al-bagarah_p123

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".

* * * *

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'e
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