Al-Infitar · Makki · ayah 13 of 19

Al-Infitar 82:13

إِنَّ ٱلْأَبْرَارَ لَفِى نَعِيمٍ

“Indeed, the righteous will be in pleasure,”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those whose goodness is wide and true are in bliss: fully in the life to come, and already, in part, in this one.

A reflection

A bliss that has already begun

A woman owns a flat on the twentieth floor with a view across the whole city. At three in the morning she lies awake, scrolling listings for a bigger one. She has everything she once dreamed of. She is not at rest.

Notice the grammar of this ayah. There is no 'will be'. It is a plain statement: the righteous are in bliss. A classical writer on the heart insisted this is not only about the Hereafter. The righteous, he said, are in bliss in all three of their homes: this world, the grave and the final abode. The wicked are in torment in all three. In this world the noise of desire stops them feeling it, the way someone in pain distracts himself so as not to notice.

What is that bliss now? He answers with a question. Is there any bliss but the bliss of the heart? A heart at peace with its Lord. No grudge to feed at night. Nothing to hide. Knowledge of Allah, love of Him, and work that pleases Him.

He quotes some of the early devout. One said that if kings and the sons of kings knew what they had, they would fight them for it with swords. Another said that in this world there is a garden, and whoever does not enter it will not enter the Garden of the Hereafter.

Allah needs none of the obedience that leads there. 'I want no provision from them' (51:57). It is we who need what it gives. 'Truly, in the remembrance of Allah hearts find rest' (13:28). The woman on the twentieth floor is hungry for exactly that. No listing will sell it to her.

He also passes on a saying of one of the Companions about good deeds. A good deed, he said, brings light to the heart, brightness to the face and strength to the body. It brings increase in provision and love in people's hearts. The reverse is true of a bad deed.

Naʿīm comes without 'the', one commentator notes, to make it vast: a bliss too large to name. Its fullness waits. The first taste does not.

The full entry has 4 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.