Allah says...

Allah says: “And indeed We gave wisdom to Luqman, (saying:) ‘Be grateful to Allah; and whoever is grateful, he is only grateful for his own soul; and whoever is ungrateful, (he does no harm to Him) for verily Allah is self sufficient, Praised.” Upon the proper definition of the Qur’anic word /hikmat/ (wisdom) we must say that there have been mentioned many meanings for it, such as: “ Recognition of the secrets of the world of existence ”, “ being aware of the facts of the Qur’an ”, “ reaching to the Truth from the point of speech and deed ”, and “ gnosis of Allah and knowing Him ”.

All these meanings can be gathered with together and for the commentary on the word ‘wisdom’ it may be said as this: “The wisdom that the Qur’an speaks about and Allah has given to Luqman has been ‘a collection of gnosis, knowledge, pure morals and piety, light, and guidance’.” Imam Musabn-i-Ja‘far, the seventh Imam, (as) in a tradition upon the commentary of this holy verse once said to Hisham-ibn-Hakam: “The purpose of /hikmat/ is understanding and intellect.” In another tradition, upon the commentary of this verse, Imam Sadiq (as) said: “Luqman knew the Divine Leader of his time.” It is clear that each of these concepts is counted as one of the branches of the vast concept of wisdom and they are not in contrast with each other.

However, because of having this wisdom, Luqman thanked his Lord. He knew the aim of the Divine bounties and their usage. He used to apply them just in the same way that they had been created for, and this very thing is the meaning of wisdom that: ‘every thing is used in its own place’. Thus, both ‘gratitude’ and ‘wisdom’ end to one point.

The result of gratitude and ungratefulness for the bounties has been stated in the verse saying that being grateful is useful for the self of man and being ungrateful is against him, too, because Allah is self-sufficient. If all creatures thank Him, there will not be added anything to His greatness, and if the entire world of existence becomes ungrateful nothing will be decreased from Him.

The Arabic sign ‘L’ in the word /lillah/ is for allocation and this sign in the word /linafsihi/ is for ‘benefit’. Therefore, the benefit of ‘being grateful’, which is the permanence of bounty, its increase, and the reward in Hereafter, will come to man himself; and, similarly, he who is ungrateful will have the result of his own deed.