Sura-35 [ Fatir Mecca 43]

The Quranic text and Ali’s version

هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَكُمْ خَلَائِفَ فِي الْأَرْضِ...

35:39. He it is that has made you inheritors in the earth:

C3930. inheritors: khalaif. In two senses:

1. as Vicegerents on earth, and

2. as successors to previous people who forfeited their rights by wrong-doing.

The honour and dignity of 1 and the examples of the past in 2 should have kept them straight and made them truly grateful.

See also 6:165 and n. 988.

... فَمَن كَفَرَ فَعَلَيْهِ كُفْرُهُ...

if, then, any do reject (Allah), their rejection (works) against themselves:

C3931. Their rejection and ingratitude only causes injury to themselves. They lose all honour and incur odium in the sight of Allah, and they complete their own undoing.

... وَلَا يَزِيدُ الْكَافِرِينَ كُفْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ إِلَّا مَقْتًا...

their rejection but adds to the odium for the Unbelievers in the sight of their Lord:

... وَلَا يَزِيدُ الْكَافِرِينَ كُفْرُهُمْ إِلَّا خَسَارًا ﴿٣٩﴾

their rejection but adds to (their own) undoing.