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wa-qāla mūsā ʾin takfurū ʾantum wa-man fī l-ʾarḍi jamīʿan fa-ʾinna llāha la-ghaniyyun ḥamīdun
And Moses said, ‘Should you be faithless,—you and everyone on the earth, all together—indeed Allah is all-sufficient, all-laudable.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah ‘Ibrahim – Verse 8
8. “And Moses said: ‘If you be ungrateful, you and whoso is on the earth, all together, verily Allah is Self-Sufficient, Praiseworthy”
Our faith or disbelief and our gratitude or our ingratitude will have not any impact on His Inherent Essence. We must not hold Allah any indebtedness for our faith or acts since Allah is in no need of our deeds. This holy verse is a confirmation and complementary to the discussion regarding the gratitude and ingratitude, which were referred to in the previous verse. It is said from the tongue of Mūsa Ibn ‘Imran implying that he reminded the Children of Israel that if they and the entire people of the world become disbelievers, showing ingratitude towards the blessings of Allah there will be no harm to Him for He is in no need and is praise-worthy.
“And Moses said: ‘If you be ungrateful, you and whoso is on the earth, all together, verily Allah is Self-Sufficient, Praiseworthy”
In fact, thanking Allah for His blessings, and accepting the faith are sources of increasing one’s blessings and one’s evolution and pride, otherwise Allah is needless and were all the existing beings to turn ungrateful, His kingdom would remain just intact as ever. To define the Qur’anic term /qanyy/ many commentators have claimed that it means withdrawal of ones needs. We have been of the opinion that it means “possession” and it includes the totality of Attributes of perfection of the Essence, qualities consisting of knowledge, power, life, sovereignty, splendour, magnitude, loftiness and so on and so forth.
They require withdrawal of needs and defects. And the term /hamid/ embraces the totality of attributes of action, which include all the Divine acts irrespective of creation, nourishment, death, revival, health, disease, blessings and catastrophe, reward, chastisement, needlessness, poverty, development, restraint, tightness, legislation of ordinances, sending prophets on their mission, substituting successors, allocation of duties, and His other acts are all consonant and in accordance with wisdom and expedience, that are correct, appropriate, and timely, all of which signify ‘Justice’ and are among the principles of the Shi‘ite doctrine.