Az-Zukhruf · Makki · ayah 72 of 89

Az-Zukhruf 43:72

وَتِلْكَ ٱلْجَنَّةُ ٱلَّتِىٓ أُورِثْتُمُوهَا بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ

“And that is Paradise which you are made to inherit for what you used to do.”

Noor International Center

Essence

The Garden comes like an inheritance: deeds were its cause, yet it arrives as a gift no wage could buy.

A reflection

Because of your deeds, but not in exchange for them

Bi-mā kuntum taʿmalūn: because of what you used to do. But the Prophet ﷺ said: none of you will be admitted to the Garden by his deeds. They asked: not even you, Messenger of Allah? He said: not even me, unless Allah covers me with His mercy (al-Bukhārī, Muslim).

Picture a young man who notices this apparent contradiction in a study circle. 'So which is it? Do my deeds get me in, or don't they?'

A classical scholar gives an answer that is both precise and beautiful. The Arabic preposition bi- can mean two different things. One is bi- of cause: this happened because of that, as rain causes growth. The other is bi- of exchange, as in 'I bought this for that'. The ayah uses the first. Deeds are a real cause of entry. The hadith denies the second. Deeds are not the price of the Garden.

He explains why no deed could be the price. Even a lifetime of good deeds, done as Allah loves, would not match the blessings He gave in this world alone. If He reckoned strictly, our deeds would be used up paying for a small part of His gifts.

A narration in Ibn Mājah, graded ṣaḥīḥ, makes the same point. If Allah punished all the people of the heavens and the earth, He would not be unjust to them. And if He showed them mercy, His mercy would be better for them than their deeds.

Picture a man who, every Saturday for six years, tends the garden of an elderly widow on his street. He never asks for anything. When she dies, her will leaves him her house. Did he earn it? His work was certainly the reason. But no one would call a house a fair wage for six years of weeding. It was a gift, given because of what he did, far beyond what it was worth.

That is the ayah and the hadith together. Work as though your deeds matter, because they do. Hope as though only mercy counts, because it does.

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.