Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 75 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:75

أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ يُجْزَوْنَ ٱلْغُرْفَةَ بِمَا صَبَرُوا۟ وَيُلَقَّوْنَ فِيهَا تَحِيَّةً وَسَلَـٰمًا

“Those will be awarded the Chamber[1039] for what they patiently endured, and they will be received therein with greetings and [words of] peace,”

Saheeh International

Essence

Twelve ayat after it began, the sentence finally ends: the upper room, earned by patience, where the peace they gave is given back.

A reflection

Every trait was a form of patience

After a long list of qualities, one might expect the reward to be explained by them all. Walking gently, praying at night, spending fairly, refusing the great sins. Instead the ayah sums them up in a single phrase: bi-mā ṣabarū, because they were patient.

Most people hear 'patience' as passive endurance: waiting in a queue, putting up with a bad situation, gritting the teeth. That picture would make this ayah strange. The servants of the Merciful have been described as active people. They walk, pray, spend and respond.

The commentaries correct the picture. One explains the patience as patience upon these deeds, and enduring the hardship of keeping them up. Others widen it in three directions. Patience upon Allah's command. Patience with poverty. Patience in holding back from desires. The Word Dictionary describes the root as taking hold of your own soul. You hold it back from panic and wrong, bind it to what is right, and stand firm.

So every trait in the portrait was patience in a particular shape. Gentleness when provoked is patience. Getting up at night is patience. Not spending to impress is patience. Not crossing the three lines is patience. Repentance, again and again, is patience.

A woman has prayed two short units every night for twenty-two years. Some nights she wanted to. Many nights she did not. Nobody has ever thanked her for it, and she has never mentioned it. If you asked her what the hardest part was, she would not say the praying. She would say the keeping going.

That is what the ayah rewards.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.