Az-Zumar · Makki · ayah 73 of 75

Az-Zumar 39:73

وَسِيقَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَوْا۟ رَبَّهُمْ إِلَى ٱلْجَنَّةِ زُمَرًا ۖ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا جَآءُوهَا وَفُتِحَتْ أَبْوَٰبُهَا وَقَالَ لَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَا سَلَـٰمٌ عَلَيْكُمْ طِبْتُمْ فَٱدْخُلُوهَا خَـٰلِدِينَ

“But those who feared their Lord will be driven to Paradise in groups until, when they reach it while its gates have been opened and its keepers say, "Peace be upon you; you have become pure; so enter it to abide eternally therein," [they will enter].[1362]”

Saheeh International

Essence

The God-conscious arrive in companies, the gates already open, and the keepers greet them: peace be upon you; you are made good, so enter.

A reflection

One small 'and'

Read this ayah beside 39:71 and the two sound almost identical. Both groups are driven. Both arrive. Both find keepers at the gates. Then one tiny letter changes everything.

For the deniers: ḥattā idhā jāʾūhā futiḥat abwābuhā. Until, when they came to it, its gates were opened. For the God-conscious: ḥattā idhā jāʾūhā **wa*-futiḥat abwābuhā*. Until, when they came to it, and its gates had been opened.

Several commentaries pause on that wa, that 'and'. One reading is that it marks a state already in place. The gates of the Garden were opened before the guests arrived, as an honour. Another ayah describes gardens of Eden with their gates opened for them (38:50). The gates of Hell, by contrast, stood shut until the deniers were standing in front of them. Then they were flung open, so that the shock and the heat would meet them at once.

Picture two arrivals on the same evening. A family hears the taxi from the airport turn into their street. Before anyone reaches the step, the front door is already open and the hall is lit. Across town, a prisoner stands in front of a cell door, and only then does the key turn.

There is a second detail. The sentence about the deniers is complete: when they came, the gates opened. The sentence about the believers never finishes. When they came, and the gates had been opened, and the keepers said... and then nothing. The 'then' never arrives.

One commentary explains that the answer is left out on purpose. When it is omitted, the mind runs in every direction of hope and longing. No sentence could hold what they found, so the ayah does not try.

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.