al-Raḥmān

وَمِن دُونِهِمَا جَنَّتَانِ

فَبِأيِّ آلَآء رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

62. And besides these two Gardens, there are two other Gardens.

63. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both [jinn and men] deny?

Resuming the discussion the two Gardens in Paradise in store for the God fearing and the enumeration of Divine Blessings, the blessed Verse 62 makes mention of two Gardens in Paradise located on a lower level reserved naturally for those who are on a lower level of belief in and fearing God Almighty. In other words, there is a hierarchy in terms of belief in God Almighty and doing righteous good deeds. Thus, the blessed Verse in question is saying that two other Gardens are to be found on a level lower than that of the aforementioned Gardens. There are two interpretations for the blessed Verse one of which was already mentioned.

According to the other interpretation, the phrase:

"besides these two"

(min dunihima) connotes that there are two other Gardens for the same believers who may enjoy themselves in those two Gardens as well, since man seeks diversity by nature and is delighted by the same. Nonetheless, taking into account the contextual meaning and the traditions narrated regarding the interpretation of the blessed Verse in question, the former interpretation is seemingly more consistent. Thus, according to a tradition narrated from Imam Sadiq (as):⁵

"Do not say that Paradise is one since God Almighty says that besides those two Paradises, there are two others. Do not say either that there is solely one level, since God Almighty says some levels are higher than others and the difference in levels is a matter of degrees."

In this vein, there is a Prophetic tradition according to which

"Two Paradises are from gold for those near to God Almighty and two Paradises for the people of the Right Hand."

The blessed Verse 63 poses the oft-repeated rhetorical question:

"Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both [jinn and men] deny?"

Footnotes

1. 5. Tafsir Majma‘ al-Bayan.