Exegesis of Verses (22 - 38) of Surat al-Waqi'ah.

The Shaykh : And may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
This is the two-hundredth second meeting of the well-known Al-Bab al-Maftuh (The Open Door) meeting, which takes place every Thursday. This Thursday is the sixth of the month of Muharram in the year 1420. I ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, to make these meetings and similar ones beneficial for everyone. Next week will be a break for us and for you.
We begin this meeting with what we have become accustomed to, which is speaking about some verses of the Wise Book. We ended with the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, regarding the reward of those who race to good deeds in this world, and those who race to obey Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and those who race to the reward of Allah on the Day of Resurrection, and what Allah has prepared for them in the Gardens of Delight.
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: "Hoor" means: white. "Ayn" means: beautiful eyes, because "ayn" is the plural of "ayna," which is one who has a wide, beautiful eye.
"Al-Maknoon" means: covered so that the sun, air, or dust does not spoil it, so that it is pure of the finest pearls.
Meaning: they are rewarded with this abundant reward So "ma" here can be a verbal noun (masdar) and it can be a relative pronoun. The "ba" here is for causality. The "ba" in the Arabic language is a known preposition with many meanings depending on the context. For example, if I say: "I sold you a garment for a dinar," the "ba" here is for the price, meaning: this is the price of that, so the price is equivalent to the item and there is no difference between them. And the "ba" comes for causality as in His saying, the Exalted: So His saying: means: because of it.
The "ba" here is it for the price or for causality? We ask the brother. Yes, it is for the price. Do you know the difference between them? The price means that the two things are equivalent. Who knows? The brother, come on, answer. From whom? Yes.

The questioner : Causality.

The Shaykh : The "ba" is for causality. Yes, the "ba" is for causality and it is not suitable to be for the price, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): Meaning: for a price .
So the "ba" in His saying: means: because of their deeds, and it does not mean that it is a price. Because if Allah wanted to give us a price, one blessing would encompass all our deeds, is that not so? But if we count our deeds, we would enumerate them. Pay attention to this! And for this reason, some scholars found it difficult how Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) says: They answered that the "ba" in the negation is a "ba" of price, and the "ba" in the affirmation is a "ba" of what? A "ba" of causality.
Meaning: the people of Paradise Meaning: speech that has no benefit Meaning: speech by which a person sins. So ugly speech does not exist, and speech that has no good in it does not exist.
His saying: This is called by grammarians a disconnected exception (istithna' munqati'). The disconnected exception is one in which the excepted item is of a different kind than the item from which it is excepted. So His saying: Is it from idle talk? Answer: No. From sinning? No. So the exception here is disconnected, and the sign of a disconnected exception is that you replace "illa" (except) with "lakin" (but) and the speech remains correct. So here, if it were said in other than the Qur'an: "They do not hear therein idle talk or sinning, but speech," the speech would be correct. So "illa" here is for the completion of the disconnected exception because the excepted item is not of the same kind as the item from which it is excepted. And like that is His saying, Blessed and Exalted: His saying: Here the exception is disconnected because what is after "illa" is not of the same kind as what is before it, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) is not a controller, neither over the disbelievers nor over others. So "illa" here means what? But. And for this reason, the "fa" came And upon this, if someone stopped and said: The stop is correct because "illa" here is disconnected and not connected to what is before it.
Meaning: except speech that contains peace and bringing joy and happiness among the people of Paradise, may Allah make us and you among them.
Then He said, Mighty and Majestic: This is the second group. What was the first group described as? The second group is "Dunhum" (below them) is a question of wonder and magnification, meaning: what kind of people are these?
How many is this? Six.
The Sidr is known, a known tree with a cool shade that is refreshing. But do not think that the Sidr in Paradise is like the Sidr in this world. The name is the same and the meaning is different, as Allah, the Exalted, said: And if what is in Paradise were like what is in this world, we would know. But the name is a name and the meaning differs, meaning the reality of the thing differs.
Meaning: it has no thorns.
The Talmakh is said to be the banana tree, and "al-mundud" means: filled with fruit. But even with this, what is in Paradise is not like what is in this world.
"Zil" (shade) means: it has no end, because there is no sun in Paradise. There is no sun, rather it is shade. Some of the Salaf described it as being like the light that is near the rising of the sun. You find the earth filled with light but you do not see the sun. So it is an extended shade, meaning: extended in area, extended in time, permanent.
Fruit is any food or drink by which a person takes pleasure, because your food and drink are sometimes necessary and customary, you do not take pleasure in it, but it is something necessary for survival. And the second is fruit by which a person takes pleasure, like what? Fruit in this world: apples, oranges, bananas, many things. Okay, means: there is no scarcity in it. At any time you find this fruit, whereas in this world fruits have what? They have specific times when they are cut off. For this reason, He said: Meaning: it is not cut off ever, at all times, night and day, even though there is no night or day, but it is permanent. Meaning: no one prevents you from it. Rather, Allah, the Exalted, said: Meaning: what a person picks from the fruit is near. So much so that if a person desires a fruit above, the branch descends until it is before him. Allah is the Greatest! Without effort. The fruit of this world is cut off, it comes in one time and not another. Is it forbidden or not forbidden? It is also forbidden. You cannot enter the orchard and eat as you wish; the owner of the orchard prevents you. But in the Hereafter, no.
As for His saying: And it is before this verse, I forgot it. The meaning is that it is continuous, permanent water, as Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: Permanently. And other than water, there are also other rivers of honey, milk, and khamr (intoxicants). So the types are four. And it has come in the hadith that these rivers flow without a channel. Do you know a channel? Who knows? What? No. Now, the irrigation canals have a channel, meaning something raised. We call it in our language, the people of Qassim, "al-zillah"... Do you know it like this? Okay. This prevents the water from going right and left, right and left. Paradise has no channel. Also in this world, if there is no channel, it is necessary to dig for the water to walk with this digging. In Paradise, there is neither this nor that. Rivers walk without a channel. Subhan Allah al-Azeem! Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said in *Al-Nuniyyah*:
"Its rivers flow in no channel *** Subhan of the One who holds them back from overflowing"
Allah is the Most Great, (Glorified and Exalted is He)! You do not need to labor by digging trenches or digging ditches. If someone asks: Is this possible? We say: Do not ask if this is possible. Believe it. As for whether it is possible or not, that is not the issue. Reports of the unseen do not have a category of "possible" or "impossible." Believe, and do not ask. Did not the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) inform us that Allah descends to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains? The answer is: Yes. And He, (Glorified and Exalted is He), has absolute elevation. How can He be elevated and yet descend? How is that? What is obligatory? The obligation is to believe, and we do not ask "how," because this is beyond the capacity of our minds. O my young brothers and those above them in age, matters of the unseen: do not ask about them as long as they are established in the Qur'an or the Sunnah. Do not ask about them, because you cannot encompass them. Say: I believe in Allah and His Messenger, and continue. Here we say: Do the rivers of Paradise flow without trenches? Is this possible? Whether it is possible or not, it does not concern us, as long as it is established from the Infallible, it is obligatory for us to believe. In this world, it is possible now: if you rub your hand with oil and pour water on it, you will not find that it becomes granular, granular, without anything, without a barrier, without a hole. This is in this world. As for the Hereafter, it is even greater. Does not Allah the Exalted say regarding the people of Paradise: His companion in this world says: Do you believe that after we become dust and bones, we will be resurrected and rewarded? Do you believe in this? Look at the deception. What is the answer of the believer? Say, everyone: Do you believe that after you die and are buried in the dust and become bones and remains, you will be resurrected? I swear by Allah, I believe in this more strongly than I believe in the sun. This bad companion says to his companion: Do you believe in this? He was his companion in this world, but Allah granted him steadfastness, and he was steadfast and became one of the people of Paradise. So he said to his companions: Come, let us look at the companion who used to say these words to me. He is in the depths of the Hellfire, and this one is in the highest of the highest in Paradise. He addressed him: Meaning: How will you destroy me? By saying: Do you believe in this? Regarding the punishment, just as you are being brought now. He addresses this one in the highest of the highest, and this one in the lowest of the lowest, and he looks down at him ? Is this possible? We all say: It is not possible, it is not possible in this world or in the Hereafter. We believe without hesitation, there is no problem. But we have found now that there are things in this world made by humans. Now there are telephones by which the near and the far converse, and they see each other's images. Does this exist or not? It exists. And who made it? Humans made it. How is it with the Creator, (Mighty and Majestic)? My intention with this, O brothers, is that you do not reject anything that Allah and His Messenger have informed us of. It is obligatory for you to believe immediately, and do not bring upon yourselves or others the question of how this is. This is a truthful report from Allah and His Messenger. Say: I believe in Allah, and be upright upon the religion of Allah.
Here Allah, (Mighty and Majestic), says: The carpets: The carpets are what a person sleeps on; the singular is *firaash*. They are raised and high. Look now, What is with you on the carpet? The *Hoor*. The *Hoor*. For this reason He said: After mentioning the carpets, meaning the mind moves to who will accompany me on this carpet. He said: Meaning Strange, wondrous, and exquisite. He explained this exclamation by saying: These wives are virgins; no matter what their husband does to them, they return to being virgins. Glory be to Allah! The women of this world, if a husband breaks a woman's virginity, that is it; her virginity does not return. But in the Hereafter, it returns from the moment he is done with her; she returns to being a virgin. The *'Urab* (those who are eager) who are affectionate toward their husbands. Glory be to Allah! This is the perfection of pleasure: that the wife is affectionate to her husband, approaches him, and entices him to herself. This is unlike the women of this world. The women of this world, if a husband comes to her and desires her, she is reluctant and dejected, and she tires him before he attains his desire from her. But in the Hereafter, what are they? They are *'Urab*, affectionate to the husband, doing everything that obligates his love for them. They are of the same age, their ages do not differ; they are all of one age. The women of this world: one is an old woman of fifty years, one is a young woman of fifteen years, and between them are two others. Because a husband in this world does not possess anything but four: one fifty, one forty, one thirty, and one twenty. The ages are different. Naturally, if the ages differ, the husband's desire differs, does it not? Generally, he desires the younger one more than the older one, so he remains wavering. But in the Hereafter, they are of the same age, their ages do not differ, they are all of one age.
Then He, (Mighty and Majestic), said: Meaning: That mentioned pleasure, both spiritual and physical, is for the people of the right hand. O Allah, make us among the foremost of the first, O Lord of the worlds. Indeed, You are capable of all things.
And now to the questions, we begin with the right hand.