Az-Zukhruf · Makki · ayah 70 of 89

Az-Zukhruf 43:70

ٱدْخُلُوا۟ ٱلْجَنَّةَ أَنتُمْ وَأَزْوَٰجُكُمْ تُحْبَرُونَ

“Enter Paradise, you and your kinds,[1447] delighted."”

Saheeh International

Essence

The Garden's welcome is not a solitary prize: you enter with those who were yours in faith, joy written on your faces.

A reflection

Joy that leaves a trace, like ink

Tuḥbarūn: you will be gladdened. The word is rare and rich, and the root behind it explains why.

The root ḥ-b-r is a lasting trace, mostly of beauty. Ḥibr is ink. A striped Yemeni cloak was called ḥibara. A scholar was called ḥibr, because his knowledge leaves traces in hearts. And ḥabra is joy so full that it shows.

One classical linguist explains tuḥbarūn in exactly this way. You will be gladdened with a joy whose trace, ḥibār, appears on your faces. He compares another ayah: taʿrifu fī wujūhihim naḍrata al-naʿīm, you recognise in their faces the radiance of bliss (83:24). Another explanation takes it from ḥibr as adornment: you will be made beautiful.

Another commentator gathers the early explanations, and they read like a portrait of a whole person made happy. Honoured, says one, and that is in rank. Rejoicing, says another, and that is in the heart. Enjoying bliss, says a third, and that is in the body. Delighted, says a fourth, and that is in the eye. Filled with wonder, says a fifth: meeting what is fresh and new. And a sixth: the pleasure of hearing.

So tuḥbarūn is not one feeling. It is every part of a person, glad at once, and showing it.

Picture a calligrapher who has spent four months on a single commissioned page. The day she delivers it, she notices her fingers are still stained with the black ink. It lasts for days. She does not scrub it off. It is the trace of something finished and good.

The joy of the Garden, the root suggests, is like that ink. Not a passing smile but a stain of happiness that stays. And it is visible. Others will see it on you, and you will see it on them.

What traces does our present joy leave? Often very little. A good day fades by evening. The ayah promises a joy that writes itself in and does not wash out.

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.