Translation:
What can Allah gain by your punishment, if you are grateful and you believe? No, it is Allah that recogniseth 653 (all good), and knoweth all things.
What can Allah gain by your punishment, if you are grateful and you believe? No, it is Allah that recogniseth 653 (all good), and knoweth all things.
Translation:
Why would God cause you to suffer [for your past sins] if you are grateful and attain to belief - seeing that God is always responsive to gratitude, all-knowing? 160
Why would God cause you to suffer [for your past sins] if you are grateful and attain to belief - seeing that God is always responsive to gratitude, all-knowing? 160
Commentary:
160 The gratitude spoken of here is of a general nature - a feeling of thankfulness for being alive and endowed with what is described as a "soul": a feeling which often leads man to the realization that this boon of life and consciousness is not accidental, and thus, in a logical process of thought, to belief in God. According to Zamakhshari, this is the reason why "gratitude" is placed before "belief" in the structure of the above sentence.
160 The gratitude spoken of here is of a general nature - a feeling of thankfulness for being alive and endowed with what is described as a "soul": a feeling which often leads man to the realization that this boon of life and consciousness is not accidental, and thus, in a logical process of thought, to belief in God. According to Zamakhshari, this is the reason why "gratitude" is placed before "belief" in the structure of the above sentence.
653 There is no pleasure nor advantage to Allah in punishing His own creatures, over whom He watches with loving care. On the contrary He recognises any goodhowever little-which He finds in us, and delights to give us a reward beyond all measure. His recognition of us is compared by a bold metaphor to our gratitude to Him for His favours. The epithet Shakir is applied to Allah, as here, in 2:158, and other passages. In 16:121 it is applied to Abraham: "he showed his gratitude for the favours of Allah, who chose him and guided him to a Straight Way ."