﴿18-21﴾ “O you who believe, fear Allah, and let every soul consider what it has sent ahead for tomorrow. And fear Allah; surely Allah is All-Aware of what you do. * Do not be like those who forgot Allah, so He caused them to forget themselves. It is they who are defiantly disobedient. * The companions of the Fire and the companions of Paradise are not equal. It is the companions of Paradise who are the successful. * Had We sent down this Quran upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and splitting apart from fear of Allah. These are the parables We set forth for people so that they may reflect.”
The Most High commands His believing servants to fulfill what faith obliges and entails: to adhere to fear of Him privately and publicly, in every circumstance; to observe the commands, laws, and limits He has prescribed for them; and to consider what stands to their credit and against them, and what deeds they have amassed that will benefit or harm them on the Day of Resurrection. When they keep the Hereafter before their eyes, make it the direction toward which their hearts turn, and concern themselves with their abode there, they strive to perform many deeds that lead to it and to purify those deeds of anything that might interrupt, hinder, or divert their progress. When they also know that Allah is fully aware of what they do—that none of their deeds is hidden from Him, lost with Him, or neglected—this necessarily spurs them to earnestness and diligent effort.
This noble verse establishes the fundamental principle that a servant must take himself to account and regularly examine his soul. If he sees that he has slipped, he must remedy it by abandoning the sin, repenting sincerely, and turning away from the causes that lead to it. If he finds himself falling short in any of Allah’s commands, he must exert his utmost effort and seek his Lord’s aid in completing, perfecting, and performing it properly. He should also compare Allah’s favors and kindness toward him with his own shortcomings, for that will inevitably instill in him a sense of shame before Allah.
Utter deprivation lies in a servant’s remaining heedless of this matter and resembling people who forgot Allah, neglected His remembrance and the fulfillment of His rights, and devoted themselves to their own worldly shares and desires. They neither succeeded nor obtained anything worthwhile. Rather, Allah caused them to forget their own best interests and made them heedless of what would benefit and profit them. Their affairs thus fell into ruin, and they came away having lost both this world and the Hereafter. They suffered a loss that can never be recovered and a break that can never be mended, for they are the defiantly disobedient—those who departed from obedience to their Lord and raced headlong into disobedience to Him.
Can one who maintained his fear of Allah and considered what he had sent ahead for tomorrow—thereby deserving the Gardens of Bliss and a life free of all harm, together with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favor among the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs, and the righteous—be equal to one who neglected Allah’s remembrance and forgot His rights, thereby suffering misery in this world and deserving punishment in the Hereafter? The former are the successful, while the latter are the losers.
After Allah Most High made all this clear to His servants, commanding them (1) and forbidding them through His mighty Book, they ought to hasten toward what He has called and urged them to do, even if they were like firmly rooted mountains in the hardness and rigidity of their hearts. Indeed, had this Quran been sent down upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and splitting apart from fear of Allah. This is because of the perfection of its effect upon hearts. The Quran’s admonitions are the greatest of all admonitions, and its commands and prohibitions encompass wise purposes and their attendant benefits. They are among the easiest things for ⦗854⦘ souls and the least demanding upon bodies. They are free of undue hardship (2), contain neither contradiction nor inconsistency, and involve neither difficulty nor arbitrary demands. They are suitable for every time and place and appropriate for everyone.
The Most High then states that He sets forth parables for people and makes the lawful and unlawful clear to His servants in His Book so that they may reflect upon His verses and contemplate them. Reflecting upon them opens the treasuries of knowledge to the servant, shows him the paths of good and evil, urges him toward noble character and virtuous qualities, and restrains him from bad character. Nothing is therefore more beneficial to the servant than reflecting upon the Quran and contemplating its meanings.