Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "And those who believe and do righteous deeds, We will admit them into gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein forever. For them therein are purified spouses"

The Shaykh : And when Allah mentioned the state of the people of the Fire, may Allah protect me and you from them, He said: , and the Qur'an is a repetition of meanings; when the people of the Fire are mentioned, the people of Paradise are mentioned, and when the Fire is mentioned, Paradise is mentioned, and when the truth is mentioned, falsehood is mentioned, and so on. This is one of the meanings in the saying of Allah the Exalted: .
He, Mighty and Majestic, says: : And this kind of construction is found frequently in the Qur'an, where Allah places faith before righteous deeds, because righteous deeds are built upon faith, so a deed without faith is of no benefit. The hypocrites do deeds; they remember Allah, pray, and give charity, but they have no faith, so it does not benefit them. For this reason, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, places faith before righteous deeds, because righteous deeds are built upon it.
So what is the faith that is frequently mentioned in the Qur'an?
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) defined faith by saying: , so those who believed in these principles and did righteous deeds.
: Some grammarians, indeed some syntacticians, said that "al-salihah" (righteous) is a description of a described noun, and the implied meaning is "righteous deeds." Why?
They said because "salih" (righteous) is a description, and a description does not act; rather, it is the described noun that acts. This is what they said. In my opinion, there is no need for that. "They did righteous deeds"—as long as the matter is known, there is no need to estimate and say that "did" is applied to "righteous deeds." So what are the righteous deeds?
Righteous deeds are those that are sincere for Allah and correct in accordance with the Shari'ah of Allah, meaning: what is sincere and correct, as al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad said: "What is sincere and correct", meaning: what combines sincerity for Allah and following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).
So whoever does a deed in which he associates with Allah anyone else, even a little, such as showing off, his deed is not righteous. And whoever is sincere for Allah but not in accordance with the Shari'ah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), his deed is not righteous.
He says: : The "sin" here is for easing. And you see now that regarding the people of the Fire it was said: , and regarding the people of Paradise it was said: . Is this a matter of difference in expression, and that the meaning of the two letters is the same?
Ibn Hisham said so, that the meaning of the two letters is the same. And it was said: rather, their meanings are different, and that "sin" indicates nearness, while "sawf" indicates a delay. This is the well-known and most correct view.
So if that is the case, why was the threat for the people of the Fire with "sawf," and the promise for the people of Paradise with "sin"?
The answer to that is: that the people of the Fire are given a respite, perhaps they will repent, repent to Allah and return, and at that time they will not be among the people of the Fire.
As for the people of Paradise, they enter Paradise, but it is not the Paradise of the Hereafter; it is the Paradise of this world before the Paradise of the Hereafter: , , and no one has a sweeter life than the life of the believers forever. Some of the Salaf said: If the kings and the sons of kings, whose worldly desires are fully met, "If the kings and the sons of kings knew what we are in, they would fight us for it with swords": fight us in a battle seeking to obtain it, but they would not get it.
And Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said: "What can my enemies do to me—when he was imprisoned—my Paradise is in my chest".
And perhaps it indicates that the people of Paradise are granted the most complete pleasure, the saying of Allah the Exalted: : If we make the exception connected, the meaning becomes that the death they died in this world they tasted, and the pleasure continues from this world to the Hereafter. But most scholars say: except for the first death, that the exception here is disconnected, and the implied meaning is "but the first death."
In any case, we say: He only said: regarding the people of the Fire to extend their lifespan, perhaps they will return, so He showed them the punishment as if it were far away. But the people of Paradise, He showed them the pleasure as if it were near, so that they would be eager to work. Also, we say: they are in reality in Paradise; the people of happiness are in happiness even in this world. For this reason, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , so all his affairs are good. If he is struck by hardship, he is patient with Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and patient for Allah, and his chest opens up. And as Rabi'ah al-'Adawiyyah said when she was struck by a wound in her finger, I think the finger was cut off, she said: "The sweetness of its reward made me forget the bitterness of its patience", so the believer, in reality, even if he is struck by calamities, is enabled to be patient, and Allah, Mighty and Majestic, rewards him for that, and it is as if he was not struck.
And if he is struck by ease, he is grateful, so the blessing is increased: .
He says: : The meaning of "gardens" here is what Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has prepared in the abode of the Hereafter for these believers. It is not appropriate here to say that "gardens" is the plural of "garden" which is an orchard with many trees, because this diminishes the status of Paradise, as it does not refer except to our orchards here in this world, which wither at one time and turn green at another, and the winds spoil them at one time and they straighten at another.
But if you say: "gardens" is the plural of "garden" which is the abode that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, has prepared for the righteous, in which is what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has not occurred to the heart of any human, then the heart rejoices and is pleased.
And His saying: Does a river not flow except from beneath? And if you say "from beneath them," meaning: from beneath the earth, in the belly of the earth, is that problematic?
The scholars said: The meaning of "from beneath them" is: beneath their trees and their palaces. Rivers flowing beneath the trees and beneath the palaces, so they are from beneath them. And these rivers are of four types, as Allah the Exalted said: These are four types of rivers in Paradise.
"Abiding" is a state (hal). Where is its possessor?
The student: The pronoun.

The Shaykh : The pronoun in His saying: , meaning the pronoun of the letter "ha."
And His saying: makes it clear that this abiding is eternal, so He said: forever, with no end.
So if someone says: How does a person live while seeing that he is remaining forever in this?
We say: Yes, because every hour a new pleasure and delight is renewed for him .
In this world, we wait for death so that we may depart from this world, but in the Hereafter, you do not wait for death; you are always in joy and pleasure: , so they are in eternal pleasure. We ask Allah to make us and you among them.
"For them" means: for those who believed and did righteous deeds.
"In them are purified spouses": "Spouses" is the plural of "spouse," which is the female, and it is also applied to the male. It is said "the spouse of so-and-so" (female) and "the spouse of so-and-so" (male). Is "the spouse of so-and-so" (male) correct?
The student: Correct.

The Shaykh : What do you mean?
The student: His wife.

The Shaykh : His wife, but in the law of inheritance, the "ta" must be used. In matters other than inheritance, the "ta" is not used, because using the "ta" is linguistically poor or rare. Yes. Purified from what?
Purified with a physical purity, and purified with a spiritual purity. So the physical purity: purified from urine, feces, menstruation, irregular bleeding, post-natal bleeding, yellowish discharge, brownish discharge, sweat, and foul smell, and other things. From everything that it is recommended to remove and to keep oneself clean from, she is purified from it. And she is also purified with a spiritual purity, and that is that she is free from every bad character: no anger, no dislike of the husband, no aversion, no disobedience, no darkening of the face at him. So she is purified from every vile character and from every harm and filth.
So the purity, then, is physical and spiritual. The women complained and said: The men have purified spouses, so what about us? What do we say to them?
The student: You, but.

The Shaykh : You, but purified spouses. Yes, indeed, Allah is Good, and His neighbor is nothing but good. And you in the Hereafter, each one of you does not want except her husband: : Each one is averse from her gaze to her husband and enjoying him. And you are better than the others, so do not be distressed. But because the husband is usually the one seeking, he is the one who is said to have a wife with such and such qualities. As for the wife, she does not become a seeker except rarely.
He said: Shade is well known: it is what the sun has passed over, or if you wish, say what the sun has not reached, whether it is a shadow or shade from the beginning of the day.
As for "shady" (ẓalīl), it conveys the full meaning, because some shade is not shady. If you sit under the shade of a wall in the days of summer, you are in shade, but is it shady?
The student: No.

The Shaykh : Why? Because the heat reaches you, but Paradise is a shady shade.