The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 109
PT. 27 AṬ-ṬŪR CH. 52 وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَاتَّبَعَتُهُمْ ذُرِّيَّتُهُمْ And those who believe and. 22 whose children follow them in their children. " And We will not بِإِيْمَانِ الْحَقْنَا بِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَمَا faith-with them shall We join الَتُنْهُم مِّنْ عَمَلِهِمْ مِّنْ شَيْءٍ diminish anything from the bad'ul-khalq). "40:9. 4. Life after death is only an image and manifestation of the present life and the rewards and punishments of the next world would be only embodiments and images of the actions done in this life. Heaven and Hell are not new material worlds which come from outside. It is true that they shall be visible and palpable, call them material, if you please, but they are only embodiments of the spiritual facts of this life. The spiritual torture of this world has been represented in the Quran as a physical punishment in the next. The chains to be put round the necks of disbelievers, for instance, represent the desires of this world which keep a man's head bent upon the earth, and it is these desires that shall assume the shape of chains. Similarly, the entanglements of this world shall be seen as fetters on the feet in the next. The heart-burning of this world shall likewise be clearly seen as flames of burning fire, and the love which a believer feels for his Lord and Creator will embodied as wine in the life to come, etc. Thus there will be gardens, streams, milk, honey, flesh of birds, wine, fruits, thrones, companions and many other things in Paradise; but they will not be the things of this appear world but the embodiments of spiritual facts of the life of this world. 5. There will be no sin, levity, or vain talk in Paradise, no pleasures of the flesh as we understand them, but all-pervading peace and pleasure of God (56:26-27). In view of this Quranic conception of Paradise, it is the height of ignorance or blind prejudice to suggest that the Quran promises a sensuous Paradise to its followers. Moreover, the words and عين and as explained under Important Words above, present no difficulty and, in view of these explanations, the verse may mean that in Paradise the righteous servants of God will be made to live with pure and clean companions whose faces will be shining with radiant spiritual beauty; or they will have as companions fair maidens, i. e. their wives. vast Besides, the promise, made to the righteous in this ands the following verses, was literally fulfilled when Muslims the conquered territories of the Byzantine and Iranian Empires, and all these things fell into their hands and thus the promise incontrovertible testimony to the fact that the promise about the next life is also true. 3005 constituted an