Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 16 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:16

لَّهُمْ فِيهَا مَا يَشَآءُونَ خَـٰلِدِينَ ۚ كَانَ عَلَىٰ رَبِّكَ وَعْدًا مَّسْـُٔولًا

“For them therein is whatever they wish, [while] abiding eternally. It is ever upon your Lord a promise [worthy to be] requested.[1010]”

Saheeh International

Essence

In the Garden every wish is met and nothing ever ends, and your Lord has bound Himself to it as a promise worth asking for.

A reflection

A joy with no last day in it

A nine-year-old cries on the last full day of a seaside holiday. Nothing has gone wrong. The sea is still there, the ice cream is still cold. She cries because tomorrow it ends, and the ending has already leaked into today.

Every adult knows that feeling, though most have learned to hide it. One classical commentary puts it plainly. The delight of the Garden has to be permanent, it says, because a delight that will be cut off is already mixed with grief. It then quotes a famous line of Arabic poetry: the worst sorrow is a joy whose owner is certain it will move on.

That is why this ayah does not stop at mā yashāʾūn, whatever they wish. It adds one word, khālidīn, staying for ever. The root pictures staying put: the Arabs named a desert hearth's stones for remaining where the camp had been. Here the staying has no end at all.

The same commentary adds a second point. Getting everything you want, all at once and unspoiled, happens only there. In this world every comfort comes with a wound attached. The new house brings the mortgage. The promotion brings the late nights. The child brings the worry that never quite sleeps.

This is not a counsel of gloom. It is permission to stop demanding that this world do what it was never built to do. The holiday may be lovely and still end. The meal may be delicious and still be finished. Enjoy them, thank Him for them, and let them point beyond themselves. The one joy without a last day is the one this ayah describes.

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.