Tafseer Ibn Kathir of ASY SYUURA [23]

23. That is whereof Allah gives glad tidings to His servants who believe and do righteous good deeds. Say: ”No reward do I ask of you for this except to be kind to me for my kinship with you.'' And whoever earns a good righteous deed, We shall give him an increase of good in respect thereof. Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Ready to appreciate. 24. Or say they: ”He has invented a lie against Allah'' If Allah willed, He could have sealed up your heart. And Allah wipes out falsehood, and establishes the truth by His Word. Verily, He knows well what are in the breasts.   Having mentioned the gardens of Paradise, Allah then says to His servants who believe and do righteous deeds:

(That is whereof Allah gives glad tidings to His servants who believe and do righteous good deeds.) meaning, this will undoubtedly come to them, because it is glad tidings from Allah to them.

(Say: ”No reward do I ask of you for this except to be kind to me for my kinship with you.'') means, `say, O Muhammad, to these idolators among the disbeliever of Quraysh: I do not ask you for anything in return for this message and sincere advice which I bring to you. All I ask of you is that you withhold your evil from me and let me convey the Messages of my Lord. If you will not help me, then do not disturb me, for the sake of the ties of kinship that exist between you and I.' Al-Bukhari recorded that Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, was asked about the Ayah:

(except to be kind to me for my kinship with you.) Sa`id bin Jubayr said, ”To be kind to the family of Muhammad.'' Ibn `Abbas said, ”No, you have jumped to a hasty conclusion. There was no clan among Quraysh to whom the Prophet did not have some ties of kinship.'' Ibn `Abbas said, ”Except that you uphold the ties of kinship that exist between me and you.'' This was recorded by Al-Bukhari. It was also recorded by Imam Ahmad with a different chain of narration.

(And whoever earns a good righteous deed, We shall give him an increase of good in respect thereof) means, `whoever does a good deed, We will increase him in good for it, i.e., in reward.' This is like the Ayah:

(Surely, Allah wrongs not even of the weight of a speck of dust, but if there is any good, He doubles it, and gives from Him a great reward.) (4:40)

(Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Ready to appreciate.) means, He forgives many bad deeds and increases a small amount of good deeds; He conceals and forgives sins and He multiplies and increases the reward of good deeds. Allah's saying;

(Or say they: ”He has invented a lie against Allah'' If Allah willed, He could have sealed up your heart.) means, `if you had invented any lies against Him, as these ignorant people claim,'

(He could have sealed up your heart.) means, `and thus caused you to forget what had already come to you of the Qur'an.' This is like the Ayah:

(And if he had forged a false saying concerning Us (Allah), We surely would have seized him by his right hand, and then We certainly would have cut off his life artery, And none of you could have withheld Us from (punishing) him.) (69:44-47) which means, `We would have wrought the utmost vengeance upon him, and no one among mankind would have been able to protect him.' And Allah said:

(and establishes the truth by His Word.) means, He establishes it and strengthens it and makes it clear by His Words, i.e., by His evidence and signs.

(Verily, He knows well what are in the breasts.) means, all that is hidden in the hearts of men.