Tafsir of Ash-Shura 42:20

"Whoever desires the harvest of the Hereafter, We increase for him in his harvest,"—the verse is balanced in the manner of His, the Exalted's, saying: "And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it. And inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness. He has succeeded who purifies it, and he has failed who instills it [with corruption]."

The discourse is thus organized in the most perfect order, and its parts cohere with the utmost cohesion. It cannot then be said: "Indeed, His saying, the Exalted, 'He provides for whom He wills' is a ruling consequential to what preceded it, and thus its generality should have been universal, and the generality is more manifest." As for the matter of specification in "He provides for whom He wills," the author of at-Taqrib has answered it, saying: "The provision is specified for whom He wills, despite the fact that He is benevolent to all of them, because He, the Exalted, may distinguish one person with His bounty and another with a different one; thus, the generality applies to the genus of benevolence, and the specification applies to its species."

Jar Allah [az-Zamakhshari] indicated that there is no specification in reality, for the meaning is: Allah, the Exalted, is eloquent in benevolence to all His servants, providing for whom He wills what He wills of it—for He provides for whom He wills, [distributing it] among them all; thus, provision is nothing but the specific share for each one. Since it encompasses both abodes, it fits His saying, the Exalted, "Whoever desires..." and the rest, with complete suitability. This does not depend upon what at-Tibi has said. Perhaps the matter of concluding with the two Majestic Names, according to the opinion of generality, is more manifest, and the reasoning is more appropriate; as if it were said: "He is Kind to His servants, universal in His benevolence toward them, for He is the Powerful, the Dazzling in Ability, who has prevailed, and whose power, Exalted is He, has prevailed over all power; He provides for whom He wills because He is the Almighty who is not overcome in what He desires." Thus, each of the two Majestic Names looks toward a ruling—so understand. "And say, 'My Lord, increase me in knowledge.'"

How many hidden kindnesses does Allah possess, whose subtlety eludes the understanding of the intelligent!

Al-harth (the harvest) in its origin is the casting of seeds into the earth; it is applied to the crops resulting from it, and is used for the fruits of deeds and their outcomes by way of metaphor, based on likening them to the crops resulting from seeds, which involves likening deeds to seeds. That is: whoever desires with his deeds the reward, We multiply his reward for him—for one, ten, up to seven hundred and more. And whoever desires with his deeds "the harvest of this world," which is its enjoyment and its good things, "We give him thereof"—that is, some of it, according to what We have decreed for him by his seeking and his desire—"and there is not for him in the Hereafter any share."

Because his ambition was confined to the world. Ibn Miqsam, az-Za'farani, Mahbub, and al-Munqari—both of the latter from Abu 'Amr—read "yazid" and "yu'ti" with the [letter] ya in both. Salam read "nu'tihi" with the damma on the ha, which is the dialect of the people of the Hijaz.

It has appeared in the verse that the verb of the condition is in the past tense, and the response is in the present tense, both permissible. Abu Hayyan said: "We do not know of any disagreement regarding the permissibility of the jazm (jussive) in such a case, and that it is eloquent and chosen absolutely, except for what the author of Kitab al-I'rab, Abu al-Hakam ibn 'Adhrah, mentioned from some grammarians: that it does not occur in the eloquent [speech] unless the verb of the condition is 'kana' (to be), and it only occurs with it because it is the root of verbs." The explicit text of Sibawayh and the collective scholars is that it is not specific to kana, but rather other verbs are like it in that regard. Sibawayh cited for the Farazdaq: "Messenger, know that if the people are able to overcome you, they will heal breasts containing resentment." He also said: "Live, for if you have made a covenant with me that you will not betray me, we shall be like those two, O wolf, who keep company."