سورة الانسان

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): What is meant by إِنَّا هَدَیْنَاهُ السَّبِیلَ إِمَّا شَاکِرًا وَ إِمَّا کَفُورًا [Surely We have shown him the way: he may be thankful or unthankful] is that We showed him the way — either he follows it, or he turns away from it.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Humran said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the saying of Allah: إِنَّا هَدَیْناهُ السَّبِیلَ إِمَّا شاکِراً وَ إِمَّا کَفُوراً [Surely We have shown him the way: he may be thankful or unthankful]. He said: "He taught him the way; either he chooses [that way], so he is grateful, or he abandons it, so he is a disbeliever and ungrateful."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): What is meant by إِنَّا هَدَیْنَاهُ السَّبِیلَ [Surely We have shown him the way] is that We made the path of good and evil clear to him. إِمَّا شَاکِرًا وَ إِمَّا کَفُورًا [whether thankful or unthankful] — and this statement is a response to the Jabarites (determinists), who claim that they have no choice in their own actions.