The Heights (Al-A‘raf)
Verses 40-43 GROUP_257 7.40-43
40
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُواْ بِآيَاتِنَا وَاسْتَكْبَرُواْ عَنْهَا لاَ تُفَتَّحُ لَهُمْ أَبْوَابُ السَّمَاء وَلاَ يَدْخُلُونَ الْجَنَّةَ حَتَّى يَلِجَ الْجَمَلُ فِي سَمِّ الْخِيَاطِ وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُجْرِمِينَ
The gates of Heaven shall not be opened for those who rejected Our signs and arrogantly spurned them; nor shall they enter Paradise until a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle. That is how We repay the evil-doers—
41
لَهُم مِّن جَهَنَّمَ مِهَادٌ وَمِن فَوْقِهِمْ غَوَاشٍ وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الظَّالِمِينَ
Hell shall be their bed, and over them will be coverings of fire—thus shall We reward the wrongdoers.
42
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ الصَّالِحَاتِ لاَ نُكَلِّفُ نَفْسًا إِلاَّ وُسْعَهَا أُوْلَـئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْجَنَّةِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
But those who believed and did good deeds—and We do not burden any soul with more than it can bear—such are the heirs of the Garden and there they will remain forever.
43
وَنَزَعْنَا مَا فِي صُدُورِهِم مِّنْ غِلٍّ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهِمُ الأَنْهَارُ وَقَالُواْ الْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ الَّذِي هَدَانَا لِهَـذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِنَهْتَدِيَ لَوْلا أَنْ هَدَانَا اللّهُ لَقَدْ جَاءتْ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِالْحَقِّ وَنُودُواْ أَن تِلْكُمُ الْجَنَّةُ أُورِثْتُمُوهَا بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
And We shall remove whatever rancour may be in their hearts. At their feet shall flow rivers. And they shall say, ‘All praise belongs to God who has guided us to this. Had God not guided us, we would never have found the way. The messengers of our Lord brought the Truth.’ A voice will call out to them, ‘This is the Garden which you have inherited by your labours.’
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) Why is it that when God’s missionaries give the call to Truth, the egotism of their addressees prevents them from accepting their call? The reason for this is that the call-givers’ sole strength is argument, while the addressee has the support of material glories. The call-giver stands on the basis of argument, while the addressees stand on a tangible material basis. The force of argument is both intangible and invisible. This difference fosters egotism, causing people to consider the call-giver lower in status than themselves and giving them a ‘reason’ to ignore him. The admission of such people to the mercy of God is as impossible as the passing of a camel through the eye of a needle. They ignore God, so God ignores them. God gave them glimpses of Himself through the call-giver; He appeared before them in the form of arguments; but they attached no importance to these signs and refused to bow down before them. How can such people have a share in God’s bounty? (a) The position in Hell will be that people who were friends in this world will hate and curse each other. But, the atmosphere in Heaven will be entirely different. Here, all people’s hearts will be open to each other. Fountains of love and well- wishing for others will emerge from every heart. For the man in Hell, his past will be a bitter memory, while for the man in Heaven his past will be a pleasant memory. The future life of evil people will start with their hearts being a graveyard of regret and frustration. Their past will be solely composed of bitter memories. In contrast to this, the condition of good people will be that their minds will be full of the remembrance of God on whom they had rightly relied. They will be happy to find the intimation given by the flag-bearers of Truth to be absolutely correct. They will thankfully recognize God’s grace in His having blessed them and inspired them to support those who summoned them to accept the Truth.