Al-Mutaffifin · Makki · ayah 22 of 36

Al-Mutaffifin 83:22

إِنَّ ٱلْأَبْرَارَ لَفِى نَعِيمٍ

“Indeed, the righteous will be in pleasure”

Saheeh International

Essence

The honest are not promised a better deal; they are placed inside bliss itself.

A reflection

Bliss without a shadow

Naʿīm comes from a root the lexicons define more than they picture. A niʿma is a good done to someone purely for their sake. Given for the giver's own gain, it is not a niʿma at all. Change one vowel and the word becomes naʿma: ease and comfort of living. So naʿīm is the ease of a gift given wholly for your good.

Every pleasure in this life has a shadow. The holiday has a last day, and you can feel it coming from the middle of the week. The meal ends. The family gathering breaks up in the car park. Even at the height of joy, part of the mind is counting down.

The Prophet ﷺ described what the people of Paradise will be told. A caller will announce: you will be healthy and never fall ill. You will live and never die. You will be young and never grow old. You will enjoy yourselves and never know misery again (Sahih Muslim).

Read those four promises slowly. Each one removes a shadow. Illness, death, age and sorrow are the four things that quietly spoil every earthly pleasure.

That is what the little word fī, 'in', holds here. The righteous are not visiting bliss, or passing through it. They are inside it, surrounded, with nothing waiting at the edge.

There is something to take from this now. Earthly pleasures are good gifts, but they cannot carry the weight of our deepest hopes, because each has a shadow. Enjoy them, thank Him for them, and keep the deepest hope for the bliss that has none.

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.