إِنَّ الأَبرارَ لَفي نَعيمٍ
Indeed the pious shall be amid bliss.
EXPOSITION
The outcome of the recording of deeds mentioned in verses 10-12 is this: the pious (abrār) shall be amid bliss, and the vicious (fujjār) shall be in hell (verse 14). The pairing of these two (the abrār and the fujjār) as opposites is repeated again in the next surah (83:7, 83:18). The vicious (fujjār) are also contrasted against the God-wary (muttaqīn) in 38:28 perhaps because every soul is inspired by its nature to discern viciousness (fujūr) from God-wariness (taqwā) (91:7-10).
In many verses of the Quran, the division of humanity on the Day of Resurrection is given as more than two groups (30:43), such as the faithful, the hypocrites, the faithless, and so on. And at times even the faithful are further divided into the general righteous (56:8) versus the elite (56:10), and the faithful who struggle in God’s way versus those who sit back (4:95). But at a high level, there are only two groups on the Day of Resurrection: those who belong in paradise and those destined for hell, the pious (abrār) versus the vicious (fujjār), the one who is felicitous (saʿīd) (11:108) versus the wretched (shaqī) (11:106); and this clear division of humanity into two major groups is repeated often in the Quran (cf. 30:15-6, 36:59, 42:7).
Naʿīm (bliss) has also been used in the sense of blessing when referring to God’s bounties in this world (as in 102:8), but it alludes to paradise when the context is the hereafter, as in this verse. Naʿīm could even refer to a specific place in paradise that is reserved for a select group of the pious. For example, when Prophet Abraham (a) asks God to rescue him on the Day of Retribution (26:82), he also asks his Lord to make him an heir to the garden of bliss (jannat al-naʿīm) (26:85). This has led some scholars to believe that jannat al-naʿīm is jannat al-muqarrabīn (the paradise of those closest to God) because prophets, martyrs, and saints seek it.
Besides the apparent and obvious meanings of naʿīm (bliss) and jaḥīm (hellfire) in the hereafter, exegetes have offered several metaphors for the two terms in reference to this world. Rāzī, for example, quotes Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) as having said: ‘Bliss (naʿīm) is realisation (maʿrifah) and witnessing (mushāhadah), and hell (jaḥīm) is the darknesses of lusts (ẓulumāt al-shahawāt).’ And Rāzī offers other permutations as well: naʿīm as contentment (qanāʿah) and jaḥīm as avarice (ṭamaʿ); naʿīm as trusting in God (tawakkul) and jaḥīm as greed (ḥirṣ); naʿīm as being occupied with God (al-ishtighāl bil-lāh) while jaḥīm as being preoccupied with other than God (al-ishtighāl bi-ghayr allāh).
[1] Razi, 31/80.
[2] Razi, 31/80.