Al-A'la · Makki · ayah 17 of 19

Al-A'la 87:17

وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَىٰٓ

“While the Hereafter is better and more enduring.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Weigh the two lives by the two tests we use for anything worth having: which is better, and which will still be there.

A reflection

Better, and still there

A young plasterer is offered two ways to be paid for a year's work on a new block of flats. Cash every Friday, or a share in the finished building. Friday cash is loud; he can feel it in his pocket. The share is quiet, and far larger.

The ayah's three words each carry a picture. Al-ākhira, the Hereafter, is at root simply what comes after. The Arabs called the back of a saddle its ākhira, the part behind the rider. A sale on deferred terms was a sale bi-akhira: goods now, payment later. So the next life is, in a sense, the payment that comes after.

Khayr, better, comes from a root of leaning and inclining. One lexicon explains that khayr is what every person leans towards. Another lexicon adds a distinction that matters here. Some good is good only in part: wealth, for instance, is good for one person and ruin for another. Other good is good in every state and for everyone. The Hereafter is that second kind.

Abqā, more lasting, is from baqāʾ, the opposite of passing away. The lexicons say only Allah remains by Himself, without end. The people of Paradise remain because He keeps them.

One classical commentator gives three reasons for 'better'. The joys there are of body and soul together. The pleasures here come mixed with pain, and there they do not. And what lasts is better than what fades.

Another commentary notices the grammar. The ayah is a clause of circumstance: you prefer this world, while the Hereafter is better. That sharpens the rebuke. It does not even bother listing this world's flaws, it says, because they are too obvious to need saying.

The plasterer's choice is hard only because Friday is close. If the share were paid next week, nobody would take the cash. The ayah's work is to let you see the finished building while you are still on the scaffolding.

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.