a chain seventy cubits long, insert him.﴾ [al-Hāqqah: 32]. They will thrust him into this chain, and their hands will be shackled—we ask Allah for well-being. No one can now imagine the misery, wretchedness, and torment they endure. A person must therefore prepare himself before he says, ﴿I wish I had sent something ahead for my true life! On that Day, no one will be punished as he is punished, and no one will be bound as he is bound.﴾
Allah Most High then concluded this surah with words that gladden the heart and bring relief to the breast. He said: ﴿O tranquil soul, return to your Lord, well pleased and pleasing to Him.﴾ The words ﴿Return to your Lord﴾ are spoken to a person as he undergoes the throes of death, at the final moment of his worldly life. His soul is told, “Depart, O tranquil soul! Depart to mercy from Allah and His good pleasure.” It then rejoices and becomes filled with glad tidings, and its departure from the body is made easy because it has been promised something more delightful than everything in this world.
The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “The space occupied by one of your whips in Paradise is better than this world and all it contains.” (1) A person’s whip is a short stick. The space occupied by a whip in Paradise is better than this world and all it contains—not merely your own portion of the world, but the entire world from its beginning to its end, with all its pleasures, dominion, comforts, and everything else. The space occupied by a whip is better than this world and all it contains. What, then, of someone who can gaze across his realm for a distance of two thousand years’ travel—two thousand years—and see its farthest reaches just as clearly as its nearest? It is bliss that neither our minds nor our imaginations can comprehend: ﴿No soul knows what delights of the eyes have been kept hidden for them as a reward for what they used to do.﴾ [al-Sajdah: 17].
The ﴿tranquil soul﴾ means the believing soul that is secure and at peace, for you will never find any soul more tranquil than the believer’s. The believer’s soul is wholesome and serene. This is why the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—expressed wonder at the believer, saying, “How remarkable is the believer’s affair! All of his affair is good. If adversity befalls him, he is patient, and that is good for him; and if prosperity befalls him, he is grateful, and that is good