The Thunder
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE
[13:18]
of those who have responded to their Sustainer with a goodly response, and of those who did not respond to Him. [As for the latter,] if they possessed all that is on earth, and twice as much, they would surely offer it as ransom [on the Day of Judgment]: a most evil reckoning awaits them, and their goal is hell: and how evil a resting-place!


* v.18 : This rendering is based on Zamakhsharī’s interpretation of the above passage. According to other commentators, the beginning of verse 18 is independent of the last sentence of the preceding verse, and is a new sentence, reading thus: “For those who have responded to their Sustainer there is the ultimate good (al-husnā) [in store]; but as for those who did not respond to Him...,” etc. In my opinion, Zamakhsharī’s reading – in which the expression al-husnā is regarded as an adjective qualifying the believers’ response – is preferable inasmuch as it fully justifies the repetition of the reference to “God’s parables.”
* Lit., “and the like of it with it.”
* Cf. 3:91 and the corresponding note 71.