The Quran

Preface

هُوَ الَّذي جَعَلَكُم خَلائِفَ فِي الأَرضِ ۚ فَمَن كَفَرَ فَعَلَيهِ كُفرُهُ ۖ وَلا يَزيدُ الكافِرينَ كُفرُهُم عِندَ رَبِّهِم إِلّا مَقتًا ۖ وَلا يَزيدُ الكافِرينَ كُفرُهُم إِلّا خَسارًا

Yusuf Ali

He it is That has made you inheritors in the earth:¹ if, then, any do reject (God), their rejection (works) against themselves: their rejection² but adds to the odium for the Unbelievers in the sight of their Lord: their rejection but adds to (their own) undoing.

Inheritors: khala'if. In two senses: (1) as Vicegerents of God on earth, and (2) as successors to previous people who forfeited their rights by wrongdoing. 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
Their rejection and ingratitude only causes injury to themselves. They lose all honour and incur odium in the sight of God, and they complete their own undoing.