will have a drink of scalding water and a painful punishment because they disbelieved. He is the One who made the sun a radiant light and the moon a light, and ordained phases for it so that you might know the number of years and the reckoning. Allah did not create all this except in truth. He makes the signs clear for people who know. Indeed, in the alternation of night and day, and in all that Allah has created in the heavens and the earth, there are surely signs for people who are mindful of Him. Indeed, those who do not expect to meet Us, who are content with the life of this world and feel secure in it, and who are heedless of Our signs—their abode will be the Fire because of what they used to earn. Indeed, those who believe and perform righteous deeds—their Lord will guide them by virtue of their faith. Rivers will flow beneath them in Gardens of Bliss. Their prayer therein will be, ‘Glory be to You, O Allah’; their greeting therein will be ‘Peace’; and the conclusion of their prayer will be, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all worlds.’” 1.

He—Glorified is He—loves His messengers and His believing servants, and they love and praise Him. Indeed, nothing is dearer to them than Him; there is nothing they long for more than meeting Him, nothing that brings greater delight to their eyes than seeing Him, and nothing they prize more than nearness to Him. He—Glorified is He—possesses consummate wisdom in His creation and command, and His favor upon His creation is all-encompassing. Every blessing from Him is grace, and every act of retribution from Him is justice. He is more merciful to His servants than a mother is to her child, and He rejoices more at His servant’s repentance than one who, after losing his mount and despairing of ever recovering it, finds it in a deadly wasteland carrying his food and drink.

He—Glorified is He—is merciful to His servants: He has charged them only with what they can bear with ease, which is less than the utmost they are capable of. They may have the power to do something yet find it onerous, unlike what lies within their means: that is what they can bear easily, while still having capacity to spare. Nor does He—Glorified is He—punish anyone without a deed of his own, punish him for another’s deed, punish him for failing to do what he is unable to do, or punish him for doing something that he has no power