Topic: Peace Of

14:24; 36:59.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that on having been endowed with the rewards of Heaven and on experiencing its supreme bliss, the believers will at once cry out, Glory be to Thee, O Allah. This glorification will be spontaneous and instinctive, because in Heaven the true reality of things will become manifest to all. Even in this life a true believer praises and glorifies God whenever he sees a praiseworthy thing, the inward reality of which he does not know. He does so because he knows that no work of God is devoid of wisdom. But in Heaven, the reality of all things will become apparent to man. He will come to realize on the basis of his personal observation and experience that every work of God is founded in deep wisdom. The realization of this eternal truth will make him exclaim instinctively and involuntarily, Glory be to Thee, o Allah.

The verse proceeds to say that believers in Heaven will salute each other with the greeting of peace. In fact, all our sufferings (i.e. lack of peace) in this world are due to our ignorance of the true reality and properties of things and, as these will be disclosed to us in Heaven, we shall attain there complete and real peace, for we shall then become secure against all harm by knowing the true properties of all things and will get complete freedom from pain and suffering. Hence, after glorifying God on learning the realities of things and experiencing the complete bliss of Heaven, believers will go about exclaiming, "There is peace here, nothing but peace", for, after attaining perfect knowledge of things, they will no longer suffer by making wrong use of them.

Finally, when believers will see perfect peace reigning in Heaven and will have vented their happy feelings to one another, they will turn again to God and the conclusion of their prayer will be, "All praise be to Allah, Who has placed us in such a place of perfect bliss."

6:128.

Important Words:

سلام (peace) is the noun-infinitive from سلم which means, he was or became safe or secure; he escaped; he was or became free. They say سلم من الافات او العیب i.e. he became safe, secure or free from evils of any kind or from fault, defect, imperfection, blemish or vice. سلام therefore means, safety, security, immunity or freedom from faults or from defects, imperfections, blemishes or vices; or simply safety, security, immunity or freedom; peace; obedience; Heaven. It is also one of the names of God (Lane & Aqrab). See also 2:209 & 3:20.

Commentary:

As shown under Important Words, the word سلام means, peace, obedience, Heaven and God. Therefore the words, Allah calls to the abode of peace, will mean also that (1) God lays down obedience as a characteristic of believers; and (2) God makes believers heirs to the blessings of Heaven; and (3) God places true believers in a position from where they see God face to face.

The words, and guides whom He pleases to the straight path, here mean that there is a special class of people whom God attracts to Himself by the shortest route because a "straight path" is necessarily the shortest. This class comprises the Prophets and other chosen ones of God.

39:74.

Commentary:

The entering of the angels through every gate, referred to in the preceding verse, signifies that the angels will tell the inmates of Paradise that the latter had entered it through a particular gate on account of a particular good deed done by them and that their different virtues had been represented to them as different gates. By saying, Peace be unto you, as used in the present verse, the angels will remind believers that, as they practised every kind of virtue, they will enjoy every kind and form of peace from every side, the word سلام (peace) being repeated at every gate of Paradise separately.

The construction of the expression سلام علیکم (peace be unto you) is also intended to signify that the bliss of Paradise will be abiding and permanent because believers were "steadfast" i.e. displayed patience constantly and in all circumstances. The verse, therefore, purports to say to believers: "You stuck to virtue as long as you lived, thus you can rightly be regarded as having performed your duty. It was not in your power to avoid death. You adhered to virtue as long as it was in your power to do so. When, therefore, the hand of death put a stop to your good deeds, it became incumbent on God to grant you perpetual peace and everlasting bliss even as you would have ever continued on the path of virtue if you had lived." The verse thus contains an effective answer to the objection, "How can deeds of limited duration win unlimited reward?"

The verse also shows that those who lose heart under trials are not deserving of Paradise. Only those are deserving who maintain their connection with God in all circumstances and persevere in the doing of good deeds till the very end. See also v. 23.

15:43; 16:100; 17:66.

10:11; 15:47; 36:59; 50:35.

Important Words:

اذن (command) means, permission; knowledge; will; command, etc. (Aqrab & Taj). See also 2:280.

تحیة (greeting) means, prayer for peace and for long or everlasting life; greeting with such prayer; peace and good and long life; security from all evils. When used about God the word التحیةsignifies الاکرام والاحسانi.e. bestowal of honour and favours by God (Aqrab & Lane). See also 4:87.

Commentary:

Deriving their authority from the words, by the command of their Lord, commentators have generally held the view that man’s going to Heaven depends not on his own good actions but upon the grace of God. This is not a wrong inference, for even the Holy Prophet is reported to have once expressed the same view. To an enquiry of ‘A’ishah whether even in his case good actions would not establish the right of salvation, the Holy Prophet is reported to have replied that even his salvation depended on the grace of God (Bukhari, Kitabut-Tafsir). In fact, the reason why people will go to Heaven, not by dint of their good works, but through the grace of God, is that all the faculties and powers by means of which they are able to perform good works are the free gift of God; hence it is from the grace of God that men’s good works proceed, and therefore whatever they get as a reward of their good works they receive as a favour from God and not as something earned or acquired.

The verse, however, possesses another meaning also. A true believer really needs and seeks after no Paradise; the only desire of his heart is to win God’s pleasure and His nearness. So if he is placed in Paradise, that will be only in obedience to God’s command and His wish. This interpretation is supported by a saying of the Holy Prophet. He is reported to have said that the doers of good works are divided into three classes. Some of them do good works with a desire to enter Heaven, while others do so in order to escape the punishment of Hell. But there is yet another class of people whose good works proceed wholly and solely from a desire to win the pleasure of God, their Lord and Master (Kathir, v. 5, p. 122). For these fortunate lovers of their Creator, Paradise will be but an additional thing and not the object and goal of their life.

The words, Their greeting therein will be "peace," may mean: (a) that they will greet each other with the salutation of "Peace be on you"; or (b) that they will have their perfect peace and be safe from all harm and injury against one another; and (c) that their best gift in Heaven will be "Peace" i.e. they will receive the special favours of God and the angels will stimulate into action all their inherent and latent powers for good.

Commentary:

The words, Enter therein with peace in safety, seem to have been spoken to believers by angels. Just as angels encourage believers with the message of good cheer and divine pleasure in this life (10:65) they will come forward to convey the same message to them in the life to come.

The words "peace" and "security" signify, respectively, freedom from internal anxieties that eat into the heart of a person and from external pain and punishment.

The word سلام (peace) also points to the permanent promise held out to believers, and expressed in the clause سلام قولا من رب الرحیم 'Peace'—a message from your Lord, the Merciful (36:59).

The verse also shows that so long as the greeting of "peace" does not reach a man from God, he can enjoy no security. The verse further implies that in spite of the challenge of Satan that he would mislead believers (v. 40), the latter will not fail to enter the eternal abode of bliss.

52:24; 56:26; 78:36.

Commentary:

الا (but) is used here either as استثناء متصل or استثناء منقطع. In the former case the verse would mean that the apparently superfluous talk would also be productive of peace and will result in something useful and beneficial. In the latter case it would mean that the believers will hear nothing vain and useless but will live in perfect peace because there will be peace all round them. They will live in the presence of God Who is peace (59:24) and reside in the abode of peace (6:128) and angels will enter upon them with greetings of peace (13:25). For a full discussion about استثناء منقطع see 2:35.

The verse may also signify that the believers will attain such a high stage of righteousness in the gardens of eternity that they will hear no disparaging talk about one another i.e. there will be found absolutely no suspicion of any kind.

The sentence, They will have their sustenance therein, morning and evening, means that the believers will constantly hear the sweet voice of God, enjoy His sight and will receive the message of eternal peace. The word "sustenance" covers and applies to all these things.

10:11; 14:24; 33:45.

Commentary:

In a single word سلام meaning "peace," the verse sums up all the various blessings of Paradise—peace with God, and peace with one’s ownself, i.e. peace of mind and soul. This is the highest stage of heavenly bliss.

13:25.

Commentary:

The righteous and the God-fearing will have success, honour and prosperity bestowed upon them in this life, and they will make unceasing spiritual progress and will bask forever in the sun of Divine pleasure and bliss in the life to come.

The word طبتم may also mean, because you led good and pure lives.

14:24; 15:47; 36:59.

Commentary:

However dreadful its punishments may appear, Hell, according to the Quran, is a temporary penitentiary, while Heaven is an eternal abode; its blessings know no limit or end (11:109).

19:63; 78:36; 88:12.

Commentary:

This and the preceding verse, like many other verses of the Quran, effectively repudiate all those foolish notions about a sensual Paradise which ignorant and evil-minded carpers and critics of Islam pretend to find in the Quran, and gives an insight into its nature, essence and reality. The Heaven as conceived and promised to Muslims by the Quran would be a place of spiritual bliss where no sin, vain or idle talk, or lying will find access (78:36). All the blessings of Paradise would find their culmination and consummation in peace—complete peace of the mind and soul. And there could be no greater blessing than peace of mind. The Paradise promised to a Muslim has been designated as the "abode of peace" in the Quran (6:128); the highest stage of spiritual development to which a believer can rise is that of the "soul at peace" (89:28) and the greatest gift which the dwellers of Paradise will receive from God will be "peace" (36:59), because God Himself is the Author of peace (59:24). Such is the sublime Quranic conception of Paradise.