The Balance of Encouragement and Warning

Immediately afterwards comes what is always found in the Qur'an, if it has not been noticed already: wherever there is what is called targhīb, there is always some tarhīb with it. Wherever the dominant theme is targhīb, some tarhīb always accompanies it. Targhīb and tarhīb form a constant pattern throughout the Qur'an; on every page one reads there is some targhīb or tarhīb, without fail. Targhīb is encouragement, through the mention of Paradise, good deeds, rewards, the love of Allah, and the like. Tarhīb is warning — discouragement. The first is persuasion; the second is dissuasion, or discouragement, through the mention of Hellfire, of punishment, of the people of the past, how they went wrong, what befell them, and their evil end. First, then, the passage concerns those Christians, who are described below, and how Allah (swt) rewards them; and after that there is a single line before He passes to the discussion of the rulings:

Allah says: and those who disbelieve, who deny and reject Our āyāt, Our signs, Our verses — they are the people of Hellfire. That much and no more, so as always to preserve the balance. And very often, when the whole passage is dissuasion, discouragement, there is always a way out: illā alladhīna āmanū — except those who believe and do good deeds. A way out is always given, because the Qur'an is not there merely to condemn; it is there to awaken people.