message announcing recompense. This demonstrates that thanking Him is obligatory and due, even supposing there were no punishment. This is a disputed matter, which we have discussed elsewhere, explaining that this is the correct position.

The consequence of committing what is forbidden is a decline in rank and the loss of many blessings one previously enjoyed, even if one is not punished with harm. It also shows that what is obligatory and what is due can be known self-evidently. Thus, someone who neglects an obligation or commits an evil deed, even if not subjected to painful punishment such as the Fire, is deprived of blessings and the means of obtaining them as recompense. Such is the recompense of someone who fails to give thanks for a blessing and instead shows ingratitude for it: to be deprived of it. Gratitude preserves blessings and brings their increase. Ingratitude, once the proof has been established, entails punishment; before that, it diminishes blessings rather than increasing them. Nevertheless, a messenger must be sent, whereupon one becomes deserving of either bliss or punishment, for there is no abode other than Paradise or Hell. Allah Most High says:

“We have certainly created man in the finest form,
then We returned him to the lowest of the low,
except those who believe and do righteous deeds, for theirs is an unending reward.”

This is discussed at length in various places.

The point here is that these fundamental principles were explained in the earliest revelation of the Quran. For the first Quranic revelation was:

“Read in the name of your Lord,”

according to the overwhelming majority of