The Ocean of the Quran

A verse by verse explanation of The Ultimate Scripture

Al-Zumar – Verse 10

قُل يا عِبادِ الَّذينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقوا رَبَّكُم ۚ لِلَّذينَ أَحسَنوا في هٰذِهِ الدُّنيا حَسَنَةٌ ۗ وَأَرضُ اللَّهِ واسِعَةٌ ۗ إِنَّما يُوَفَّى الصّابِرونَ أَجرَهُم بِغَيرِ حِسابٍ

Say: ‘[Allah declares:] “O My servants who have faith! Be wary of your Lord. For those who do good there will be good in this world, and Allah’s earth is vast. Indeed the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning.”’

EXEGESIS

Qul (say) indicates that God is not addressing His servants directly, but through an intermediate, which is the Holy Prophet. Sometimes, God sends His message through an intermediary due to the aspect that the addressees are not worthy to be directly addressed by God. Other times, this is done as a sign of God’s honour and respect for the addressees due to another aspect: that of sending an honourable and respectful intermediary.‎[1] In this verse, both explanations are possible. My servants who have faith includes those who have strong faith and weak faith. Hence, those who are people of servitude to God and have faith in Him, are of a very high status. Yet, it is possible some of them are not addressed directly because they are still missing the God-wariness that this verse requires from them. Therefore, relatively speaking, they are blocked and distanced from God because of this. They should follow the order of Be wary of your Lord to overcome this distance.‎[2]

Yuwaffā: fulfil and complete,‎[3] which could have various applications based on the context. In this verse, it means that they will receive their rewards in full.

EXPOSITION

One remains speechless and embarrassed due to the intensity of God’s love and mercy in this verse. O My servants who have faith is such a delicate and compassionate address! This itself arouses the audience to pay more heed and embrace God’s advice with open arms. Be wary of your Lord, because 1. You are My servants. 2. You have faith, which is your covenant with your Lord to obey Him. And I am giving you this order because I am your Lord and care about you. It is like a beloved asking her lover to remember her and to do nothing against her pleasure. After all, no true lover would ever forget his beloved; nor would he ever cause her dissatisfaction. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘One who sins against God, mighty and majestic is He, does not love Him.’ Then he quoted the following poem:

You disobey your Lord and claim his love!

This is a scorn, sarcasm and satire.

Were your love sincere, you would obey your Lord;

A lover follows his beloved’s desire.‎[4]

O My servants who have faith! Be wary of your Lord: this shows that faith alone is not sufficient, but the faithful should also be wary of God in practice.‎[5]

For those who do good there will be good in this world: there are two possible meanings for this statement: 1. For those who do good in this world there will be a good reward (in the hereafter). 2. For those who do good there will be good in this world (as translated here). The first meaning is chosen by most translators and exegetes. According to this meaning, the statement would be giving good tidings as encouragement for good deeds and perseverance in the way of God. However, the second meaning is more plausible for the following reasons:

  1. In the first meaning, in this world qualifies good deeds; but in the second meaning, in this world qualifies good reward. It is rather redundant to assume the former, because it is obvious that those who do good, do so in this world. Therefore, in this world would not add anything to the meaning. In the second case, however, the verse would have a very special meaning: Those who do good, not only will they have good reward in the hereafter (as repeatedly stressed in the Quran), but they will have good even in this world.
  2. This is strengthened by the subsequent part of the verse, which talks about reward in the hereafter. The two parts would complement each other by first talking about the good of this world, and then about the ultimate good, which is the reward in the hereafter. This contrast between the good of this world and that of the hereafter is seen more clearly in another very similar verse that talks about those who do good: For those who do good there will be good in this world, and the abode of the hereafter is better, and the abode of the God-wary is surely excellent (16:30). The same contrast is seen in several other verses, all of which talk about good in this world versus good in the hereafter (2:201, 7:156, 16:41, 16:122).
  3. Allah’s earth is vast implies that one’s surroundings, society, and external conditions do not excuse him from fulfilling his religious duties, worshipping God, and being wary of his Lord. That is because Allah’s earth is vast, meaning that the person can migrate to another place where he can practice his religion and observe his duties towards his Lord. Even if one is oppressed and abased, he is not justified to sit back passively and follow what his corrupt society imposes on him: Indeed, those whom the angels take away while they are wronging themselves, they [that is, the angels] ask: ‘What state were you in?’ They reply: ‘We were abased in the land.’ They say: ‘Was not Allah’s earth vast enough so that you might migrate in it?’ The refuge of such shall be hell, and it is an evil destination (4:97).

Hence, the good in this world is a promise by God that sometimes may require the person’s migration. This promise (inferred from the second meaning) is explicitly stated elsewhere in the Quran: Whoever migrates in the way of Allah will find many havens and plenitude in the earth (4:100; see also 24:55). Indeed, the good provisions of God are for the faithful in the life of this world – even though the disbelievers also benefit from them here – and exclusively for them on the Day of Resurrection (7:32).

  1. Finally, all of the above points are combined together in the following verses, which leave one with no doubt that the second meaning is what is intended here: Those who migrate for the sake of Allah after they have been wronged, We will surely settle them in a good place in the world, and the reward of the hereafter is surely greater, had they known. Those who are patient and put their trust in their Lord (16:41-42). These two verses are the best exposition of the current verse, for they also talk about the patient ones.

Be wary of your Lord … and Allah’s earth is vast: this means that one must go as far as abandoning his homeland and moving somewhere else where he can observe his religious duties (taqwā). An implication of this is that taqwā takes precedence over taqiyyah (dissimulation, concealing one’s belief and declaring it in a way that would be interpreted otherwise). As long as one is capable of migrating, he has no excuse to stay in a religiously unsuitable environment and practice taqiyyah. Verse 4:97 (quoted earlier) bears a clear witness to this. Except the abased among men, women, and children, who have neither access to any means nor are guided to any way. Maybe Allah will excuse them, for Allah is all-excusing, all-forgiving (4:98-99).‎[6]

Indeed the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning: there are three possible meanings for this part of the verse: 1. The good that is given in this world to the good-doers is only a worldly share that they receive. As for their real reward: Indeed the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning: 2. This is a consolation to those who are God-wary, migrate for the sake of God, and strive in His way, yet they do not find peace and prosperity in this world. Such people are strengthened and encouraged to be patient by the ultimate promise that Indeed the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning.‎[7] 3. It answers a potential question that might arise after the instruction to migrate: what if one cannot migrate away from an unfavourable environment and is forced to put up with difficulties? The answer is that such people will be rewarded for their patience without any reckoning.‎[8]

Being paid in full is not what sets the patient apart from others; rather, Your Lord will indeed recompense everyone fully for their works. Indeed He is well aware of what they do (11:111). This idea of receiving one’s rewards or actions in full is emphasised in over fifteen verses in the Quran, including verse 70 of this surah. What makes the patient stand out, however, is that they will receive their reward without any reckoning.

One of the names of the Day of Resurrection is the Day of Reckoning (yawm al-ḥisāb, 38:16, 38:26, 38:53, 40:27), because the good and evil deeds of each person are counted and calculated in order to determine which side dominates. Of course, this does not take any time for God, for everyone already has a ‘built-in’ metre (17:14); Allah is swift at reckoning (2:202, 3:19, 3:199, 5:4, 13:41, 14:51, 24:39, 40:17).

There are two possible meanings for receiving reward without any reckoning: 1. The patient ones will be exempt from the reckoning process on the Day of Reckoning. This is the interpretation of many of the early exegetes,‎[9] confirmed by certain narrations (see Insights from Hadith). 2. Without any reckoning refers to the abundance of their reward, such that it cannot be counted and measured in size, or in the sense that it is not in accordance to their deeds because it is far more than they deserve due to their good deeds.‎[10] Their reward will not be a case of a fitting requital (78:26), but it will be an example of He will pay them in full their rewards, and He will enhance them out of His grace (35:30). This meaning is confirmed by verse 16:96, which is also about the reward of the patient: We will surely pay the patient their reward by the best of what they used to do. The second meaning is more likely, as there is more Quranic evidence for it.

Using the context of this very verse, the patient here are primarily those who practice patience in being wary of their Lord and migrating in His way. But of course, both of these qualities are general concepts that have numerous applications and effectively encompass every virtue and goodness for the sake of God.

The idea that Allah’s earth is vast and reference to the patient make this Meccan verse among the verses that prepared the grounds for migration and encouraged the Muslims to move away from the stringent settings of Mecca (to Ethiopia and/or to Medina). Indeed, according to Ibn Abbas, the verse primarily addresses Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib and his group when they were leaving Mecca for Ethiopia.‎[11] A very similar set of verses was revealed in the last surah before the Prophet’s migration to Medina: O My servants who have faith! My earth is indeed vast. So worship [only] Me … Those who have faith and do righteous deeds, We will surely settle them in lofty abodes of paradise with streams running in them, to remain in them [forever]. How excellent is the reward of the workers! Those who are patient and who put their trust in their Lord (29:56 and 29:58-59).

The general rule is: Whoever is wary of Allah, He shall make a way out for him, and provide for him from whence he does not reckon. And whoever puts his trust in Allah, He will suffice him … And whoever is wary of Allah, He shall grant him ease in his affairs (65:2-4). Then, migration – accompanied with patience and trust in God – would be the conditions for this promise, or an elaboration on what is meant by being wary of your Lord.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

  1. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘On the Day of Resurrection, a group of people will rise up, go [directly] toward paradise, and knock on its door. They will be asked: “Who are you?” They will reply: “We are the people of patience.” They will be asked: “What were you patient on?” They will answer: “We were patient on obeying God, and we were patient against disobeying God.” Then God, mighty and majestic is He, will say: “They are right! Let them enter paradise.” That is [the meaning of] what God said: Indeed the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning.’‎[12]
  2. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘Whoever acts for God, the exalted, He will reward him in this world and the hereafter, and He will take care of what concerns him in both worlds, for indeed He, the exalted, said: O My servants who have faith! Be wary of your Lord. For those who do good there will be good in this world, and Allah’s earth is vast. Indeed the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning.’‎[13]

Note: This hadith confirms the interpretation suggested in Exposition.

  1. The Prophet told Ibn Masʿūd: ‘Indeed I have recited the book of God that He sent upon me and upon those before me, and I did not find anyone who will enter paradise other than the patient.’ Then the Prophet quoted this verse as well as verses 25:75, 76:12, 28:54, 2:214, and 2:155. Then he was asked: ‘Who are the patient?’ He answered: ‘Those who are patient in obeying God and against disobeying Him; and those who had a pure earning, spent moderately, and sent the excess ahead [for their hereafter]; hence they achieved salvation and rectitude. O Ibn Masʿūd, they are covered with humility, serenity, composure, contemplation, lenience, justice, teaching, learning, planning, God-wariness, beneficence, self-restraint, love and hate for the sake of God, returning the trust, fair judgement, bearing witness, helping the rightful against the wrongdoer, and forgiveness when they are wronged. O Ibn Masʿūd, when they are tried by some affliction, they are patient; when they are given some bounty, they are thankful; when they make judgement, they are just; when they speak, they are truthful; when they make a contract, they are loyal; when they do bad, they ask forgiveness from God; when they do good, they rejoice. When the ignorant address them, they say: ‘Peace!’ [25:63]; and when they come upon vain [talk], they pass by nobly [25:72]; Those who spend the night for their Lord, prostrating and standing [in worship] [25:64]; and they speak kindly to people [2:83]. O Ibn Masʿūd, by the one who sent me by truth, indeed it is they that are the triumphant.’‎[14]

Notes: 1. This hadith is one of the best examples of interpreting the Quran by the Quran, established by the man who brought the Quran. It shows how intimate the Prophet was with the Quran, and how one can put verses on the same topic next to each other in order to deduce conclusions. 2. The hadith provides several conditions for those who will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning. 3. One can use the qualities and attributes of the patient that are described in detail in this hadith as a practical guide to be implemented in one’s life. 4. Based on the verses of the Quran and other hadiths, the statement ‘I did not find anyone who will enter paradise other than the patient’ should not be taken literally. What is meant could be one of the following: it is a means of emphasis on the importance of patience and the exalted rank of the patient; it concerns certain degrees and levels of paradise; it concerns those who enter paradise without reckoning.

  1. The Prophet said: ‘When God loves a servant or wants to purge him [of impurities], He pours abundant afflictions upon him and directs difficulties at him. When the servant calls God in supplication, the angels will say: “This is a familiar voice,” and Gabriel will say: “O my Lord, this is so-and-so, Thy servant. So grant his request.” But God, the exalted, will say: “Leave him, for indeed I love to hear his voice.” So when the servant pleads “O my Lord!” God, the exalted, will say: “My servant, here I am at your service! By My might, you do not call Me for anything except that I shall respond; and you do not request anything from Me except that I shall grant it. I will either hasten it for you [in this world], or store and keep with Me something better than it for you, or deflect a greater calamity from you.”’ The Prophet then continued: ‘When the scales are set up on the Day of Judgement, the performers of prayer, fasting, charity, and pilgrimage will be brought forth and given their reward based on the scales. But the people of affliction will be brought forth while no scale is set up for them. Instead, rewards will be poured upon them in abundance, without reckoning, such that those who were in ease in this world will wish their bodies had been cut by scissors because of the abundance that the people of affliction receive. That is what God says: Indeed the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning.’‎[15]

Note: There are many similar narrations in this regard reported by various sources.‎[16] These narrations show the significance of patience – especially patience on hardships and calamities – and how its reward is not comparable to any other reward.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Some of the early exegetes have interpreted Allah’s earth is vast as the earth or land of paradise,‎[17] which is indeed vast: a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth (3:133, 57:21). An evidence for this interpretation could be verse 74, which quotes what the inhabitants of paradise will say when they are settled there: They will say: ‘All praise belongs to Allah, who has fulfilled His promise to us and made us heirs to the earth, that we may settle in paradise wherever we may wish!’ This verse would then be encouraging the audience to seek this vast paradise by righteous deeds.‎[18] However, our elaborate discussion under Exposition suffices to show that what is meant by Allah’s earth here is the earth of this world.

Another point that many exegetes have argued is that since the infidels and wrongdoers benefit extensively from the good of this world – sometimes more so than the good-doers – the verse cannot be a promise that the good-doers will have good in this world, but rather in the hereafter. However, it should be kept in mind that this world by nature is a place for test and trial. It is not a place for the final judgements and retributions of the people. When God makes a promise concerning success and prosperity in this world, then that promise cannot contravene the nature of this world, for that would be an obvious contradiction. There are many verses where God has promised worldly success to those who believe in God, do righteous deeds, struggle in God’s way, and are God-wary. These virtues should not be taken as the only cause of how things unfold in this world, but as one cause along with the many other causes, all of which are subordinate to God’s wisdom and decree. The ease and hardship faced by the believers and disbelievers are all according to God’s wisdom in testing His servants. This point provides further insight to the three interpretations of Indeed the patient will be paid in full their reward without any reckoning presented in the Exposition. It should also be noted that even if the verse promises the good-doers to have good in the hereafter, it would not be an unconditional promise. Rather, all of the causes and determinants of eternal reward or punishment should be considered together in order to know the final result. For example, not all migrants in the way of God will be saved in the hereafter regardless of their subsequent actions. Hence, the above argument is incomplete.

TOPICAL ARTICLES

See Topical Article: Patience.

[1] Anṣārī, Tafsīr-e Sūrat al-Isrāʾ, lecture 21 (audio).
[2] Furqan, 25/301.
[3] Maqayis; Raghib; Tahqiq, under w-f-y.
[4] Tuhaf, p. 294; Amali.S, p. 489, h. 3.
[5] Kashif, 6/400.
[6] Furqan, 25/303.
[7] Alusi, 12/239.
[8] Gunabadi, 4/4.
[9] Tabari, 23/130; Suyuti, 5/323.
[10] Tibyan, 9/14.
[11] Qurtubi, 15/240.
[12] Kafi, 2/75, h. 4.
[13] Amali.T, pp. 25-26.
[14] Makarim, p. 446.
[15] Suyuti, 5/323.
[16] Tabrisi, 8/767-768; Qurtubi, 15/241-242; Zayn al-Dīn al-ʿĀmili al-Jubaʿī, Musakkin al-Fuʾād, p. 48; Suyuti, 5/323-324.
[17] Tabari, 24/25; Tibyan, 9/13, narrated from Mujāhid.
[18] Tabrisi, 8/767, narrated from Muqātil and Abū Muslim.