يا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفسُ المُطمَئِنَّةُ

Return to your Lord, well-pleased [with Him] and well-pleasing [Him]!

EXEGESIS

The second person singular feminine imperative verb irjiʿī means: to return, to go back,^{‎[1]Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 349.} while the feminine passive participle marḍiyyah means: acceptable, well-received.^{‎[2]Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 369.}

EXPOSITION

Ṭūsī writes that this verse, which begins with the phrase Return to your Lord, means: Return to what God has prepared of rewards for you,^{‎[3]Tibyan, 10/348.} while the phrase well-pleased [with Him] means: well-pleased with the rewards of God and His profuse and abundant generosity,^{‎[4]Tibyan, 10/348; Taʾwīl al-Āyāt, 1/768.} while the phrase and well-pleasing [Him] means: well-pleasing Him due to your good deeds of obedience, which are pleasing to your Lord.^{‎[5]Irshād al-Adhhān, 1/599; Tibyan, 10/348; Taʾwīl al-Āyāt, 1/768.} Thus this verse expresses satisfaction on both sides: the satisfaction of God with the soul and the satisfaction of the soul with God.

In addition to the suggestion that the invitation expressed in the verse to Return to your Lord denotes returning to His rewards, mercy, and blessings, it has also been suggested that a more suitable and profound meaning for this phrase would be not only a return to God’s mercy and rewards but to His proximity and nearness in a spiritual and immaterial sense.^{‎[6]Amthal, 19/198.}

Tustarī, the mystic, inclined to the latter interpretation. He writes: ‘Paradise is actually two paradises. One of them is the garden itself, and the other is life with life itself (al-ḥayāt bil-ḥayāt), and permanent subsistence with permanent subsistence itself. Similarly, it has been related in a report that the angels say to those solely devoted (munfaridūn) to Him on the Day of Judgement: “Proceed to your resting places in paradise,” to which they shall say: “What is paradise to us when we have devoted ourselves solely to [Him] because of a special understanding (maʿnā) which has been granted to us from Him? We do not want anything save Him – that is the only good life (al-ḥayāt al-ṭayyibah).” And God knows best.’^{‎[7]Tustari, p. 284.}

[1] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 349.
[2] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 369.
[3] Tibyan, 10/348.
[4] Tibyan, 10/348; Taʾwīl al-Āyāt, 1/768.
[5] Irshād al-Adhhān, 1/599; Tibyan, 10/348; Taʾwīl al-Āyāt, 1/768.
[6] Amthal, 19/198.
[7] Tustari, p. 284.