Counsel
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE
[42:23]
that [bounty] whereof God gives the glad tiding to such of His servants as attain to faith and do righteous deeds.
Say [O Prophet]: "No reward do I ask of you for this [message] other than [that you should] love your fellow-men.
For if anyone gains [the merit of] a good deed, We shall grant him through it an increase of good: and, verily, God is much-forgiving, ever responsive to gratitude.


* v.23 : Lit., “love for those who are near (al-qurbā).” Some commentators take this to mean “those who are near to me,” i.e., Muhammad’s kinsfolk: but quite apart from the objection that such a “personal” demand would conflict with the preceding assurance, “No reward do I ask of you,” the deliberate omission of any possessive pronoun in respect of the term al-qurbā indicates that it is not limited to any personal relationship but, rather, alludes to a relationship common to all human beings: namely, the fellowship of man – a concept which implies the fundamental ethical postulate to care for one another’s material and spiritual welfare.