لِسَعيِها راضِيَةٌ
Pleased with their endeavour.
EXEGESIS
Saʿy (endeavour) has many meanings and connotations. The context here suggests striving and working hard with purpose. It can also mean to walk, move, or crawl, and the Quran uses it to mean slither (20:20), to move toward something hurriedly (2:260, 36:20, 62:9, 79:22), and also with a negative connotation of striving hard to oppose God, ruin others, and cause mischief on the earth (see for instance 2:114, 2:205, 5:33, 5:64, 22:51, 34:5, 34:38). The positive connotation in this verse is discussed further under Exposition.
EXPOSITION
This verse explains why their faces will be joyous (verse 8). This is also, perhaps, the most inspiring verse of this surah. In just two words, and with a preposition and a pronoun, it captures the deep sense of relief, gratitude, and overwhelming joy felt on Judgement Day by the faithful who laboured and strove hard against their lower selves in this world.
The time to reap and harvest what they sowed and planted in the world will have finally arrived. They shall now find waiting for them far more than they ever expected or hoped for, and beyond their wildest imagination. The life of this world seemed to be a never-ending hardship but now they will have suddenly awakened to a realisation that the struggle is finally over. They shall now relish in pleasure and everlasting peace knowing they have, forever, overcome death, sickness, oppression, pain, and all forms of grief or sorrow. Thus they shall be seen at the pinnacle of contentment and joy.
Endeavour (saʿy) is oft-used in the Quran to remind man that he shall one day see the fruit of his striving in the world (17:19, 20:15, 21:94, 53:39-40, 76:22, 79:35) and on that day the entire life of this world will seem as if they had not stayed [in the world] but for an evening or forenoon (79:46). In other words, the perseverance is well worth it, and the patient advancement to greater spiritual purification of the soul pays off magnificently when all matters conclude to their final and eternal station.
This verse also opposes the common Asharite belief in the predestination of action. The verse clearly attributes man’s pleasure at having succeeded in the afterlife due to his endeavours and striving in this world. Ibn Kathīr also interprets this verse to mean they will be pleased by their actions. When their scroll of deeds is presented to them on Judgement Day they are depicted as going around, filled with excitement, saying to others: ‘Here, take and read my book! Indeed I knew that I shall encounter my account’ (69:19-20).
This pleasure and delight will not be out of a sense of self-glorification and pride, for they know full well they could not have attained this merely by their own actions. It was their sincerity and constant striving that made them deserving of God’s grace and help, both directly and through the intercession of His elect. So their being pleased is with a deep sense of gratitude and humility that they have finally made it to a state of eternal bliss after which there will be no sorrow or grief again. Kāshānī suggests pleased with their endeavour means God is pleased with what they strove for Him. A quality of the faithful in paradise is that they are pleased with God and He is pleased with them (89:28) and when they are admitted into paradise, [They will be told]: ‘This is indeed your reward, and your endeavour (saʿyukum) has been well-appreciated’ (76:22). Thus, God blesses man with guidance and the opportunities to do good but then allows man to strive for it so that he is pleased with what he strove for and feels a sense of having deserved the honour and reward on Judgement Day, this being an additional pleasure and reward in itself.
[1] Hans Wehr, under s-a-ʿ.
[2] Ibn Kathir, 8/377.
[3] Safi, 5/321.