaning: istajāba lahum (He answered them), just as He, praised be His praise, says: وَإِذَا كَالُوهُمْ أَوْ وَزَنُوهُمْ (And when they measure for them or weigh for them) — and the meaning is, and Allah knows best: and when they measure for them or weigh for them يُخْسِرُونَ (they give less). He said: and "those" may stand in the position of the nominative if one attributes the verb to them, that is: those who believe respond to Allah, and He increases for them, in addition to their responding and their affirmation of it, out of His bounty. And we have already set forth what is correct in this regard of the statement, in accordance with what Muʿādh and those whose statement we have mentioned have explained.
