Day 41
Gardens with Rivers Flowing Through it
TLDR:
Day 41 of Be Qur'anic reflects on ayah 25 of Surat al-Baqarah, which offers hope of Jannah, with rivers flowing beneath, as a reward for those with true faith and good deeds.
This promise counters the previous warning of Jahannam, embodying the Qur'anic theme of balancing fear with hope. Although Jannah is described using familiar imagery, its actuality is beyond human comprehension, a reward unlimited and accessible to all who strive for it in the hereafter.
Welcome to Day 41 of Be Quranic, where we take short passages from the Quran daily. We extract practical lessons from it, apply it into our lives so that we can be more Quranic.
InshaAllah today we continue our study of Surat al -Baqarah and we're still in Ayah 25. And Ayah 25 is the completion of the discussion from Ayah 24. Where Ayah 24, Allah issued the threat or reminder of punishment or of jahannam.
If you choose to reject Quran after it's been presented to you, you choose to still reject it. Allah says, Fattaqunnar, fear the fire. And the continuation of this discussion is a promise of Jannah. You'll find everywhere in the Quran, wherever there is a promise of Jannah, there will be the reminder or a threat of punishment.
Wherever there is a threat of punishment, there will be the promise of Jannah. This balance between khawf and rajaa is a constant theme in the Quran. The balance between fear and hope. The two wings that propels us to Allah Azza wa Jal.
And the Ayah reads,
And give glad tidings, good news to those people who believe, who have faith, Iman and do good deeds. So the two conditions for this good news, Iman and good deeds, that they are going to receive Jannah, gardens.
with river flowing through it, tajri min tahtiha al -anhar. So this is the description of Jannah that we find in many places in the Quran, gardens. The word Jannah is interesting. It is very closely related to the word Jinn.
Jinn is this unseen creature that we believe in, that they are given free will, they are given intellect to a certain extent and they are also mukallaf, they are spiritually responsible. Now Jannah and Jinn share the same letters and in Arabic language where the letters match, the meaning has some relationship because Jinn is something that you are unable to see.
Jannah is a garden so lush, so thick that you cannot see beyond it. So the image that Allah wants is to extract from this phrase Jannah is lush, beautiful gardens, greeneries and for an Arab living in the desert in 7th century Arabia the image of a green lush garden would really motivate them.
That is something that they desire with rivers flowing through it from the heat of the desert imagine that. But when we talk about Jannah, Sayyidina Abdullah ibn Abbas radiallahu anhumah, the cousin of the Prophet, someone that the Prophet ﷺ said is the most knowledgeable of the Tafseer of the Quran.
He would say that the words may be the same but the meaning is totally different. So the Jannah that we imagine in this world that we see lush gardens, we think that that may be the Jannah that is not what we will get.
We will get something much better, much greater than what we can imagine. Some description, wa la khatara a la qalbi bashar. It is not something that we have ever seen, not something that the ears have ever heard, but not something that the heart can ever imagine.
Such is the greatness of this promise. But Allah speaks to the way that humans would be able to relate to and this image of Jannah with water flowing through it. It is something that cut across tradition, culture, civilization and time.
Even today if you look at real estates when there are a lot of greeneries, when it is close to the body of water, sea or river, it is always going to be more expensive. Like a few days ago I was driving with my daughters, we were driving to the river along the way, we see beautiful houses and my second daughter she was saying like MashaAllah those houses are beautiful.
The thing is beautiful houses in this world, it is finite. Not everybody can achieve material success that they are able to afford such houses. It is just limited resources. The river is such, the beach is just such and that's it.
You cannot have everyone there. Allah reminds us, if you cannot afford jannah in this world, everyone has equal opportunity to attain jannah in the Akhira. There's beautiful houses, beautiful gardens, mansions with river next to it, river flowing through it, everybody can achieve that.
And the beauty of jannah is that as my jannah grows, I am not encroaching into your jannah. It's not a losing some game where if I gain, you lose. In this world, generally that is the case. As I extend my house, I may encroach into some this land.
If I extend upwards, I may block sunlight from someone else's house, I may block the flow of wind into someone else's house. This world may never satisfy our desires, but Allah promises us jannah. If you have iman and you do good deeds, this is what you will attain, and everybody has access to that.
So the next time you see a beautiful mansion, remind ourselves of the beauty of Jannah that we may not be able to afford that now but work hard towards Jannah our daily observation of our surroundings motivates us to work hard towards Jannah to have deep Iman and to do good deeds