Ibrahim • EN-TAFSIR-MAARIF-UL-QURAN
﴿ أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَبَؤُا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ قَوْمِ نُوحٍۢ وَعَادٍۢ وَثَمُودَ ۛ وَٱلَّذِينَ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ ۛ لَا يَعْلَمُهُمْ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ ۚ جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَٰتِ فَرَدُّوٓا۟ أَيْدِيَهُمْ فِىٓ أَفْوَٰهِهِمْ وَقَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا كَفَرْنَا بِمَآ أُرْسِلْتُم بِهِۦ وَإِنَّا لَفِى شَكٍّۢ مِّمَّا تَدْعُونَنَآ إِلَيْهِ مُرِيبٍۢ ﴾
“HAVE THE STORIES of those [deniers of the truth] who lived before you never yet come within your ken - [the stories of] the people of Noah, and of [the tribes of] `Ad and Thamud, and of those who came after them? None knows them [now] save God. There came unto them their apostles with all evidence of the truth -but they covered their mouths with their hands and answered: "Behold, we refuse to regard as true the message with which you [claim to] have been entrusted; and, behold, we are in grave doubt, amounting to suspicion, about [the meaning of] your call to us!"”
In the last verse here (8), it was said: قَالَ مُوسَىٰ إِن تَكْفُرُوا أَنتُمْ وَمَن فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا (And Musa said, "If you are ungrateful, you and all those on earth, then, Allah is free of all needs, worthy of every praise.) " This was said by Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) to his people. He is telling them that should they or, for that matter, all inhabitants of the earth become ungrateful to Allah Ta’ ala, it is not going to cause any loss to Allah Ta’ ala. As for Him, He needs no praise or gratitude for Himself. He is Independent. He is beyond that. He is intrinsically Praised and deserving of praise. If you do not praise Him, the angels do, all of them, and so does every particle of this universe. So, whatever good there is in gratitude, that is for you alone. There-fore, when you are asked to be grateful by Allah Ta’ ala, there is no gain for Him in doing so. In fact, it is His infinite mercy reaching out to you in your interest.