Salaam and welcome to another episode of our weekly series titled “Path towards Enlightenment” which is an endeavour to make you and us familiar with an easy and fluent explanation of God’s Final Scripture to all mankind, the holy Qur’an, which was revealed to the Last and Greatest of all Messengers, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

We start from where we left you a fortnight ago, and here are Ayahs 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55 of Surah Dukhan:

“Indeed the Godwary will be in a secure place;

“Amid gardens and springs;

“Dressed in fine silk and brocade, sitting face to face;

“So shall it be, and We shall wed them to black-eyed houris.

“There they will call for every fruit, in safety.”

If you might recall, last Friday in our explanation of the preceding Ayahs of this Surah we said that on Resurrection Day the unbelief of unbelievers and the sins of unrepentant sinners take the form of intense fire, horribly burning both the outwards and inwards of those cast into hell. This punishment will be both physical and psychological, since the tyrants, who thought they were mighty, powerful, and wealthy, will have to suffer the consequences of their crimes against humanity and God, the All-Merciful Creator Who never wrongs anyone, and it is only the disbelievers and intransigent sinners who wrong themselves.

In contrast, the Ayahs that we recited to you now depict the situation of the virtuous and God-fearing persons who are granted the bliss of Paradise, saying they will be in a safe place immune from any grief, pain, anxiety and calamity, amid gardens and fresh flowing springs, where their garments will be of the finest fabrics of silk and brocade. They will have luxurious couches to sit upon and enjoy, in an atmosphere of friendship and amity with each other, the rewards of their faith in God and their good deeds. The men will be married to the most beautiful females called houris who are of delicate white complexion and endowed with lovely, glowing black eyes of wide dimensions. For the people of Paradise all kinds of pure, fresh, and delicious food, fruits, and drinks will be available without any trouble. One should, however, not get the wrong impression that Paradise is only for men, since God Almighty has granted a special status in heaven for the faithful and virtuous women as well.

In short, these Ayahs indicate both the spiritual and physical pleasures of Paradise since in the same manner that every human being is essentially composed of soul and body, the Divine bounties are consistent with spirituality and corporeality.

 These Ayahs teach us the following points:

1. Serenity and security are among the most important Divine bounties, and this is the reason these have been mentioned here before the other bounties of Heaven where there is no anxiety and fear, or even any concern of loss and death.
2. What takes a person to Paradise is faith in the One and Only Creator of the universe, coupled with good deeds, in line with obedience to His commandments as elaborated by His messengers, that is, the Prophets and the Imams, who set the practical example by refraining from forbidden words and actions through leading of a virtuous life, even in the most adverse circumstances, without the least fear of evil persons and tyrants.
3. The eternal bliss of Paradise is a place where both spiritual and corporeal pleasures galore as rewards for the true believers.
4. In Paradise the atmosphere of perpetual peace, amity and friendship prevails with no trace of any negative attitudes, such as enmity, hatred, jealousy, grudge, greed, envy, or even sickness and disease.

Now let us listen to Ayahs 56 and 57 of this Surah:

“There they will not taste death except the first death (of the mortal world), and He will save them from the punishment of hell;

“(This is) A grace from your Lord; that is the great success.”

After resurrection there will be no death, neither for those cast into the blazing fire of hell nor for those granted the bliss of Paradise. This eternity, whether in the state of severe torment for the disbelievers or in perpetual comfort for the true believers, is the result of their own beliefs and deeds, as mentioned in several places in the holy Qur’an, which says that those who enter paradise will remain therein forever, safe from the fires of hell. This is indeed the Grace of the All-Merciful God, Who grants this great success to the virtuous believers as an infinite reward for the sincerity of their good deeds, however trivial.

From these Ayahs we learn that:

1. Those granted the bliss of Paradise will remain therein forever, while from among those cast into hell, in contrast to the eternally damned disbelievers, the sinful believers not forgiven during life, will be shifted to Heaven after the fire had cleansed them of the gravity of their sins.
2. God grants safety from the fire of hell to those who fulfilled the Divine obligations and abstained from sins, as well as to those who sincerely repent of their sins and reform themselves by seeking forgiveness from the Lord Most High.
3. No one can claim that his/her good deeds are comparable to the great bounties granted to us by the All-Merciful God, including the reward of Paradise, which is indeed a Divine Grace.

Now we listen to Ayahs 58 and 59 of Surah Dukhan:

“Indeed We have made it (the Qur’an) simple in your language, so that they may take admonition.

“So wait! Indeed they [too] are waiting.”

These concluding Ayahs of Surah Dukhan indicate that the goal of Divine revelation is to admonish mankind and awaken them from negligence. In other words, the purpose of the holy Qur’an is to make human beings realize that they are the creatures of the One and Only God, and therefore should not stray from the straight and unwavering path towards Paradise that saves them from the pitfalls of hell. These Ayahs mean to say that God Almighty sent down the holy Qur’an in the Arabic language as the final Heavenly Scripture to all mankind so that upon observing its flawless eloquence and timeless wisdom they perceive that it springs from the springhead of Divine Emanation. Moreover, unlike scientific books that are not easy to grasp for most people and meant for specialists only, the holy Qur’an is understandable to the general public and everyone can perceive it according to his/her level of knowledge. This enables them to believe in the universal mission of the Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). The Prophet for his part expounded the meanings of these Divine Words, which means that those who refuse to use their God-given intellect to accept facts and realities have to await the wrath of the All-Merciful Lord. The Prophet awaits the Divine promise of the ultimate triumph of Islam, while the disbelievers are merely waiting in vain for their evil intentions.

These Ayahs teach us the following points:

1. The message of the Qur’an, though in flawless Arabic, is easy to understand, while scholars in every age and place, as per the teachings of the Prophet and the Infallible Imams, explain its finer points to the public in simple language.
2. God Almighty by raising a long line of Prophets in every age and place, along with heavenly scriptures for the guidance of humanity, has sealed His argumentation, culminating in the finality of Divine Revelation in the form of the holy Qur’an to His last and greatest Messenger with the universal mission of Islam, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).
3. If the intransigence disbelievers refuse to use their God-given intellect to accept the truth, then they should await Divine wrath.

That marks the end of Surah Dukhan, and next Friday we will embark on explanation of Surah 47, titled al-Jathiyya. Until then goodbye and God bless you.

RM/AS/SS