Surah Hud, Ayah 108

The Condition of the Happy People and their Destination

Allah, the Exalted, says,

وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ سُعِدُواْ

(And those who are blessed.) These are the followers of the Messengers.

فَفِى الْجَنَّةِ

(they will be in Paradise,) This means that their final abode will be Paradise.

خَـلِدِينَ فِيهَآ

(abiding therein for all the time) This means that they will remain there forever.

مَا دَامَتِ السَّمَـوَتُ وَالاٌّرْضُ إِلاَّ مَا شَآءَ رَبُّكَ

(that the heavens and the earth endure, except as your Lord wills:) The meaning of the exception that is made here is that the condition of eternal pleasure that they will experience therein is something that is not mandatory by itself. Rather, it is something that is dependent upon the will of Allah. Unto Him belongs the favor of immortality upon them. For this reason they are inspired to glorify and praise Him, just as they are inspired to breathe. Ad-Dahhak and Al-Hasan Al-Basri both said, "It is about the right of the disobedient people of Tawhid who were in the Fire and then brought out of it." Then Allah finished this statement by saying,

عَطَآءً غَيْرَ مَجْذُوذٍ

(a gift without an end.) This means that it will never be cut off. This has been mentioned by Mujahid, Ibn `Abbas, Abu Al-`Aliyah and others. This has been mentioned so that the suspicious person will not doubt after the mention of the will of Allah. Someone may think that the mention of Allah's will here means that the pleasure of Paradise may end or change. To the contrary, it has been decreed that this pleasure will truly be forever and will never end. Likewise, Allah has clarified here that the eternal torment of the people of the Fire in Hell also is due to His will. He explains that He punishes them due to His justness and wisdom. This is why He says,

إِنَّ رَبَّكَ فَعَّالٌ لِّمَا يُرِيدُ

(Verily, your Lord is the doer of whatsoever He intends.) Similarly, Allah says,

لاَ يُسْأَلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْـَلُونَ

(He cannot be questioned as to what He does, while they will be questioned.)21:23 Here, Allah soothes the hearts and affirms the intent, by His saying,

عَطَآءً غَيْرَ مَجْذُوذٍ

(a gift without an end.) It has been recorded in the Two Sahihs that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«يُؤتَى بِالْمَوْتِ فِي صُورَةِ كَبْشٍ أَمْلَحَ فَيُذْبَحُ بَيْنَ الْجَنَّةِ وَالنَّارِ،ثُمَّ يُقَالُ: يَا أَهْلَ الْجَنَّةِ خُلُودٌ فَلَا مَوْتَ، وَيَا أَهْلَ النَّارِ خُلُودٌ فَلَا مَوْت»

(Death will be brought in the form of a handsome ram (on the Day of Judgement) and it will be slaughtered between Paradise and the Hellfire. Then, it will be said, "O people of Paradise! Eternity and no death! O people of Hellfire! Eternity and no death!") In the Sahih it is recorded that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«فَيُقَالُ: يَا أَهْلَ الْجَنَّةِ إِنَّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَعِيشُوا فَلَا تَمُوتُوا أَبَدًا، وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَشِبُّوا فَلَا تَهْرَمُوا أَبَدًا، وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَصِحُّوا فَلَا تَسْقَمُوا أَبَدًا، وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَنْعَمُوا فَلَا تَبْأَسُوا أَبَدًا»

(It will be said, `O people of Paradise, verily you will live and you will never die. You will remain young and you will never grow old. You will remain healthy and you will never become ill. You will be happy and you will never grieve.)

After having given this good counsel to them, he warned them of the punishment of Allah Ta` ala. He said:

وَيَا قَوْمِ لَا يَجْرِ‌مَنَّكُمْ شِقَاقِي أَن يُصِيبَكُم مِّثْلُ مَا أَصَابَ قَوْمَ نُوحٍ أَوْ قَوْمَ هُودٍ أَوْ قَوْمَ صَالِحٍ ۚ وَمَا قَوْمُ لُوطٍ مِّنكُم بِبَعِيدٍ

And 0 my people, let not your hostility towards me cause you to suffer what was suffered by the people of Nuh, or the people of Hud, or the people of Salih. And the people of Lut are not far from you.

The sense of the last sentence is that the overturned habitations of the people of Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) were close to Madyan where they were. Then, in terms of time, the punishment that came upon them was very close. From this they could learn their lesson and leave their obstinacy.

In the present world, the opportunity to live and to settle is available to man for the sole reason that he has to be put to the test. Those who continue to deny the truth even after the conclusion of the preaching process by the prophets, lose their right to remain on God’s earth any further. That is why God destroyed the rejecters of the Prophet ( 29:40 ). Mostly this destruction took place in the form of the severest natural calamities. For example, cyclones, floods or earthquakes which, under normal conditions, remain within a limit, were made to wreak havoc to an unlimited extent. Such destruction of communities as took place in the past were called ‘climatic pulsation’ by the scholars of geographic history, as if whatever happened was the result of a geographical upheaval. However, they are unable to explain why such ‘climatic pulsations’ (changes) occurred only in the past and why these do not occur now, after the end of the period of prophethood. The fact is that these events were not merely geographical events in the simple sense. They were manifestations of God’s will. This proves that the system of the present world is based on justice. Here, according to the law of nature itself, a transgressor will perforce receive punishment for his transgression, while the righteous one will receive a reward for his just behaviour. To call these events ‘climatic pulsation’ amounts to consigning them to the geographical realm. On the contrary, if these are treated as forms of divine retribution, they can teach great lessons about the fear of God and create anxiety about the Hereafter. The events that occurred during the age of the prophets, were, so to say, small signs prior to the advent of the great Doomsday. In these cases it so happened that those who denied the truth were given respite for some period. Thereafter, God’s verdict was made manifest and all were destroyed. Only those were saved who, being the supporters of the truth, were treated as favoured in the eyes of God. Others who were, in the assessment of God, arrogant and, therefore, disfavoured, were directly afflicted by God’s retribution; so much so that the recommendations of the prophets could not save them, as proved by the examples of Noah and Abraham.