Tafsir of Ibraheem 14:7

(And when your Lord proclaimed) is included in the speech of Moses, peace be upon him; it is not an independent or inaugural statement. It is coordinated with the "blessing of God," meaning: Remember the blessing of God Almighty upon you, and remember when your Lord "proclaimed"—that is, announced with great emphasis and conveyed knowledge such that no doubt remains regarding it, due to the meaning of takalluf (exertion/emphasis) in the form tafa''ul, which, regarding the Almighty, is interpreted according to His utmost perfection, as its literal meaning is impossible for Him, the Exalted.

It is permissible for it to be coordinated with "(when He saved you)," meaning: Remember His blessing—Exalted is He—at these two times. This proclamation is also a blessing from God Almighty upon them, as it contains encouragement and warning, which drive one to attain the good of both this world and the Hereafter. In the reading of Ibn Mas'ud, it is: "And when your Lord said."

(If you are grateful) for what I have bestowed upon you of the blessing of salvation from destruction and other things, and you respond to it with faith, or steadfastness upon it, or sincerity therein, and righteous deeds, (I will surely increase you)—that is, increase you in blessing upon blessing. For the increase of a blessing is manifest in the precedence of another blessing. It is also said: This is understood from the word "gratitude" itself, for it indicates the precedence of blessings, so the increase is not merely for initial creation. The apparent meaning, as is said, is that this increase is in this world. It is also said: It is possible that it is in this world and the Hereafter, and this is not far-fetched.

From Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with them both: "If you profess Oneness and obey, I will increase you in reward." From al-Hasan and Sufyan al-Thawri: The meaning is, "If you are grateful for My bounties, I will increase you in My obedience." All of these are contrary to the apparent meaning. The Imam mentioned that the essence of gratitude is the acknowledgment of the Bestower’s blessing while magnifying Him. The explanation of the increase of blessings through gratitude is that blessings are partly spiritual and partly physical. The grateful person is always contemplating the categories of God’s blessings and the types of His grace and generosity, and that necessitates the strengthening of the love of God Almighty, the Benefactor, for him; and the station of love is the highest station of the Siddiqin (the truthful). Then, the servant may ascend from that state to the point where his love for the Bestower occupies him from paying attention to the blessing itself, and this is the highest and most precious. Thus, it is established that engagement in gratitude necessitates an increase in spiritual blessings. As for it being the cause of the increase of physical blessings, that is established by induction, which shows that whoever is more engaged in gratitude, the arrival of blessings to him is greater, and this is as you can see.

(And if you deny)—that is, ignore and do not show gratitude, as is indicated by the contrast. It is also said: The intent by "denial" is that which is opposite to faith, as if it were said: "And if you associate others with Me..."

(Indeed, My punishment is severe)—perhaps there shall afflict you from it that which shall afflict you. It is the habit of the noble, generally, to explicitly state the promise and to allude to the threat. So what is your opinion of the Most Noble of the noble? For this reason, He, the Exalted, did not say: "Indeed, My punishment for you—I will surely punish you," as He said, Majestic is He: "I will surely increase you."

It is also permissible that the mentioned [phrase] is an explanation for a deleted answer, meaning: "I will surely punish you." The Imam explained the reason why the denial of blessings is a cause for punishment: denial does not occur except with ignorance that the blessing is from God Almighty, and the ignorant of that is ignorant of God Almighty; and ignorance of Him—Exalted is He—is among the greatest types of punishment.

The verse is one in which the oath and the conditional clause have combined, and the answer serves the role of the answer to both. The sentence is either an object for "proclaimed," because it is a type of speech, or it is the object of a hidden verb, in the accusative case as a state (hal), whose operand serves the role of the answer, meaning: "Saying: If you are grateful..." These are two famous schools of thought of the Kufans and the Basrans regarding such matters.

The verse is used as evidence that gratitude to the Benefactor is obligatory, which is something upon which the Sunnis and the Mu'tazilah have agreed, except that the former hold it to be obligatory by Divine Law, while the latter hold it to be obligatory by intellect. This is based on their doctrine of intellectual good and evil, the foundations of which the Sunnis have dismantled, noting that even if one were to argue for it, the argument would hardly be sufficient for them in this context, as has been explained in its proper place.