إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا وَٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ عَنْهَا لَا تُفَتَّحُ لَهُمْ أَبْوَٰبُ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَلَا يَدْخُلُونَ ٱلْجَنَّةَ حَتَّىٰ يَلِجَ ٱلْجَمَلُ فِى سَمِّ ٱلْخِيَاطِ ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى ٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ
7:37.
Important Words:
الجمل (camel) is the noun-infinitive from جمل. They say جمل الشیء i.e. he collected the thing. جمل الشھم means, he melted the fat. جمل (jamila) or جمل (jamula) with different vowel points at the central root letter, means, he was or became beautiful, goodly or pleasing in person or behaviour. جمل means, a he-camel; a full grown he-camel; a camel; palm-trees as being likened to the he-camel in respect of their tallness and bigness; a large sea fish or whale (Lane.) It also means a cable or a ship’s rope (Aqrab).
Commentary:
With this verse begins a description of the life after death, a brief reference to which was made in the three preceding verses.
Heaven is the lofty abode of true believers. The Holy Prophet used to say that it is the souls of the righteous that shall reside in the garden of Heaven, while those of the wicked shall descend into the pit of Hell.
The words, the gates of the spiritual firmament will not be opened for them, signify that rejecters of God’s signs are never vouchsafed the spiritual knowledge and the nearness of God granted to believers.
Though in the translation the word جمل has been rendered as 'camel' following a parallel expression in the New Testament (Matt. 19:24), yet the Arabic sentence may be better explained by using the word 'rope', for a rope rather than a camel bears a resemblance to the thread which is passed through the eye of a needle. The expression, until a camel (or a rope) goes through the eye of a needle, signifies that it will be impossible for rejecters of God’s Signs to enter Heaven.
See 7:37.
Jamal may also mean a rope, for a rope bears a better resemblance to the thread which is passed through the eye of a needle. It will not be possible for rejectors of God’s Signs to enter Heaven. See Matt. 19: 24.