The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 78
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH (2) because the blessings of Heaven are 'hidden' from the eyes of man"; or again (3) because Heaven is like a garden in which the trees represent good faith and the streams good actions. ✓ (streams) is the plural of (nahr) or (nahar). They say i. e. the water flowed on the earth and cut out a channel for itself. Thus (nahr) or (nahar) means, a channel through which a stream or a river flows; a stream or river itself. (nahar) also means, abundance (Aqrab). (mates) is the plural of which signifies, anything that is one of a pair or couple; it does not mean a pair but only one of a pair, whether male or female (Aqrab). The word also means, a comrade (Lane). (shall abide) is derived from which means, he remained and lived on. kul means, he stayed or abided in a place. means, staying on, or living without change or deterioration for a long time but not necessarily forever (Aqrab & Mufradāt). Commentary: This verse gives a brief description of the rewards which the believers will have in the next world. Critics of Islam have raised all sorts of objections to this description. They say that: (1) The promise of such rewards is only an appeal to greed and a faith based upon greed is not worth the name. (2) The Quran promises material rewards to the believers and this is objectionable. (3) If the rewards of the next world 78 PT. 1 are going to be material, then it must be supposed that the same body which one has in this life will be resurrected after death and this is against all reason, because this body perishes and the particles of one body are used in the making of several other bodies. To whom and to how many will then the same body be given in the next world? (4) Believers are promised wives in Heaven which shows that sex relations will continue in the next world. An appeal to sex is very objectionable for spiritual ends. Sex relations are necessary only for the continuation of the race in this world. Why should there be such a thing in the next? (5) The Quranic Paradise appears to be a place of luxury and sensual pleasures. There is thus nothing spiritual about the Islamic conception of the next life. This criticism is based on a failure to understand the real Islamic teaching. The Quran has made it clear that in this life it is not possible for man to comprehend the nature of the rewards of the next. It says: No soul knows what joy of the eyes is kept hidden for them, as a reward for their actions (32:18). That is to say, whatever the Quran says: about Heaven and Hell is only metaphorical. The descriptions are not to be taken in the sense in which they are ordinarily taken in this world. The Holy Prophet says of the blessings of the next world: "No eye has seen them, nor has any ear heard of them; nor can the mind of man form any conception of them" (Bukhārī). If the blessings of the next