The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 123
T H e J O u r NA l—F AT e H M A S IH T H e J O u r NA l—F AT e H M A S IH 123 accomplice in sin, then—O ye who are blind and short-sighted!— would He also not reward the body for its share in faith and virtu- ous deeds? When the dead shall be brought back to life, shall the dwellers of Paradise be given bodies frivolously? It is also self-evident that when the body, with all its facul- ties, shall be joined with the soul, then those bodily faculties will either be in bliss or in torment, because it is not possible that both these conditions [of bliss or torment] should be done away with. Thus, it has to be accepted that just as the body will suffer tor- ment in case of punishment, so shall it necessarily partake of a kind of bliss in case of reward. And it is this bliss that is detailed in the Noble Qur’an. But yes, God Almighty also says that the bounties of Paradise are beyond comprehension and you have not been granted their true knowledge. And you shall be blessed with bounties that are as yet veiled from you, that no one in the world has seen, nor heard of, nor has any idea of them passed through the heart of anyone. All of these veiled phenomena shall only be understood with all their mysteries, when they come to pass. All the promises contained in the Qur’an and the a ha d i th are in the form of similes and are accompanied with the state- ment that these matters are hidden and are not known to anyone. So, had those pleasures been only like the pleasure of drinking a sweet elixir or wine, or the pleasure of consorting with a woman in this world, then God Almighty would not have said that these are things that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has ever conceived. Therefore, we Muslims believe that Paradise, which is the place of reward for both the body and the soul, is not an imperfect and incomplete place of reward. Rather, both the body and the soul shall receive their reward in it according to