⦗57–58⦘ “O mankind, there has come to you an admonition from your Lord, a healing for what is in the hearts, and guidance and mercy for the believers. Say, ‘In Allah’s grace and mercy—in that let them rejoice. It is better than what they amass.’”
Allah the Exalted encourages people to embrace this noble Book by mentioning its excellent qualities, which they urgently need. He says: “O mankind, there has come to you an admonition from your Lord”—that is, it admonishes you and warns you against deeds that incur ⦗367⦘ Allah’s wrath and merit His punishment, cautioning you against them by explaining their consequences and evils.
“And a healing for what is in the hearts.” This Quran heals the hearts of diseases of desire, which prevent submission to the revealed law, and diseases of doubt, which undermine certain knowledge. Its admonitions, encouragements and warnings, promises and threats awaken desire and fear within the servant.
When desire for good and fear of evil arise within him and grow as the meanings of the Quran repeatedly reinforce them, this causes him to prefer what Allah wills over what his own self wills, and what pleases Allah becomes dearer to him than gratifying his own desires.
Likewise, the proofs and evidence it contains—which Allah has presented in every possible manner and explained with the utmost clarity—remove the doubts that impugn the truth and enable the heart to attain the highest degrees of certainty.
When the heart recovers from its illness and is clothed in the robes of well-being, all the limbs follow it: if it is sound, they are sound; and if it is corrupt, they are corrupt. “And guidance and mercy for the believers.” Guidance consists of knowing the truth and acting upon it.
Mercy is the goodness, kindness, and reward in this life and the Hereafter attained by those who follow its guidance. Guidance is the noblest of means, while mercy is the most perfect of goals and aspirations. Yet it provides guidance and mercy only for the believers.
When guidance is attained and the mercy arising from it descends, there follow happiness and success, gain and triumph, joy and delight.
Allah therefore commanded people to rejoice in this, saying: “Say, ‘In Allah’s grace’”—namely, the Quran, the greatest blessing, favor, and bounty Allah has bestowed upon His servants—“and mercy”—namely, religion and faith, and the worship, love, and knowledge of Allah. “In that let them rejoice. It is better than what they amass” of this world’s goods and pleasures.
The blessing of religion, which is bound up with happiness in both worlds, bears no comparison with everything in this world, for it will all soon vanish and pass away.
Allah the Exalted commanded people to rejoice in His grace and mercy because doing so fills the soul with cheer and vigor, inspires gratitude to Allah, strengthens it, and creates an intense desire for knowledge and faith that leads one to increase in both. This is praiseworthy joy. By contrast, rejoicing in worldly desires and pleasures or in falsehood is blameworthy, as [the Exalted says concerning] Korah’s people when they said to him: “Do not exult, for Allah does not love those who exult.”
Similarly, the Exalted says of those who rejoiced in the falsehood they possessed, which contradicted what the messengers brought: “Then, when their messengers came to them with clear proofs, they exulted in the knowledge they possessed.”