38. Surah Sad
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
هَذَا
ذِكْرٌ...
38: 49. This is a Message (of admonition):
... وَإِنَّ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ لَحُسْنَ مَآبٍ ﴿٤٩﴾
and verily, for the Righteous, is a beautiful place of (final) Return. --
C4206. Some of the preeminent examples of the Elect and the Good having been mentioned, we have now a reference to the Righteous as a body (rank and file as well as leaders) and their future in the Hereafter as won by victory over Evil.
جَنَّاتِ
عَدْنٍ
مُّفَتَّحَةً
لَّهُمُ
الْأَبْوَابُ
﴿٥٠﴾
38: 50. Gardens of Eternity, whose doors will (ever) be open to them;
C4207. The Final Bliss will not be a hole-and-comer thing, a pale reflection of some Palace or Retreat, where mystery reigns behind closed doors. Its doors will be open, and its inmates will be free to go in and out as they will, because their wins will be purified and brought into accord with the Universal Law.
مُتَّكِئِينَ
فِيهَا
يَدْعُونَ
فِيهَا
بِفَاكِهَةٍ
كَثِيرَةٍ
وَشَرَابٍ
﴿٥١﴾
38: 51. Therein will they recline (at ease);
therein can they call (at pleasure) for fruit in abundance, and (delicious) drink;
C4208. See n. 4003 to 36:57.
- the free Gardens are types of satisfaction in external surroundings;
- the comfortable reclining thrones, the fruit and the drink are types of the soul's individual satisfaction;
- and the society of pure-minded companions of equal ages, in the type of a soul's social satisfaction.
وَعِندَهُمْ
قَاصِرَاتُ
الطَّرْفِ
...
38: 52. And beside them will be chaste women restraining their glances,
C4209. Cf. 37:48 and n. 4064, and 36:56, n. 4002.
As we conceive happiness in this life, it is not complete if it is only solitary. How we hanker after some one who can share in our highest joy! That feeling is also figured here.
... أَتْرَابٌ ﴿٥٢﴾
(companions) of equal age.
C4210. To make the social happiness complete, we want companionship of equal age. Age and youth cannot be happy together.
It is not suggested that in the Timeless state figured here, there will be old age; but if it is possible to conceive of temperamental differences then, the company will be so arranged that it will be congenial. Or we can accept the type of youth and freshness as common to all in that happy state.
Asad’s version
38:49 LET [all] this be a reminder [to those who believe in God] - for, verily, the most beauteous of all goals awaits the God-conscious:
38:50) gardens of perpetual bliss, 45 with gates wide-open to them,
(38:51) wherein they will recline, [and] wherein they may [freely] call for many a fruit and drink,
(38:52) having beside them well-matched mates of modest gaze." 46
Yuksel’s version
38:49 This is a reminder, and the righteous will have a wonderful abode.
38:50 The gardens of Eden, whose gates will be open for them.
38:51 Reclining therein, they will be invited to many fruits and drinks.
38:52 With them are attendants with a splendid look and of equal age.
38:53 This is what you have been promised for the day of Reckoning.
38:54 Such is Our provisions, it does not run out.
[[Asad’s notes - 42 Lit., "of the [final] abode".
43 Al-Yasa' in Arabic - the Biblical prophet who succeeded Elijah (see saiah 37, note 48).
44 For an explanation of this rendering of dhu'1-kifl, see surah 2 1 , note 8 1 .
45 In all the eleven instances in which the noun 'adn occurs in the Qur'an - and of which the present is the oldest - it is used as a qualifying term for the "gardens" (lannat) of paradise. This noun is derived from the verb 'adana, which primarily denotes "he remained [somewhere]" or "he kept (to something]", i.e., permanently: cf, the phrase 'adantu '1-balad ("I remained for good [or "settled"] in the country"). In Biblical Hebrew - which, after all, is but a very ancient Arabian dialect -the closely related noun 'eden has also the additional connotation of "delight", "pleasure" or
"bliss". Hence the combination of the two concepts in my rendering of 'adn as "perpetual bliss". As in many other places in the Qur'an, this bliss is here allegorized - and thus brought closer to man's imagination - by means of descriptions recalling earthly joys.
46 Lit., "such as restrain their gaze", i.e., are of modest bearing and have eyes only for their mates (Razi). This allegorical reference to the delights of paradise occurs in the Qur'an three times (apart from the above instance, which is chronologically the earliest, in 37:48 and 55:56 as well). As an allegory, this phrase evidently applies to the righteous of both sexes, who in the life to come will be rejoined with those whom they loved and by whom they were loved in this world: for, "God has promised the believers, both men and women, gardens through which running waters flow, therein to abide, and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetual bliss" (9:72); and, "anyone -
be it man or woman - who does [whatever he can] of good deeds and is a believer withal, shall enter paradise" (4:124, with similar statements in 16:97 and 40:40). Finally, we are told in 36:56 that in this paradise "will they and their spouses on couches recline" - i.e., will find peace and inner fulfilment with and in one another. (For an explanation of the term atrab, rendered by me as "well-matched", see note 15 on 56:38. ]]