وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا لُقْمَٰنَ ٱلْحِكْمَةَ أَنِ ٱشْكُرْ لِلَّهِ ۚ وَمَن يَشْكُرْ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِۦ ۖ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَنِىٌّ حَمِيدٌ
14:9.
Important Words:
شکر (is grateful). شکر الله or شکر لله means, he thanked God or was grateful to Him; or he praised God for His beneficence; and acted in the manner incumbent on him in rendering Him obedience. شکر (thankfulness) is of three kinds: (1) with the heart; (2) with the tongue; and (3) with the limbs, and consists in requiting the benefit received according to its desert. Man’s thankfulness to God consists in (a) his humility to Him; (b) his love of Him; (c) his knowledge of His bounties; (d) his eulogizing Him for it; and (e) his not making use of the benefits in a manner disliked by Him. شکر on the part of God consists in forgiving a person, or regarding him with favour and therefore rewarding him (Lane). See also 14:8.
Commentary:
Luqman seems to be a non-Arab, very probably an Ethiopian. He is said to belong to Egypt or Nubia. By some he has also been identified with the Greek "Aesop". From the beautiful moral precepts he gave to his son which are embodied in the present and the next few verses Luqman appears to be a Prophet of God. To know who Luqman was is not of importance so much as the principle that God sent His Messengers among all people and that all those Messengers deserve our respect and reverence and that Luqman was one of them. Islam was the first and the only religion to proclaim this principle which alone can form a sound and solid basis for peace among the followers of various faiths.