Al-Mutaffifin · Makki · ayah 24 of 36

Al-Mutaffifin 83:24

تَعْرِفُ فِى وُجُوهِهِمْ نَضْرَةَ ٱلنَّعِيمِ

“You will recognize in their faces the radiance of pleasure.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Nobody needs to announce the joy of the righteous; one look at their faces tells you.

A reflection

Faces in fresh leaf

Naḍra has a picture from the natural world. The Arabs said a tree naḍura when its leaves turned fresh and glistening green. One commentator says the plant has naḍara when it blossoms and shines. Pure gold was called naḍār. So naḍra is beauty with brightness and moisture in it: the look of a life at ease.

Think of a houseplant left too long on a hot windowsill. Its leaves hang limp and grey. Someone finally waters it before bed. In the morning the leaves have lifted, and they catch the light. Nothing was added to the plant's shape. What changed was what flowed inside it.

The ayah says the same of the righteous. Their faces carry the brightness of what they are living in. The radiance is not applied from outside. It rises from within, the way green returns to a watered leaf.

Many of those faces were not radiant in this world. The honest trader who lost sales. The carer who went years without a full night's sleep. The worker whose face was grey with the dust of long shifts. Their faces carried the drought of this life.

The ayah promises the watering. Every tired face that stayed honest will one day shine with what it finally received. Hold on to that when you look in the mirror at the end of a hard week. Hold on to it when you see the worn faces around you. What you see is a season, not the final picture.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.