Quran Universe
36:35

لِيَأۡكُلُواْ مِن ثَمَرِهِۦ وَمَا عَمِلَتۡهُ أَيۡدِيهِمۡۚ أَفَلَا يَشۡكُرُونَ

Liyakuloo min thamarihi wama AAamilathu aydeehim afala yashkuroona

That they may eat of His fruit. And their hands have not produced it, so will they not be grateful?

Word by word
  1. لِيَأۡكُلُواْThat they may eat
  2. مِنof
  3. ثَمَرِهِۦits fruit
  4. وَمَاAnd not
  5. عَمِلَتۡهُmade it
  6. أَيۡدِيهِمۡۚtheir hands
  7. أَفَلَاSo will not
  8. يَشۡكُرُونَthey be grateful
Ya-Sin · 36:35Makkah

Your hands did not make it. Will you not be thankful?

The fruit is His, even when you planted

Who made the fruit
your handsplant, tend
but
His mercymakes it grow
so
give thanks
Whose effort
I made thismy work, my results
He providedmy work was the means

Ibn Abbas and Qatadah said it all came by the mercy of Allah, not by their own labor and strength. Ibn Jarir read it as including what their hands planted. Either way, the verse ends: will they not then give thanks?

You finally get the raise, the good grade, the garden tomatoes. You think: I earned this. You did the work, but the growth was His. The verse just asks for thanks.

What I worked for is mine, I made it happen.

My effort was the means. The result was Allah's gift, and it deserves thanks.

Try this

Thank Allah out loud today for one result you have been calling your own achievement.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 36:33)

And a sign for them is the dead land. We give it life, and We bring forth from it grains, so that they eat thereof (33)And We have made therein gardens of date palms and grapes, and We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein (34)So that they may eat of the fruit thereof – and their hands made it not. Will they not then give thanks (35)Glory be to Him Who has created all the pairs of that which the earth produces, as well as of their own kind, and of that which they know not (36)

Proof of the Creator of the Universe and of Life after Death

Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says:

وَآيَةٌ لَهُمُ

(And a sign for them) means, evidence for them of the existence of the Creator and His perfect power and ability to resurrect the dead,

 الْأَرْضُ الْمَيْتَةُ

(is the dead land.) means, when it is dead and arid, with no vegetation, then Allah sends water upon it, it is stirred (to life), and it swells and puts forth every lovely kind (of growth). Allah says:

 أَحْيَيْنَاهَا وَأَخْرَجْنَا مِنْهَا حَبًّا فَمِنْهُ يَأْكُلُونَ

(We give it life, and We bring forth from it grains, so that they eat thereof.) meaning, 'We have made it a provision for them and their cattle.'

وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا جَنَّاتٍ مِنْ نَخِيلٍ وَأَعْنَابٍ وَفَجَّرْنَا فِيهَا مِنَ الْعُيُونِ

(And We have made therein gardens of date palms and grapes, and We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein.) means, 'We have created therein rivers which flow to the places where they are needed, so that they may eat of their fruits.' When Allah reminds them of the blessing that He bestows upon His creation by creating crops and plants, He mentions the different types and kinds of fruits. Allah says:

 وَمَا عَمِلَتْهُ أَيْدِيهِمْ

(and their hands made it not.) means, all of that could only come about by the mercy of Allah towards them, not by their own efforts and labor and strength. This was the view of Ibn 'Abbas and Qatadah. Allah says:

أَفَلَا يَشْكُرُونَ 

(Will they not then give thanks?) meaning, will they not then give thanks for the innumerable blessings that He has bestowed upon them.

Ibn Jarir, however, understood the word Ma to mean Alladhi (i.e., a relative pronoun). In this case the meaning of the Ayah would be that they eat from the fruits provided by Allah's bounty and from what their own hands have done, i.e., by planting the seeds and tending the plants. Ibn Jarir mentioned other possible interpretations in his Tafsir, but this is the interpretation that he favored. This interpretation also fits with the recitation of Ibn Mas'ud:

لِيَأْكُلُوا مِنْ ثَمَرِهِ وَمِمَّا عَمِلَتْهُ أَيْدِيهِمْ ۖ أَفَلَا يَشْكُرُونَ 

(So that they may eat of the fruit thereof – and from what their own hands have done.) Then Allah says:

سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْأَزْوَاجَ كُلَّهَا مِمَّا تُنْبِتُ الْأَرْضُ

(Glory be to Him Who has created all the pairs of that which the earth produces,) meaning, of crops and fruits and plants.

وَمِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ

(as well as of their own (human) kind,) means, He made them into male and female.

وَمِمَّا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ 

(and of that which they know not.) means, different kinds of creatures of which they know nothing. This is like the Ayah:

وَمِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ

(And of everything We have created pairs, that you may remember.)(51:49)