Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 15 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:15

قُلْ أَذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ أَمْ جَنَّةُ ٱلْخُلْدِ ٱلَّتِى وُعِدَ ٱلْمُتَّقُونَ ۚ كَانَتْ لَهُمْ جَزَآءً وَمَصِيرًا

“Say, "Is that better or the Garden of Eternity which is promised to the righteous? It will be for them a reward and destination.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Set the Blaze beside a Garden that never ends, then answer the question yourself: which is better, and which road leads where?

A reflection

Dipped once

The question seems almost absurd. Is that better, the narrow place, the chains, the cry for ruin? Or the Garden of eternity? Nobody would choose the Fire.

The classical scholars noticed the oddness. One recalls an Arab idiom: is misery dearer to you, or happiness? Everyone knows the answer; the question is asked to make you say it. Another likens it to a master rebuking someone who threw away his gift: so, is this sweeter, or that?

But there is a sharper edge. These were people who had demanded a garden for the Prophet ﷺ, a garden to eat from (25:8). Their whole measure of worth was what you could hold now. The ayah takes the very word they used, janna, and enlarges it. Not a garden to eat from this season. The Garden of khuld, of staying.

A hadith in Sahih Muslim makes the comparison almost unbearable. On the Day, the person who lived the most comfortable life in this world, from the people of the Fire, is dipped into it once. He is asked: have you ever seen any good? Have you ever known any comfort? He says: no, by Allah, my Lord.

Then the person who lived the most miserable life in this world, from the people of the Garden, is dipped into it once. He is asked: have you ever seen any hardship? He says: no, by Allah, my Lord. I never knew hardship.

One moment overwrites a lifetime, in both directions.

That is why the question is not absurd. In this world the comparison is hidden. The comfortable life is visible, and the Garden is only a promise. So people choose the visible one, again and again, in small decisions they would never make if both were in front of them.

The ayah puts both in front of you. Is that better, or this? Say your answer out loud. Then look at tomorrow's choices and ask whether they agree with it.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.