In takfuroo fa-inna Allaha ghaniyyun AAankum wala yarda liAAibadihi alkufra wa-in tashkuroo (surah Zumar: 7)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(39:7) If you disbelieve, know well that Allah has no need of you. *19 Yet He does not like unbelief in His servants. *20 But if you are thankful, your thankfulness will please Him. *21 No one shall bear another's burden. *22 You are destined to return to your Lord and He will tell you what you used to do. He is well aware even of what lies hidden in your breasts.

In takfuroo fa innal laaha ghaniyyun `ankum; wa laa yardaa li`ibaadihil kufra wa in tashkuroo yardahu lakum; wa laa taziru waaziratunw wizra ukhraa; summa ilaa Rabikum marji`ukum fa-yunabbi`ukum bimaa kuntum ta`maloon; innahoo `aleemum bizaatissudoor

*19) That is, "Your disbelief cannot cause any decrease or deficiency in His Kingdom. He will be God if you believe in Him, and He will still be God if you deny Him. He is ruling over His Kingdom by His own power; your believing or denying Him dces not affect His Sovereignty in any way." According to a Hadith. Allah says: "O My servants, if all of you, the former and the latter, the men and the jinns, become like the heart of a most sinful person among you, it will cause no deficiency whatever in My Kingdom. " (Muslim).
*20) That is, "He does not approve, not for any interest of His own but for the interest and benefit of the servants themselves, that they should disbelieve, for disbelief is harmful for them." Here, one should bear in mind the fact that AIlah's will is one thing and His approval and pleasure another. Nothing in the world can happen against Allah's will, but many things can happen against His approval, and arc happening day and night. For example, the dominance of the tyrants and the wicked in the world, the existence of thieves and robbers, the presence of murderers and adulterers, are possible only because Allah has made room for the occurrence of these evils and the existence of these criminals in the scheme of things ordained by Him. Then He provides opportunities also of committing evil just as He provides opportunities to the good of doing good. Had He made no room for these evils and had provided no opportunities of committing wrongs to the evildoers, no evil would have ever occurred in the world. All this is based on Allah's Will. But the occurrence of an act under Divine Will dces not mean that Allah's approval also goes with it. This may be explained by an example. If a person tries to obtain his living only by lawful means, Allah provides him his living through those means. This is His will. But providing for the thief or the robber or the corrupt person under the will dces not mean that Allah also likes stealing and robbery and taking of bribes. Allah says the same thing here, as if to say: "If you want to disbelieve, you may do so: We will not stop you from this nor make you believe forcibly. But We do not approve that you should deny your Creator and Providence, being His servants, for it is harmful for yourselves: Our Godhead is not harmed and affected by it in any way."
*21) The word shukr (gratitude) has been used here as against kufr (disbelief) instead of Iman (belief). This by itself shows that kufr is, in fact, ingratitude and disloyalty, and faith is the necessary requirement of gratitude. The person who has any feeling of the favours of Allah Almighty, cannot adopt any other way than that of belief and faith. Therefore, gratitude and faith are correlatives: wherever there is gratitude there will be faith also. On the contrary, wherever there is disbelief, there will be no question of gratitude at all, for gratitude along with disbelief is meaningless.
*22) It means this: "Each one of you is himself responsible for his deeds, If a person adopts disbelief in order to please others, or to avoid their displeasure, those others will never bear the burden of his disbelief, but will leave him to bear his own burden. Therefore, anyone who comes to know that disbelief is wrong and belief is right, should give up the wrong attitude. and adopt the right attitude, and avoid making himself liable for Allah's punishment by associating himself with his family or brotherhood or nation. "