مَنْ
عَمِلَ صَالِحًا مِنْ ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنْثَىٰ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَيَاةً
طَيِّبَةً ۖ وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُمْ بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
“Whoever does righteous deeds – whether male or female – while he (or
she) is a believer; then We will certainly give them a good life, and We will
certainly grant them rewards in proportion to the best of what they used to
do.”{Surah An-Nahl 16:97}
Righteous Deeds and their Reward
This is a promise from Allaah to those Children of Adam, male or female, who
do righteous deeds – deeds in accordance with the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah
of His Prophet ﷺ, with a heart
that believes in Allaah and His Messenger ﷺ, while believing
that these deeds are commanded and enjoined by Allaah. Allaah promises that He will
give them a good life in this world and that He will reward them according to
the best of their deeds in the Hereafter. The good life includes feeling
tranquility in all aspects of life. It has been reported that Ibn Abbas and a group (of scholars) interpreted
it to mean good, lawful provisions. It was reported that ‘Ali bin Abi Talib
interpreted as contentment. This was also the opinion of Ibn ‘Abbas, ’Ikrimah and
Wahb bin Munabbih. ’Ali bin Abi Talhah recorded from Ibn ‘Abbas that it meant
happiness. Al-Hasan, Mujahid and Qatadah said: ”None gets [this] good life
[mentioned] except in Paradise.” Ad-Dahhak said: ”It means lawful provisions and
worship in this life”. Ad-Dahhak also said: ”It means working to obey Allaah and
finding joy in that. ”The correct view is that a good life includes all of these
things. As found in the Hadith recorded by Imam Ahmad from ‘Abdullaah bin ‘Amr
that the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ said:
قَدْ
أَفْلَحَ مَنْ أَسْلَمَ وَرُزِقَ كَفَافًا وَقَنَّعَهُ الله بما آتاه
((He who submits [becomes a Muslim] has succeeded, is given
sufficient provisions, and is content with Allaah for what he is given.)) [Ahmad
2:268]
~
Source: Tafsir Ibn
Kathir, Vol.5, pp. 523-524 | Abridged by A Group of Scholars under the Supervision of Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri | Published by:Maktabah Dar-us-Salam, 2003, Riyadh
