Surah 55. Ar-Rahman

47That is, "How, after all, is it possible that Allah should allow to go waste the sacrifices of those righteous servants and should deny them their rewards, who kept themselves subjected to restrictions throughout their lives for the sake of Allah, who avoided the unlawful and remained content with the lawful, who performed their duties faithfully and sincerely, rendered the rights of those to whom rights were due, and endured hardships against evil and upheld good?

48Obviously, the parson who is a denier of Paradise and its rewards, actually denies many of Allah Almighty's praiseworthy attributes. Even if he believes in Allah, he holds a bad opinion about Him In his view He is a perverse ruler in whose lawless kingdom doing good is an exercise in futility. He is either blind and deaf and is, therefore, wholly unaware as to who in his kingdom is making sacrifices of life, wealth and labor for His sake; or He is un-appreciative and cannot distinguish between good and evil; or. as he scents to think. He is helpless and powerless: He may be very appreciative of the good but is unable to reward the doer of it. That is why u has been said: 'When in the Hereafter good will be rewarded with good in front of your very eyes. will you even then disavow the praiseworthy attributes of your Lord?"

49The word dun as used in min dun-i-hima Jannatan. is employed in three different meanings in Arabic

(1) To be situated at a lower level than another thing;

(2) to be inferior to something of better and nobler quality; and

(3) to be over and above something else.

On account of this difference in meaning, one probable meaning of these words is that every dweller of Paradise will be given two more gardens besides the two previously mentioned; another probable meaning is that these two gardens will be inferior in quality and rank to both the first mentioned gardens: that is, the first two gardens will either be situated at a higher level than these two, or the first two gardens will be of a superior kind and these two of an inferior kind as compared to them. If the first probability is adopted, it would mean that these two additional gardens also will be for those dwellers of Paradise, who have been mentioned above, And in case the second probability is adopted, the meaning would be that the first two gardens will be for 'those nearest to Allah", and these two for "the people of the right hand." This second probability is strengthened by the two kinds of the righteous inert as mentioned in Surah AI-Waqi'ah. First, the foremost, who have also been called the "muqarrabun "; second, the people of the right hand, who have also been entitled "ashab al-maimanah "; and for both these separate qualities of the two kinds of the gardens have been mentioned. Furthermore, this probability is also strengthened by the Hadith which Abu Bakr has related on the authority of his father, Hadrat Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, In this he says: The Holy Prophet said: 'Two jannats (gardens) will be for the foremost among the righteous (or the muqarrabin), in which the utensils and articles of decoration will be of gold, and two jannats for the followers (or the ashab al gamin), in which everything will be of silver," (Fath al-Bari, Kitab at-Tafsir: Surah Ar-Rahman).

50The word madhammatan has been used in praise of these gardens. Mudhamma is such luxuriant vegetation which because of its extreme luxuriance assumes a darkish hue.

51For the explanation of her see E. N's 28, 29 of Surah As-Saaffat and E.N. 42 of Surah Ad-Dukhan the tents probably will be similar to those pitched for the nobles and rich people in the public parks. Most probably the wives of the dwellers of Paradise will live with them in their palaces and in their parks there will be tents pitched here and there in which there will be the houris to entertain them. Our this presumption is based on this that in the foregoing verses beautiful and chase wives have been mentioned; now, here, mention of the houris signifies that they will be a different kind of women from the wives. This presumption is further strengthened by the Hadith which Hadrat Umm Salamah has reported. She says: 'I asked: O messenger of Allah, who are better: the women of the world or the houris! The Holy Prophet replied: The women of the world are superior to the houris in the same way as the outer layer of a garment is superior to its lining. I asked: On what grounds ? he replied: On the ground that the women have offered their Prayers, observed their Fasts, and performed other devotions." (Tabarani). This shows that the wives of the dwellers of Paradise will be the women who affirmed the faith in the world and left the world while they practiced good and right. They will enter Paradise in consequence of their faith and good deeds, and will deserve the blessings of Paradise on merit. They would either become the wives of their previous husbands of their own free will and choice. if they too happened to be dwellers of Paradise, or Allah will wed them to some other dweller of Paradise, if the two would like to live together as husband and wife. As for the houris they will not be entitled to dwell in Paradise as a result of any righteous deed of their own, but Allah will create them as young, beautiful women and bestow them also as a blessing among the other blessings on the dwellers of Paradise so that they may enjoy their companionship. But they will not in any case be creatures of the kind of the jinn and fairies, for man cannot cohabit with a kind other than his own. Therefore, most probably these would be those innocent girls who died immature, and whose parents did not deserve Paradise so that they could be admitted to Paradise with them as the children of their righteous torrents.

52The word abqari in the original is from abqar. the capital city of the jinn in the legends of the pre-Islamic Arabia. It was on that account that the Arabs called every fine and rare thing abqari as if it belonged to the fairyland and had no match in the material world. So much so that in their idiom the man who possessed extraordinary abilities and who performed wonderful works was also called abqari The English word genius also is spoken in the same sense and is also derived from genii which is a synonym of jinn. That is why the word abqari; has been used here to give an idea of the extraordinary exquisiteness of the provisions of Paradise to the Arabs.