Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 36 Ya-Sin, Ayat 71-73

اَوَلَمۡ يَرَوۡا اَنَّا خَلَقۡنَا لَهُمۡ مِّمَّا عَمِلَتۡ اَيۡدِيۡنَاۤ اَنۡعَامًا فَهُمۡ لَهَا مٰلِكُوۡنَ‏ ﴿36:71﴾ وَذَلَّـلۡنٰهَا لَهُمۡ فَمِنۡهَا رَكُوۡبُهُمۡ وَمِنۡهَا يَاۡكُلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿36:72﴾ وَلَهُمۡ فِيۡهَا مَنَافِعُ وَمَشَارِبُ​ؕ اَفَلَا يَشۡكُرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿36:73﴾

(36:71) Do they not see Our handiwork:60 We created for them cattle which they own? (36:72) We have subjected the cattle to them so that some of them they ride and eat the flesh of others. (36:73) They derive a variety of benefits and drinks from them. Will they, then, not give thanks?61


Notes

60. The word “hands” has been used metaphorically for Allah. This does not mean that, God forbid, Allah has a body and He works with the hands like human beings, but it means to impress that Allah has made these things Himself, and none else has any share in the matter of their creation.

61. It is ingratitude to regard a blessing as a gift of someone other than the donor, to be grateful to another for it, and to cherish the hope of receiving it or to seek it from another than the donor. Likewise, it is also ingratitude that one should use a blessing against the will of the donor. Therefore, a mushrik or a disbeliever or a hypocrite or a sinful person cannot be regarded as a grateful servant of God when he utters words of thankfulness only with the tongue. The disbelievers of Makkah did not deny that the cattle had been created by Allah; none of them said that the other deities had any hand in their creation. But despite knowing all this when they paid homage to their deities for the blessings granted by Allah, presented offerings before them and prayed to them for more blessings and offered sacrifices for their sake, their verbal gratitude became meaningless. That is why Allah has regarded them as guilty of ingratitude and thanklessness.