قيلَ ادخُلِ الجَنَّةَ ۖ قالَ يا لَيتَ قَومي يَعلَمونَ

He was told: ‘Enter paradise!’ He said: ‘Alas! Had my people only known.

EXEGESIS

Qīla (he was told); the one who says this is left unmentioned, which conveys a sense of mystery. Apparently, the speaker is an angel or a group of angels.^{‎[1]Lane, p. 2995.}

Jannah (paradise) literally means a garden, or a walled garden, containing trees, or concealed and surrounded by trees, specifically palm trees and grapevines. It is from the verb janna, meaning to veil, to conceal, to cover and hide: When night darkened (janna) over him (6:76). Lush gardens are called jannah because its trees conceal what is beneath them. The Quran uses it mostly to indicate paradise, because the various delights prepared therein for humanity are concealed in the present state of existence, the gardens of paradise, or the gardens of continual abode.^{‎[2]Lane, p. 463.}

Yā-layta (alas) is a word denoting a wish, signifying ‘would that’, or ‘I wished that’, generally relating to an impossible thing, and rarely to a possible thing. It is also used to regret something not done.^{‎[3]Lane, p. 2683.}

EXPOSITION

When people of the town heard about the faith of Ḥabīb, they could not do anything but kill and silence him. According to a narration, they trampled over him until he died. It is also said that they stoned him to death in the same way they had threatened the messengers. It is also narrated that when they tried to kill him, he was raised up to the heavens (like Prophet Jesus (a)) and taken into paradise.

The context indicates that the addressee in this verse is the believer of Yā Sīn, which implicitly indicates that his people killed him. The next verse supports his martyrdom because it indicates the destruction to his people after he was martyred.

After his soul left his body, a heavenly call told him to enter paradise. This, of course, was not the eternal paradise since people only enter the eternal paradise after resurrection. Rather, it is a reference to the paradise of the barzakh in which he will live until the Day of Resurrection, after which he will enter the hereafter’s paradise, which is eternal.^{‎[4]Tabrisi, 8/658.} This is emphasised by Tabatabai; he mentions that the paradise in which Ḥabīb was taken is the paradise of barzakh, a phase of life between post-death and pre-resurrection.

Another opinion indicates that the direction given to him was for the hereafter’s paradise. The justification for such an opinion is that he will be told to enter paradise on the Day of Resurrection, and the Quran used a metaphor of the present to indicate the inevitability of such happening in the future. However, this metaphorical interpretation lacks supporting evidence, similar to the baseless opinion that indicates him being lifted into the heavens where he was told to enter and have enjoyment until the resurrection. It was also said that when his people were killing him, they said Enter paradise, mocking him. However, this does not befit the context of the words narrated by God after it: Alas! Had my people only known, for what my Lord forgave me and made me one of the honoured ones! (verses 26-27), because the apparent meaning indicates his wish for the awareness of his people about the state that he was taken in after hearing Enter paradise; in addition, there is no supporting proof of him being mocked.^{‎[5]Mizan, 17/79.}

While they were killing him, he was saying: ‘O God! Guide my people,’ until he was martyred. The Quran explains in another verse the invitation given to Enter paradise while mentioning the destiny of those who are martyred on the path of truth, such as: Do not suppose those who were slain in the way of Allah to be dead; rather they are living and provided for near their Lord, exulting in what Allah has given them out of His grace, and rejoicing for those who have not yet joined them from [those left] behind them that they will have no fear, nor will they grieve. They rejoice in Allah’s blessing and grace, and that Allah does not waste the reward of the faithful (3:169-171).

Similar to this verse are verses in which the angels tell the believers after death to enter paradise: Those whom the angels take away while they are pure. They say [to them]: ‘Peace be to you! Enter paradise because of what you used to do’ (16:32).

Moreover, there are other verses in the Quran that indicate the awareness of the soul after death, and the continuation of life in barzakh: Were you to see when the wrongdoers are in the throes of death, and the angels extend their hands [saying]: ‘Give up your souls! Today you shall be requited with a humiliating punishment because of what you used to attribute to Allah untruly, and for your being disdainful towards His signs’ (6:93). Similarly, the angels will talk to the evil ones while their souls are taken out at their time of death: Those whom the angels take away while they are wronging themselves. Thereat they submit: ‘We were not doing any evil!’ ‘Yes, indeed Allah knows best what you used to do! Enter the gates of hell to remain in it [forever]. Evil is the [final] abode of the arrogant’ (16:28-29).^{‎[6]M l k in the online Quranic Arabic Corpus, < https://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=mlk >.}

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. The Holy Prophet said: ‘Three racers are ahead of every nation, they did not disbelieve in God for the blink of an eye: Ali ibn Abī Ṭālib (a), the companion of Yā Sīn, and the believer of the family of Pharaoh. They are the truthful accepters, and Ali is the best of them.’^{‎[7]Tabrisi, 8/659.} ‏
2. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘I swear by God, I fear for you when you will be in barzakh.’ When asked: ‘What is barzakh?’ He said: ‘The grave, from the time of his^{‎[8]It seems this is taken from a lengthy narration in which the Imam may be talking about a person.} death until the Day of Resurrection.’^{‎[9]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/252.}
3. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘The grave is either a garden from the gardens of paradise or a pit from one of the pits of hell.’^{‎[10]Amthal, 14/159.}
4. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) was heard commenting on these verses, so he said: ‘Then if he be of those brought near, then ease, abundance is in his grave and a garden of bliss in the hereafter. But if he be of the impugners the astray ones, then a treat of boiling water is in the grave and entry into hell [56:88-95] in the hereafter.’^{‎[11]Bihar, 6/217.}
5. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘The spirits of the believers are in the chambers in paradise [of barzakh], they would eat from its food, drink from its drink, and visit each other in it, and say: “Our Lord, set up the resurrection for us to execute for us what You had promised us.”’
6. While the Messenger of God was standing in front of those [wicked ones] who were killed in Badr, he said: ‘O Abū Jahl! O ʿUtbah! O Shaybah! O Umayyah! Did you all really find what your Lord had promised you? I have really found what my Lord had promised me!’ Omar said: ‘O Messenger of God, what talk will you get from the bodies that have no spirits in them?!’ He said: ‘By Him in whose hand is my soul, you do not hear me better than they do, except that they cannot answer.’^{‎[12]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/253.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

There are two probabilities for He was told; the first is that it was said to him through comprehensible words. The second is that it was said to him by an action without any utterance of words, placing him in paradise directly without telling him. Therefore, Enter paradise was an action that took him into paradise, such as the statement, All His command, when He wills something, is to say to it ‘Be,’ and it is (verse 82), and, Then it was said: ‘O earth, swallow your water! O sky, leave off!’ The waters receded; the edict was carried out (11:44).^{‎[13]Razi, 26/268.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee, he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies, we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So, whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him.^{‎[14]2 Corinthians 5:1-9.}

[1] Lane, p. 2995.
[2] Lane, p. 463.
[3] Lane, p. 2683.
[4] Tabrisi, 8/658.
[5] Mizan, 17/79.
[6] M l k in the online Quranic Arabic Corpus, < https://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=mlk >.
[7] Tabrisi, 8/659.
[8] It seems this is taken from a lengthy narration in which the Imam may be talking about a person.
[9] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/252.
[10] Amthal, 14/159.
[11] Bihar, 6/217.
[12] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/253.
[13] Razi, 26/268.
[14] 2 Corinthians 5:1-9.