Verses 66–78
The sūrah now returns to warn people of God’s punishment. This section frightens them with descriptions of the Hour and compares the condition of the Godwary to that of the sinners with regards to their divine reward or punishment therein.
Commentary
هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا السَّاعَةَ أَنْ تَأْتِيَهُمْ بَغْتَةً وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ ٦٦
(43:66) Do they await anything but that the Hour should overtake them suddenly, while they are unaware?
“To await” (naẓar) means to anticipate.
“Suddenly” (baghtatan) means by surprise.
Their being unaware of the Hour means that they are heedless of it because they are preoccupied with worldly affairs, as God says elsewhere: They do not await but a single Cry that would seize them as they wrangle (). So there is no repetition of meaning between suddenly and while they are unaware.
So the verse means: What do the faithless anticipate as a result of their disbelief in and denial of God’s signs, expect that the Hour takes them suddenly while they are heedless of it and busy with their worldly lives. In other words, their situation is like one who has been warned of his impending doom but does nothing to avert it. Instead, he sits awaiting destruction! The verse alludes to their lack of interest in believing in the truth to be saved from a painful punishment.
الْأَخِلَّاءُ يَوْمَئِذٍ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ إِلَّا الْمُتَّقِينَ ٦٧
(43:67) On that day, friends (akhillāʾ) will be one another’s enemies, except for the Godwary.
Here, the Qur’an uses the Arabic word akhillāʾ (sing. khalīl) for friends. This is because akhillāʾ (friends) are those who compensate for one another’s deficiencies (khillah) and look after one another’s needs. It appears that “friends” is used categorically here to refer to both friendship and affection for the sake of God, as in the friendship of the Godwary for the inhabitants of heaven, and their friendships with others, such as with the inhabitants of this world. So the exception of the Godwary is a continuous exception (istithnāʾ muttaṣil).
The reason why friends shall become enemies of one another, aside from the Godwary, is because one of the necessary qualities of a friendship is that friends help and support one another in important matters. But if this help and support is for anything other than God’s countenance, then this is helping one another towards everlasting misery and eternal punishment. This is as God relates from the wrongdoers on the Day of Resurrection: “Woe to me! I wish I had not taken so and so as a friend! Certainly he led me astray from the Reminder after it had come to me…” (). As for the friendship of the Godwary, it becomes stronger because it will benefit them on that day.
In a prophetic tradition, we read:
On the Day of Resurrection, relations will be cut, lineages will become few and brotherhood will disappear, except for brotherhood for the sake of God. That is God’s saying: On that day, friends will be one another’s enemies, except for the Godwary.
يَا عِبَادِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ وَلَا أَنْتُمْ تَحْزَنُونَ ٦٨
(43:68) O My servants! Today you will have no fear, nor will you grieve.
This is something God will say to them on the Day of Resurrection, as attested to by the statement which comes below: Enter paradise… (). In this, God guarantees their safety from every possible unpleasantness and every assured unpleasantness; for fear comes from the possibility of something unpleasant happening, and grief comes from being sure that it will happen. So if these are removed, fear and grief are also removed.
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَكَانُوا مُسْلِمِينَ ٦٩
(43:69) Those who believed in Our signs and had been muslims.
Those who… stands in substitution of servants (above) or is an adjective for it; signs refers to everything that points to God, whether a prophet, a scripture, or any other sign. And muslim here means someone who submitted themselves to God’s will and followed His bidding.
ادْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ أَنْتُمْ وَأَزْوَاجُكُمْ تُحْبَرُونَ ٧٠
(43:70) Enter paradise, you and your spouses, delighting.
From the command to enter paradise, it appears that the meaning of “spouses” (azwāj) refers to the believing women of this world rather than the maidens of paradise (ḥūr al-ʿīyn) because they are already in Paradise, not outside of it.
Delighting (tuḥbarūn)—according to what has been said—means happiness visible upon a person’s face, and the word “finery” (ḥibrah), which is derived from the same etymological root, means “adornment” or “a pleasant appearance”. So the verse means: “Enter paradise, you and your faithful wives, with happiness visible upon your faces or adorned with the best finery.”
يُطَافُ عَلَيْهِمْ بِصِحَافٍ مِنْ ذَهَبٍ وَأَكْوَابٍ ۖ وَفِيهَا مَا تَشْتَهِيهِ الْأَنْفُسُ وَتَلَذُّ الْأَعْيُنُ ۖ وَأَنْتُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ ٧١
(43:71) They will be served around with golden dishes and goblets and therein will be whatever the souls desire and eyes delight in. And you will remain therein forever.
A dish (ṣuḥfah) means a bowl or something smaller; a “goblet” (kūb) is a cup without a handle. By mentioning dishes and goblets, this verse shows that they will enjoy food and drink.
This part of the verse is spoken in the third-person (they will be served…), while the verse before it and its own coda are spoken in the second person (Enter paradise… and… you will remain therein forever). This transition is to magnify the honour and luxury with which they will be welcomed, as if these are so great that they must be told to others to increase their delight and demonstrate the veracity of what they were promised.
…and therein will be whatever the souls desire and eyes delight in: It appears that whatever their souls desire means those things connected to physical desire, whether in the form of taste, smell, sound, or touch, that all humans and animals possess. Whatever their eyes delight in means splendor and beauty; this kind of enjoyment is only for human beings, such as seeing a beautiful sight, a handsome face, or glamorous clothing. This is why different expressions are used for the enjoyment souls (anfus) and eyes (aʿyun); the soul desires while the eyes delight. And in these two kinds of enjoyment encompass all forms of psychological pleasure for us.
It is also possible to include spiritual and intellectual pleasures in the delight of the eyes, for spiritual enjoyment comes from the vision of the heart.
In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read:
In the words whatever the souls desire and eyes delight in, God has gathered that which, even if all the creatures gathered together to try and describe the different kinds of blessing they would find in Paradise, they would not be able to conceive of anything not included under these two descriptions.
…and you will remain therein forever: This is both a statement of fact (khabar), a promise (waʿd), and glad tidings (tabshīr) that they shall live forever. And knowing this grants them incomparable and immeasurable spiritual enjoyment.
وَتِلْكَ الْجَنَّةُ الَّتِي أُورِثْتُمُوهَا بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ٧٢
(43:72) That is the paradise you have been given to inherit for what you used to do.
It is said: This means “…that you have been given because of your deeds….”
It is said: “…that you have inherited from the faithless who would have entered it if only they had believed and acted righteously….”
We have discussed both of these readings in our commentary on It is they who will be the inheritors ().
لَكُمْ فِيهَا فَاكِهَةٌ كَثِيرَةٌ مِنْهَا تَأْكُلُونَ ٧٣
(43:73) Therein are abundant fruits for you from which you will eat.
Fruit is mentioned in addition to the above allusions to food and drink to enumerate the blessings. The preposition from in from which you will eat is for partition. But it also intimates that these fruits will not be exhausted through eating.
إِنَّ الْمُجْرِمِينَ فِي عَذَابِ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدُونَ ٧٤ لَا يُفَتَّرُ عَنْهُمْ وَهُمْ فِيهِ مُبْلِسُونَ ٧٥
(43:74–75) Indeed the guilty will remain forever in the punishment of hell. It will not be relaxed for them, and they will be despondent in it.
The guilty means those whose habit was wrongdoing, meaning this includes more than just the faithless. This is supported by the fact that the guilty are being contrasted with the Godwary, a term more particular than the faithful.
“To relax” their punishment means to lighten or reduce it; being “despondent” means they have despaired either of God’s mercy or of ever escaping the Fire.
وَمَا ظَلَمْنَاهُمْ وَلَٰكِنْ كَانُوا هُمُ الظَّالِمِينَ ٧٦
(43:76) We did not wrong them, but they themselves were wrongdoers.
This is because God only requited them for their deeds, but they wronged themselves by exposing them to deeds that would lead to their misery and ruin.
وَنَادَوْا يَا مَالِكُ لِيَقْضِ عَلَيْنَا رَبُّكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنَّكُمْ مَاكِثُونَ ٧٧
(43:77) They will call out, “O Mālik! Let your Lord finish us off!” He will say, “Indeed you will stay on.”
According to both Sunni and Shiʿi traditions, Mālik is the angel responsible for the fires of hell. The inmates of hell address their requests to Mālik rather than God because they are veiled from Him, as He says: No indeed! They will be veiled from their Lord on that day () and: He will say, “Begone in it, and do not speak to Me!” ()
So they will ask Mālik to ask God to finish them off. By this they mean to kill them. In other words, they want Him to erase them from existence utterly to save them from the misery and the terrible punishment they are suffering. And this is a reflection of their worldly habits, whence they used to see death as being non-existence rather than moving from one abode to another. So when they ask for death, they are asking it in the sense that has been fixed upon their souls from this world. If this is not so, then they have already died and witnessed the reality of things!
He will say, “Indeed you will stay on.”—In other words, you will stay in this wretched existence and painful punishment. Here, Mālik is speaking in response to their question.
لَقَدْ جِئْنَاكُمْ بِالْحَقِّ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَكُمْ لِلْحَقِّ كَارِهُونَ ٧٨
(43:78) “We certainly brought you the truth, but most of you were averse to the truth.”
This appears to be a continuation of Mālik’s speech, in which he talks on behalf of the angels, of whom he is one. It is said: This is God’s speech. However, this is unlikely precisely because the inmates of hell are cut off from their Lord on that day and they cannot speak to God.
The statement is addressed to the inmates of hell insofar as they are human beings. It means: “O human beings, we came to you with the truth but most of you—the guilty—were averse to it.”
It is said: The truth means all kinds of truth; whatever the truth was, they hated it and were averse to it. As for the ultimate Truth, which is either Divine Unity or the Qur’an, all of them hated it and were averse to it.
Their aversion to the truth means aversion with respect to their secondary nature (al-ṭabʿ al-thānī) which they acquire as a result of sinning and disobedience. It is not with respect to their primary nature which is the innate fiṭrah upon which all people were created. After all, if they were averse to the Truth on account of this primary nature, then they could not be held morally accountable for rejecting it. God says: There is no altering God’s creation (). Elsewhere, He says: by the soul and Him who fashioned it and inspired it with its virtues and vices ().
This verse suggests that the ultimate criterion for eternal happiness or misery is whether someone accepted the truth or rejected it.
This tradition is narration in al-Durr al-Manthūr about this verse from Saʿd b. Muʿādh. ↩︎