إِنَّ هٰذا كانَ لَكُم جَزاءً وَكانَ سَعيُكُم مَشكورًا

[They will be told]: ‘This is indeed your reward, and your endeavour has been well-appreciated.

EXEGESIS

This is the only verse that is framed such that the abrār are being addressed directly by God. This shift from the position of speaking about the abrār to the position of addressing the abrār takes place immediately after announcing that Their Lord will give them to drink a pure drink (verse 21).

EXPOSITION

God addresses the abrār and says: This is indeed your reward, and your endeavour has been well-appreciated. Consider that the Lord of all the worlds met moments of gratitude (3:145, 17:19) from His servant with an eternity of appreciation from Himself (35:29-30, 42:23, 64:17, 2:158, 4:147). In turn, they responded: All praise belongs to Allah, who has removed all grief from us. Indeed Our Lord is all-forgiving, all-appreciative (35:34).

There is a symmetry between the words of the abrār to those they came to aid, when they said: We desire no reward from you, nor thanks (verse 9), and the words of God spoken to the abrār in this verse. The first conclusion that can be drawn is that the very attitude of the abrār in coming to the aid of others has a great position in the sight of God and is hence being highlighted. Furthermore, it informs that since, in the performance of their good works, they only sought His countenance and desired no reward or appreciation from other than Him, He has made it incumbent upon Himself to ensure their reward and appreciation.

Taking this deeper, it is noticable that the shift in address, where the abrār are now spoken to directly by God, follows immediately after the description of the pure drink directly given to the abrār by Him. This suggests a causal relation between the consumption of the ṭahūr drink and a direct communion with God that implies entry into a higher realm of divine presence. By virtue of this very communion which is more direct, the abrār are made aware that they are now within greater spiritual proximity to the divine presence. From here, it is as if the Lord of the worlds then tells the abrār: ‘This, all the heavenly gifts you have been bestowed until this moment, would have been the limit of your reward and due appreciation if you had sought reward from Me instead of reward from My creation. However, since you sought what is greater than that and that is My countenance, then draw closer to Me. O My servant who sought My countenance alone, enter into a communion with your Lord that is so sweet and fulfilling that all other heavenly graces you have thus far come to know will pale away and fade in your sight’.

Indeed, by looking more closely at the spirit with which the abrār performed their deeds, it is revealing that they did not explicitly say that they wanted reward or thanks from God. Instead, they explicitly stated that they were seeking the countenance of their Lord (wajh allāh). It was shown, in the Exegesis of verse 9, that the abrār were seeking wajh allāh because their acts of devotion went beyond being motivated by God’s graces, and were sourced in the realisation that God is worthy of worship in His own right. This reality continues to be true for the true servants of God, in the hereafter as much as it was true in this world. Indeed, Allah has promised the faithful, men and women, gardens with streams running in them, to remain in them [forever], and good dwellings in the gardens of Eden. Yet Allah’s pleasure is greater [than all these]; that is the great success (9:72).