وَءَاتَىٰكُم مِّن كُلِّ مَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَإِن تَعُدُّوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَآ ۗ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَظَلُومٌ كَفَّارٌ 34
Translations
And He gave you from all you asked of Him. And if you should count the favor [i.e., blessings] of Allāh, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, mankind is [generally] most unjust and ungrateful.
Transliteration
Wa-atakum min kulli ma sa'altumuh, wa-in ta'uddu ni'matal-lahi la tuhsuhaa, innal-insana la-zalumun kaffar
Tafsir (Explanation)
Allah has granted you from every blessing you have asked for, and if you were to count the blessings of Allah, you would never be able to enumerate them. This ayah emphasizes humanity's ingratitude and tendency toward injustice (zalum) and denial/ungrateful (kaffar), as noted by Ibn Kathir and Al-Qurtubi. The verse serves as a humbling reminder that divine blessings far exceed human capacity to comprehend or repay, making thanklessness a fundamental characteristic of human nature unless guided by faith.
Revelation Context
This ayah appears in Surah Ibrahim (a Meccan surah) within the context of Prophet Ibrahim's teaching to his people about monotheism and gratitude to Allah. The surah emphasizes the contrast between those who believe and are grateful versus those who disbelieve and are ungrateful, illustrating a core theme of the Quranic message to the Meccan polytheists who rejected Allah's blessings.
Related Hadiths
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: 'The best of you are those who have the best character' (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 3662), which relates to cultivating gratitude. Additionally, the hadith 'Whoever is not grateful to people is not grateful to Allah' (Sunan Abu Dawud 4811) directly connects ingratitude to human nature as mentioned in this ayah.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches us that gratitude is an active struggle against our natural inclination toward ingratitude, and that recognizing the infinite nature of Allah's blessings should humble us and motivate conscious thankfulness in our daily lives. It calls Muslims to regularly reflect on divine favors and consciously combat the human tendency toward forgetfulness and ungratefulness.