الآية رقم (36) - هَلْ ثُوِّبَ الْكُفَّارُ مَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ

(36) - (Have the disbelievers [not] been rewarded [this Day] for what they used to do? (36)

Have the disbelievers been punished on the Last Day for against what they used to do in life and for their taunting of the believers!!

الآية رقم (35) - عَلَى الْأَرَائِكِ يَنظُرُونَ

(35) - (On adorned couches, observing. (35)

This is to sooth the believers’ feelings while they are on the adorned couches in the Paradise observing the disbelievers and what Allah (swt) has done to them. Hence, the believers are satisfied with what they gained against the sarcasm they faced in this life.

الآية رقم (34) - فَالْيَوْمَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مِنَ الْكُفَّارِ يَضْحَكُونَ

(34) - (So Today those who believed are laughing at the disbelievers, (34)

(Today) refers to the Day of Judgement.

Rewards depend on the kind of deed, one for one, but a huge difference is between someone who laugh at and taunts in this worldly life and another one who laughs in the hereafter. Life is temporary and will end.

الآية رقم (33) - وَمَا أُرْسِلُوا عَلَيْهِمْ حَافِظِينَ

(33) - (But they had not been sent as guardians over them. (33)

The disbelievers were not sent as guardians over the believers, guarding their deeds and witnessing them being right or wrong, neither were they assigned to evaluate their conditions, rather, they were ordered to amend themselves, for to get busy with that is better than following others.

الآية رقم (32) - وَإِذَا رَأَوْهُمْ قَالُوا إِنَّ هَؤُلَاء لَضَالُّونَ

(32) - (And when they saw them, they would say, "Indeed, those are truly lost." (32)

They accuse the believers of going astray and their justification is the leaving of religion of the fore fathers.

الآية رقم (31) - وَإِذَا انقَلَبُواْ إِلَى أَهْلِهِمُ انقَلَبُواْ فَكِهِينَ

(31) - (And when they returned to their people, they would return jesting. (31)

فَكِهِينَ (Happy and joyful): A picture of their jesting and laughing at the believers.

الآية رقم (30) - وَإِذَا مَرُّواْ بِهِمْ يَتَغَامَزُونَ

(30) - (And when they passed by them, they would exchange derisive glances. (30)

The glance is with the eye in a concealed manner, it is a sign of sarcasm.

الآية رقم (29) - إِنَّ الَّذِينَ أَجْرَمُوا كَانُواْ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يَضْحَكُونَ

(29) - (Indeed, those who committed crimes used to laugh at those who believed. (29)

Allah (swt) presented to us a picture of the physical abuse in the matter of giving less in scale and weight and how the high rank people control the weak in their food and living morsels. Here Allah (swt) is talking about the moral and psychological abuse:

Making fun, mockery, irony, taunting, superiority with falsehood and boasting in the face of the truth, Allah (swt) clarifies these expressions so that we know that their greatest crime is the betraying of Allah (swt).

(Used to) refers to past, the time of it has ended, while the word (to laugh) in Arabic came in the present tense, as if the verb is happening now. Allah (swt) did not say (those who committed crimes laughed at those who believed), to visualize the picture of this case and how it harmed the soul of the believers.

الآية رقم (28) - عَيْنًا يَشْرَبُ بِهَا الْمُقَرَّبُونَ

(28) - (A spring by which those near [to Allah] drink. (28)

عَيْنًا (a spring): A spring bursting from a high place in the Paradise. We know that a spring water comes from below, but this spring comes from above.

بِهَا (by): We do not drink from it but (by) it. It is a very strange image that we cannot imagine. It is very different from what we see in life, so do not think that the wine of the last Day is the same one of this life.

الآية رقم (27) - وَمِزَاجُهُ مِن تَسْنِيمٍ

(27) - (And its mixture is of Tasneem, (27)

Tasneem means it is a noble drink of high position. This Arabic word is derived from the word سنم (The highest point of a thing), so we use it for the camel. This indicates that the wine of the Paradise is different from the wine of this worldly life; it is the noblest drink in Paradise.

الآية رقم (26) - خِتَامُهُ مِسْكٌ وَفِي ذَلِكَ فَلْيَتَنَافَسِ الْمُتَنَافِسُونَ

(26) - (The last of it is musk. So for this let the competitors compete. (26)

The last of anything is the end of it, the drinker will find musk at the end of his drink.

This is not an envy, rather, competing in good deeds to reach the day which Allah (swt) is talking about

الآية رقم (25) - يُسْقَوْنَ مِن رَّحِيقٍ مَّخْتُومٍ

(25) - (They will be given to drink [pure] wine [which was] sealed. (25)

Allah (swt) did not say (they drink) because it will be given to them, Allah (swt) says:

 {يَطُوفُ عَلَيْهِمْ وِلْدَانٌ مُّخَلَّدُونَ % بِأَكْوَابٍ وَأَبَارِيقَ وَكَأْسٍ مِّن مَّعِينٍ }

(There will circulate among them young boys made eternal % With vessels, pitchers and a cup [of wine] from a flowing spring -.)

(Al-Aaqia: 17-18)

رَّحِيقٍ (pure wine): Which is not mixed or contaminated.

مَّخْتُومٍ (sealed): sealed and prevented from any touch, waiting for the righteous to open them and drink from them.

الآية رقم (24) - تَعْرِفُ فِي وُجُوهِهِمْ نَضْرَةَ النَّعِيمِ

(24) - (You will recognize in their faces the radiance of pleasure. (24)

The pleasure that shows on their faces is the mirror reflecting what is inside the soul.

الآية رقم (23) - عَلَى الْأَرَائِكِ يَنظُرُونَ

(23) - (On adorned couches, observing. (23)

Allah (swt) enumerates the aspects of pleasure and this is the first one. The interpreters said that a couch is a bed according to what we know in the human language, while the one which is in the Paradise is unseen to us, no eye has ever seen it, nor its shape occurred to a human’s heart, so it does not exist in a language, as the word is given after its meaning appears. That is why the Holy Qur’an says in describing the Paradise:

 {مَّثَلُ الْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي وُعِدَ الْمُتَّقُونَ}

(The example of Paradise, which the righteous have been promised,) (Ar-Ra’d: 35)

Allah (swt) brings the meaning closer to mind by an explanatory example. Allah (swt) also says:

{ فَلَا تَعْلَمُ نَفْسٌ مَّا أُخْفِيَ لَهُم مِّن قُرَّةِ أَعْيُنٍ جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُون}

(And no soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort for eyes as reward for what they used to do.) (As-Sajda: 17)

The Prophet, as well, described the Paradise by saying:

(“Allah Most High said: ‘I have prepared for My righteous worshipers what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived.)[1]

The Truthful’s (swt) saying:

عَلَى الْأَرَائِكِ يَنظُرُونَ

(On adorned couches, observing. (23)

Gives us another meaning: In life you can sit on fancy couches and at the same time you may be worried about anything, busy from the pleasures that surrounding you and you do not feel them, whereas, in paradise, there is nothing that distract mankind from pleasure, he will live in it, busy with it.

[1] Sahih Bukhari, Book of Beginning of Creation, The Pertaining to Paradise, Its description, Hadith No. 3072

الآية رقم (22) - إِنَّ الْأَبْرَارَ لَفِي نَعِيمٍ

(22) - (Indeed, the righteous will be in pleasure (22)

The word “pleasure” combines all that is pleasurable to mankind that bring him full satisfaction and wish for no more. Actually, the pleasure of the Last Day is more deserving of that name than any other pleasure.

الآية رقم (21) - يَشْهَدُهُ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ

(21) - (Which is witnessed by those brought near [to Allah]. (21)

Witnessed by the those living in heaven; the angels, because the record of the righteous is an honorable pure book.

الْمُقَرَّبُونَ (those brought near to Allah): The angels in the highness because everything in this book is about obedience to Allah (swt). Since angels love obedience because they are honoured slaves who do not disobey Allah (swt) whatever He (swt) commands them and they do what they are ordered to do. However, this verse is not mentioned concerning the record of the wicked, because it is a Book of evil, guilts and badness, so how the angels will witness it!!

When the speaking was about the Book of the wicked, the context moves directly from (It is [their destination recorded in] a register inscribed (9) to (Woe, that Day, to the deniers, (10)), because their book is a misfortune and disgrace upon them, they are ashamed of it, wishing not to see it. While, the Book of the righteous is witnessed by those near to Allah (swt) which indicates the harmony of the universe with obeying Allah (swt) and showing Him (swt) submissiveness and enslavement.

الآية رقم (9) - كِتَابٌ مَّرْقُومٌ

(9) - (It is a register inscribed. (9))

مَّرْقُومٌ (inscribed): It is derived from the Arabic word الرقم (The writing and engraving on stone), meaning, it is a Book in which the deeds are recorded in a way similar to a fixed engraving that is permanent. It is documented, not erasable. Or,

مَّرْقُومٌ (known): It is known to its owner. So, the Book of the wicked is marked with the characteristics of the wicked, so this Book is so documented and precise that disclaim any suspicion of forgery, adding or omitting because the writers are the noble angels who know what you do.

الآية رقم (19) - وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا عِلِّيُّونَ

(19) - (And what can make you know what is 'illiyyun? (19)

This position is beyond our imagination, we have no knowledge about, because the highness has different meanings in language, while here it is as Allah (swt) wants it to mean.

الآية رقم (18) - كَلَّا إِنَّ كِتَابَ الْأَبْرَارِ لَفِي عِلِّيِّينَ

(18) - (No! Indeed, the record of the righteous is in 'illiyyun. (18)

The righteous refers to the person who has collected good and righteous merits.

Illiyyun is a word that indicates and refers to a high position, sublimity and nobleness.

الآية رقم (17) - ثُمَّ يُقَالُ هَذَا الَّذِي كُنتُم بِهِ تُكَذِّبُونَ

(17) - (Then it will be said [to them], "This is what you used to deny." (17)

This is the punishment which you lied about in the life.