Islam Guidance

Verse25

(25) وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِين آمَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ كُلَّمَا رُزِقُواْ مِنْهَا مِن ثَمَرَةٍ رِّزْقاً قَالُواْ هَذَا الَّذِي رُزِقْنَا مِن قَبْلُ وَأُتُواْ بِهِ مُتَشَابِهاً وَلَهُمْ فِيهَا أَزْوَاجٌ مُّطَهَّرَةٌ وَهُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ

25. " And (O' Muhammad) give glad tidings to those who have Faith and do good deeds that for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow.
Every time they are provided with fruits therefrom, they shall say : ' This is what we were provided with before! ' and they shall be given the like thereof, and there for them shall be spouses purified dwelling therein forever."
Commentary :
The Specialties of the Bounties in Heaven
In the aforementioned verse, the infidels and the rejecters of the Qur'an were severely threatened with a grave chastisement. Now, in this verse, to make the fact clear, by comparing the destinies of the two contradictory groups, as the style of the Qur'an is, the destiny of the true believers is referred to as the antithesis to the painful fate of the disbelievers.
First, it says : " And (O' Muhammad) give glad tidings to those who have Faith and do good deeds that for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow. ... "

We know that those gardens that have not a permanent source of water and need to be occasionally irrigated are not so bountiful and pleasant because of frequent difficulties concerning their upkeeping. The complete freshness is of those gardens which always have enough water easily available and within their reach. The water that belongs to them, making them self-sufficient, will never end. Then drought and shortage of water will never threaten them. The gardens of Heaven have such a condition.
Then to point out the numerous kinds of fruit in those gardens, it says : "...Every time they are provided with fruits therefrom, they shall say: 'This is what we were provided with before ! '..."
The commentators have cited some rather different commentaries concerning this statement: Some of them have said that the objective meaning of this statement is that these blessings are for the good deeds they did formerly in the world. It was those deeds that were previously sent before them and the path was paved for them in the Hereafter.
Some others have asserted that when the Heavenly fruits are brought for them for the second time, they say that these fruits are the same as they had before, but when they eat them they sense a new taste and a fresh pleasure in them. Or, for example, when we eat grapes and apples in this world, every time we eat them or drink their juices they have basically the same tastes; but the fruits in Heaven will have a different taste every time they will be tasted, although they are apparently alike. This is one of the privileges of that world being as if there is no monotony in it !
Some have also said that it means that when they see the fruits of Heaven, they find them like the fruits in this world in order not to be odd and curious for them, but when they eat them they sense the flavor quite newly-tasting and excellent.
There is no controversy that the above statement refers to all these meanings and even to some other interpretations beyond them, because the words of the Qur'an sometimes bear several meanings.
Then it adds : "...and they shall be given the like thereof,..." That is, from the point of beauty and wholesomeness, all of the various Heavenly fruits are alike and they are at such a high standard that none of them can be preferred over others. They are not like the fruits in this world that some may be too ripe or aromatic while some others are, for example, too green or tasteless. The fruits in the gardens of Heaven, likening them with those of this world, are all pleasantly fragrant, delicious, wholesome, and beautifully interesting.
And finally, the last bounty, which is referred to in this verse, is ' purified spouses ', where it says : "... and there for them shall be spouses purified..."
The spouses are purified and are free from all the dirt and taints, bodily and spiritually, which they may have in this world.
One of the problems that man is confronted with, concerning the bounties in this world, is that at the same time that he possesses a bounty he thinks of its perdition and is worried about the time he is going to be in lack of it. For this very reason, the bounties in this world can never produce real tranquility for him. But the bounties in Heaven are eternal. They have no end and no perdition or discontinuation. They are full, complete, soothing and calming. So, to confirm this meaning, at the end of the verse, it says about the believers : "... dwelling therein forever".
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Occasion of Revelation :
On the occasion of the revelation of this verse, the leading commentators have narrated from Ibn-Abbas as saying : " This verse has been revealed on the virtue of Hadrat Ali-ibn Abitalib (a.s.) and the true believers", (1)(since they have both 'Faith' and 'good deeds')."
* * * *
Explanations :
1. Faith and Deeds
In many of the verses in the Qur'an, 'Faith' and 'good deeds' are mentioned to be so closely together that they seem to be inseparable. True, it is so because Faith and practice are complementary to each other.
If Faith influences the depths of man's soul, its radiance will certainly reflect in his acts and cause his deeds to become 'good deeds'. It is like a room wherein a bright light is kindled whose beams radiate outside through all the doors and windows. The same is the bright light of the lamp of Faith when it is glowing inside a man's enlightened heart. If this occurs, the light of that brilliant lamp of Faith radiates from his eyes, ears, tongue, hands and feet.
Sura At-Talaq, No. 65, verse 11 says: "... And those who believe in Allah and work righteousness, He will admit to Gardens beneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein for ever..."
Also, Sura An-Nur, No. 24, verse 55 says: " Allah has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power)..."
Fundamentally, 'Faith' is as the root of a plant, and 'good deeds' are its fruit. The existence of pleasant sweet fruit shows evidence to the soundness of the root which causes that useful fruit to be produced.
Some unbelieving persons may occasionally do some good deeds but that act will surely not be performed continuously. What is noble and certain to bring forth good deeds is the Faith that has penetrated the depths of man's soul and causes him/her to have a feeling of responsibility.
* * * *
2. The Purified Spouses
It is interesting that the only epithet that is mentioned in this verse to qualify the Heavenly spouses is the attribute of 'purified'. This is an indication to the idea that the first and the most important status of a spouse is 'purity', and all good qualities other than that are totally outshown by its radiance. The well-known tradition that is narrated from the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) makes this fact even clearer. He has said : " Avoid the green plants grown over dunghill. The Messenger of Allah (p.b.u.h.) was asked what he meant by 'the green plants grown over dunghill', and he answered : " It is the beautiful women who have grown up among filthy family members." (2)
The word /azwaj/ in the plural means mates or wives which in the case of the female sex means husbands. This may mean the faithful wives of the faithful husbands i.e., women who had been true and faithful believers in the truth and who had been the wives of the men who were also believers.
However, the women in Heaven, whether they are 'houri' (angels) or 'human creatures', are purified and clean both from the point of outward dirt such as : blood, urine, feces, semen, menstruation, postpartal bleeding, excessive menstruation, dirtiness, and the like; and from the point of inward dirt such as : bad qualities of character, evil dispositions like : rancour, grudges, envy, habitual frowning, and the like of them; and also from the point of some hideous behaviours like : adultery, fornication, and all kinds of similar vices. They, having the total aspects and conditions of purification, are clean from all sorts of corruption and possess purity in its entirity.
Sa'id-ibn-'Amir has narrated a tradition from the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) which says : " If one of the women of Heaven looks once towards the earth the whole world will be full of perfume of musk and the radiance of her light will prevail over the light of the sun and the moon" . (3)
* * * *
3. The Material and Spiritual Blessings in Heaven
In many of the verses of the Qur'an the words are about the blessings of Heaven, bounties such as : gardens beneath which rivers flow, castles, purified spouses, numerous fruits, loyal and faithful companions, etc.
But, besides these bounties, some other excellent blessings are also mentioned whose splendour and magnificence is impossible to be estimated with the worldly criteria that we have. For example, Sura At-Taubah, No. 9, verse 72 says : " Allah has promised to Believers, men and women, Gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in Gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest bliss is the Good Pleasure of Allah : that is the supreme felicity."
And, in Sura Al-Bayyinah, No. 98, verse 8, after mentioning some material blessings in Heaven, it says : "...Allah is well-pleased with them and they are well-pleased with Him..."
And truly, if a person reaches the position that he feels his Lord is pleased with him and he is also pleased with Him, he will dismiss all other pleasures. He will attach only to Him and will think of none else. This is a spiritual pleasure that cannot be described with any words nor in any language.
Finally, since the Resurrection has both 'spiritual' and 'physical' aspects, the bounties in bliss have both of those aspects, too, in order that their comprehensiveness be established and everyone, according to his/her worthiness and eligibility, will enjoy them.

(1) Tafsir- us-safi, vol. 1,p. 89 , & Tafsir-i-Burhan, vol.1,p.70
(2) Was'il-ush-shi'ah,vol.14,p.19
(3) Manhaj-us-sadiqeen, vol. 1,p.199

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