Surah An-Nahl, Ayah 32

What the Pious say about the Revelation, their Reward and their Condition during and after Death

Here we are told about the blessed, as opposed to the doomed, who, when they are asked,

مَّاذَآ أَنزَلَ رَبُّكُمْ

(What is it that your Lord has revealed) they will reluctantly answer, "He did not reveal anything, these are just the fables of old." But the blessed, on the other hand, will say, "That which is good," meaning - He revealed something good, meaning mercy and blessings for those who followed it and believed in it. Then we are told about Allah's promise to His servants which He revealed to His Messengers. He says:

لِّلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُواْ فِى هذِهِ الْدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةٌ

(For those who do good in this world, there is good) This is like the Ayah,

Commentary

It will be recalled that, after describing the blessings of Allah and proving that He was unique in the creation of the universe, the text made a pointed reference to how the polytheists chose to stick to their own ways of error. In the present verses, the text describes how they, not content with their own straying, tried that others should also go astray like them. The punishment they would get for doing that has also been stated here. Earlier to that (24), there is a question about the Qur’ an, and the addressees of the question, at this place, are the polytheists. It is their haughty and ignorant answer which has been mentioned here along with a warning of consequences for this attitude. Then, after five verses (30), the same question has been addressed to believers who fear Allah which is followed by their answer, and where a promise of reward for it has been mentioned.

When those who are of a haughty mentality hear any discourse about God, their minds start working in perverse ways and they are, therefore, unable to learn a lesson from it. But one who fears God in his heart, will hear the discourse about God with full receptivity. For such a person, it becomes a source of spiritual realization; in it he sees glimpses of a higher reality. One of the main features of paradise is that everything is available there that a man desires. There are things there which are not available in this world to anybody —not even to the greatest kings. In the present world, due to man’s limitation and due to the unfavourable nature of external conditions, it never happens that man obtains whatever he wants. The concept that in paradise, man will find whatever he desires is of such allure that whatever sacrifice has to be made to enter paradise is negligible by comparison.