Al-Ankaboot (The Spider)

66. “(Thus) let them be ungrateful for what We have given them and let them enjoy, but they shall soon know.”

Polytheism is a kind of ungratefulness and ingratitude unto the favours of Allah.

We must not be happy with those successes which are accompanied with blasphemy and ungratefulness, because they usually have an evil end.

After mentioning so many reasoning upon Monotheism and theology, this verse confronts the opponents with a sharp and serious threat when it says:

“(Thus) let them be ungrateful for what We have given them and let them enjoy, but they shall soon know.”

They will enjoy of the fleeting pleasures, but they shall know very soon what the end of their disbelief and polytheism will be, and what an evil fate they will have.

It is true that the appearance of the verse here seems to be a command to disbelief and denial of the Divine verses, but it is evident that its purpose is a warning.

It is just like that we tell a criminal person:

“Perform whatever crime you can, but soon you will taste the bitter fruit of your deeds in a lump.”

In such sentences where the form of the verb is imperative the main aim is a threat against the opposite party, not a state of imperative nature.

It is interesting that here the Qur’anic sentence /fasaufa ta‘lamun/ (they shall soon know) has been stated in an absolute form.

It does not say what they know, but it simply says:

“They shall soon know”.

This vastness in meaning is for the sake that the mind of hearers might not be limited in its concept. The fruit of bad deeds is the divine punishment, disgrace in both worlds, and all kinds of other miseries.

At the end you may note these two verses:

“And whatever of favour is (bestowed) on you, it is from Allah; then whenever any calamity afflicts upon you, unto Him you cry (for assistance).” “Then when He removes the affliction from you, behold! A group of you associate others with their Lord.”1

This very meaning is mentioned in Surah Yunus in another form.

It says:

“And when an affliction touches a man, he calls Us (while reclining), on his side, or sitting, or standing, but when We remove from him his affliction, he passes on, as if he never called Us to an affliction that touched him…”2

The above meaning has also been stated in Surah Ar-Rum, verse 33, Surah Az-Zumar, verse 49, and Surah ’Asra’, verses 67-69 in some other phrases and with some comprehensive words.