(29–31) “Say, ‘The truth is from your Lord. So whoever wills, let him believe; and whoever wills, let him disbelieve.’ We have prepared for the wrongdoers a Fire whose walls will surround them. If they cry out for relief, they will be given water like molten metal that scorches faces. What a dreadful drink, and what an evil resting place! As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, We certainly do not let the reward of anyone who excels in deeds go to waste. It is they who will have the Gardens of Eternity, beneath which rivers flow. There they will be adorned with bracelets of gold and wear green garments of sundus and istabraq, reclining therein upon couches. What an excellent reward, and what a beautiful resting place!”
That is: Say to the people, O Muhammad, “This is the truth from your Lord.” Guidance has been distinguished from error, sound judgment from misguidance, and the qualities of the people of happiness from those of the people of misery, through what Allah has explained upon the tongue of His Messenger. Once this has been made plain and clear, no doubt remains about it.
⦗476⦘
“So whoever wills, let him believe; and whoever wills, let him disbelieve.” Nothing remains but to take one of the two paths, according to whether the servant is granted divine aid or not. Allah has given him a will through which he is capable of belief and disbelief, and of good and evil. Whoever believes has been enabled to follow what is right, while whoever disbelieves has had the proof established against him. He is not coerced into believing, as Allah Most High says: “There is no compulsion in religion. Sound judgment has become distinct from error.”
The words, “So whoever wills, let him believe; and whoever wills, let him disbelieve,” do not grant permission for both courses. Rather, they are a threat and warning to anyone who chooses disbelief after the truth has been made perfectly clear. Nor does the verse entail refraining from fighting the disbelievers.
Allah Most High then mentions the ultimate fate of the two groups: “We have prepared for the wrongdoers”—through disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience—“a Fire whose walls will surround them.” That is, its enclosing wall will encompass them, leaving them no exit, path, or means of escape. The blazing Fire will consume them.
“If they cry out for relief”—that is, if they ask for something to drink in order to extinguish the severe thirst that has afflicted them—“they will be given water like molten metal,” meaning molten lead or the sediment of oil, so intense is its heat.
“It scorches faces.” What, then, must it do to their intestines and bellies? As Allah Most High says: “By it, what is in their bellies and their skins will be melted, and for them are maces of iron.”
“What a dreadful drink”—the drink intended to quench their thirst and alleviate some of their torment, but which instead increases their torment and intensifies their punishment.
“And what an evil resting place” the Fire is. This condemns the condition of the Fire: it is an evil place in which to seek rest. There is no comfort in it, but only immense and grievous torment that does not abate for even a single hour. There they are plunged into despair, having lost all hope of any good. The Most Merciful has forsaken them amid the punishment, just as they forgot Him.
He then mentions the second group: “As for those who believe and do righteous deeds”—that is, they combine belief in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree, both its good and its evil, with righteous deeds, whether obligatory or recommended—“We certainly do not let the reward of anyone who excels in deeds go to waste.”
Excellence in deeds means that the servant intends the deed for the countenance of Allah while following the law revealed by Allah. Allah will not let such a deed, or any part of it, go to waste. Rather, He preserves it for those who perform it and pays them their reward according to their deeds and through His bounty and beneficence. He describes their reward by saying:
“It is they who will have the Gardens of Eternity, beneath which rivers flow. There they will be adorned with bracelets of gold and wear green garments of sundus and istabraq, reclining therein upon couches.”
That is, those described as possessing faith and righteous deeds will have lofty gardens filled with so many trees that they cast their shade over those within. Their rivers are so plentiful that they flow beneath those elegant trees and lofty dwellings. Their adornment there will be gold, and their clothing will be green silk: sundus, which is thick brocade, and istabraq, its finer kind.
They will recline there upon couches—beds embellished and beautified with sumptuous fabrics, for a bed is not called a couch unless it is adorned in this way. Their reclining upon couches indicates complete comfort and the disappearance of weariness and fatigue. It also indicates that servants will attend to them with whatever they desire. This is completed by perpetual immortality and everlasting residence.
Such a magnificent abode is “an excellent reward” for those who worked, “and a beautiful resting place” in which they find comfort and enjoy all that it contains: whatever souls desire and eyes delight in, including gladness, joy, enduring happiness, successive pleasures, and abundant blessings.
What resting place could be better than an abode in which its lowest-ranking inhabitant can journey for two thousand years through his kingdom, bliss, palaces, and gardens, yet sees no bliss surpassing that which he enjoys? He has been granted every wish and desire, and then given still more—things beyond the reach of all wishes. Moreover, their bliss will forever increase in its qualities and beauty. We therefore ask Allah, the Most Generous, not to deprive us, because of our grievous shortcomings and disobedience, of the best bounty and beneficence that He possesses.
This noble verse and others like it indicate that adornment is for both men and women, as stated in the authentic hadiths, because the expression “they will be adorned” is unrestricted. The same applies to silk and similar things.