27. “(It will be said to some) O, you serene soul!" 28. “Come back to your Lord well-pleased (with Him) and well-pleasing (Him)," 29. “So enter among My servants," 30.”And enter into My Garden.”
O, You Possessor of the Serene Soul!
In contrast to the previous verses about the terrible chastisement of the transgressors and the lovers of this world in the Hereafter, the following verses are about the calmness of the righteous on Doomsday. The Qur'an addresses them very kindly and says:
"(It will be said to some) O, you serene soul!"
“Come back to your Lord well-pleased (with Him) and well-pleasing (Him),"
"So enter among My servants,"
“And enter into My Garden.”
How interesting and delightful these words are; full of grace, peace, tranquility and confidence! It is a direct invitation from Allah to the souls who are at peace with confidence, because of their Faith. Allah invites them to return to Him, to their Possessor, and Cherisher. It is an invitation combined with mutual satisfaction; the satisfaction of the lover with the beloved and the satisfaction of the beloved lover, the one being worshipped. Consequently, he is being honoured with the crown of servitude and being placed in a position of high rank by Him.
Then, he is invited to enter the Garden with the words,
'And enter into My Garden'
which denotes that the host is only Allah, Himself.
What An Invitation! What a Host! What Serenity!
The term
/nafs/ 'soul’,
here means the spirit of Man, and the term
/mutmainnah/ 'serene'
denotes to the peace and rest that is attained by Faith, as the Qur'an says:
“...now surely by Allah's remembrance are the hearts confident”27.
Such a soul is both confident in Allah's promises and is sure of the way he has chosen. He is aware of both excesses and afflictions and also about the disasters and terrible events of this world but has faith in Allah's Mercy. The most important point here is the soul's confidence in that, even in the great horror of the Hereafter he is at peace and rest. Some commentators believe that the objective point of
‘Come back to your Lord'
is 'returning to His virtue and Mercy’, but, it is better to say 'return to Him, Himself', i.e., to be placed close to Him, which is a spiritual return not a corporal or spatial one. Does this invitation to return to the Lord occur only in the Hereafter, or at the time of departure of the soul from the body? The context of the verses, of course, refers to the Hereafter, but the meaning of the verse, by itself, is broad and general. The term
/radiyah/ ‘well-pleased'
is used, because the soul will see that all of the promises for the divine rewards are perfectly true and also so great that they are beyond his imagination. The soul-will receive Allah’s Mercy and Grace, so much so that he will become utterly delighted. And the word
/mardiyyah/ ‘well-pleasing’
is used to mean that 'his deeds' have been contentedly accepted by Allah. Such a servant, with these characteristics who has attained the rank of perfect submission and has reached true servitude which is donating all for Allah’s sake, and has joined 'the high ranks’ will certainly have no abode, but Heaven. Some commentaries denote that these verses were revealed about 'Hamzah, Saiyed-ash-Shuhada', but regarding the Surah, which is Meccan, this attitude is indeed a kind of verification, not used for the occasion of revelation, as it was also mentioned about Imam Husain, at the beginning of the Surah.
It is interesting to note that a narration from Imam Sadiq (as) which is cited in 'al-Kafi' says that one of his companions asked whether a believer may become discontented when his soul is being taken. He (as) replied:
"By Allah, No! When the angel of death comes to take his soul the believer shows restlessness and the angel says:
'O, Lover of Allah! Be not upset! By He Who has appointed Muhammad (S) to prophethood, I am more sympathetic to you than a kind father. Look carefully!’”
He looks carefully and sees Prophet Muhammad, Amir-al- Mo'mineen Ali, Fatimah, Hasan, Husain and other Imams from their descendents (as). The angel tells him to look and see that they (as) are all his friends. He opens his eyes and watches. A caller from Almighty Allah suddenly beckons and says:
“O, you serene soul! Come back to your Lord well-pleased (with Him) and well-pleasing (Him). So enter among My servants. And enter into My Garden”.
At that moment there is nothing better and more beloved than that his soul separates from his body as soon as possible and moves unto his Lord. 28
Supplication
O Lord! Uplift us to such a peace and rest that we can discern this beautiful invitation.
O Lord! To attain this rank is not possible save by Your Grace. Please bestow on us Your Grace and Mercy.
O Lord! Certainly Your Graciousness will not decrease if You count us among the possessors of the 'Serene Soul'. We seek it from You. Please cast a favor over us and forgive us.
O Lord! We know that this rank is not prepared except by our remembrance of You. Leave us with the success of this remembrance.
Footnotes
27. Surah Ra’d, No. 13, verse 28
28. al-Kafi, vol. 3, Chapter: Believers and the Departure of the Soul, Tradition 2.
Surah Fajr, Verses 27-30
27. “(It will be said to some) O, you serene soul!"
28. “Come back to your Lord well-pleased (with Him) and well-pleasing (Him),"
29. “So enter among My servants,"
30.”And enter into My Garden.”
O, You Possessor of the Serene Soul!
In contrast to the previous verses about the terrible chastisement of the transgressors and the lovers of this world in the Hereafter, the following verses are about the calmness of the righteous on Doomsday. The Qur'an addresses them very kindly and says:
How interesting and delightful these words are; full of grace, peace, tranquility and confidence! It is a direct invitation from Allah to the souls who are at peace with confidence, because of their Faith. Allah invites them to return to Him, to their Possessor, and Cherisher. It is an invitation combined with mutual satisfaction; the satisfaction of the lover with the beloved and the satisfaction of the beloved lover, the one being worshipped. Consequently, he is being honoured with the crown of servitude and being placed in a position of high rank by Him.
Then, he is invited to enter the Garden with the words,
which denotes that the host is only Allah, Himself.
What An Invitation! What a Host! What Serenity!
The term
here means the spirit of Man, and the term
denotes to the peace and rest that is attained by Faith, as the Qur'an says:
Such a soul is both confident in Allah's promises and is sure of the way he has chosen. He is aware of both excesses and afflictions and also about the disasters and terrible events of this world but has faith in Allah's Mercy. The most important point here is the soul's confidence in that, even in the great horror of the Hereafter he is at peace and rest. Some commentators believe that the objective point of
is 'returning to His virtue and Mercy’, but, it is better to say 'return to Him, Himself', i.e., to be placed close to Him, which is a spiritual return not a corporal or spatial one. Does this invitation to return to the Lord occur only in the Hereafter, or at the time of departure of the soul from the body? The context of the verses, of course, refers to the Hereafter, but the meaning of the verse, by itself, is broad and general. The term
is used, because the soul will see that all of the promises for the divine rewards are perfectly true and also so great that they are beyond his imagination. The soul-will receive Allah’s Mercy and Grace, so much so that he will become utterly delighted. And the word
is used to mean that 'his deeds' have been contentedly accepted by Allah. Such a servant, with these characteristics who has attained the rank of perfect submission and has reached true servitude which is donating all for Allah’s sake, and has joined 'the high ranks’ will certainly have no abode, but Heaven. Some commentaries denote that these verses were revealed about 'Hamzah, Saiyed-ash-Shuhada', but regarding the Surah, which is Meccan, this attitude is indeed a kind of verification, not used for the occasion of revelation, as it was also mentioned about Imam Husain, at the beginning of the Surah.
It is interesting to note that a narration from Imam Sadiq (as) which is cited in 'al-Kafi' says that one of his companions asked whether a believer may become discontented when his soul is being taken. He (as) replied:
"By Allah, No! When the angel of death comes to take his soul the believer shows restlessness and the angel says:
'O, Lover of Allah! Be not upset! By He Who has appointed Muhammad (S) to prophethood, I am more sympathetic to you than a kind father. Look carefully!’”
He looks carefully and sees Prophet Muhammad, Amir-al- Mo'mineen Ali, Fatimah, Hasan, Husain and other Imams from their descendents (as). The angel tells him to look and see that they (as) are all his friends. He opens his eyes and watches. A caller from Almighty Allah suddenly beckons and says:
At that moment there is nothing better and more beloved than that his soul separates from his body as soon as possible and moves unto his Lord. 28
Supplication
O Lord! Uplift us to such a peace and rest that we can discern this beautiful invitation.
O Lord! To attain this rank is not possible save by Your Grace. Please bestow on us Your Grace and Mercy.
O Lord! Certainly Your Graciousness will not decrease if You count us among the possessors of the 'Serene Soul'. We seek it from You. Please cast a favor over us and forgive us.
O Lord! We know that this rank is not prepared except by our remembrance of You. Leave us with the success of this remembrance.
Footnotes