Ar-Ra'd (The Thunder)

29. “‌‌Those who believe and do righteous deeds; joy is for them, and a goodly (final) return.”

People are in four categories:

Believers:

Those who both believe and their acts are righteous.

Pagans:

Those who are neither believers nor their acts are decent.

The evil-doers:

Those who are believers but their acts are not righteous and decent.

The hypocrites:

Those who are not believers but their apparent acts are decent.

The Arabic term /tūb a/ is either an infinitive, or it is the feminine gender of /’atyab/ which means ‘the best’. We have not got any example specific to this meaning in the verse to include all the utmost good ones.

Perhaps, we have it in a quotation that /tūb a/ is a tree which has its roots in the house of the Prophet (S) and that of Ali (as), and its branches cast their shadow over the faithful¹ , in which case this serves as an allegory that all the good have their origin in pledge of and are somehow connected to the celestial leaders.

When some short-sighted persons criticized the Prophet (S) as to:

“Why you kiss Fatimah Zahra (as) so much?”

He (S) said:

“When I was taken to Paradise at the night of Mi‘raj, I ate from the fruit of the ‘Tūb a tree’ out of which Fatimah (as) has been originated and appeared, and whenever I desire the scent of Paradise, I smell my daughter, Fatimah”2 .

The success of the unbelievers and those who are distanced from good acts is not profound.

As Hadrat Ali (as) says:

“There is no good in pleasures which are ensued by the Fire of Hell”3

Explanations

1. The sweet worldly life as well as the happy ending of the life in Hereafter will only be procured with faith and decent righteous behaviour.

2. Success in this world makes sense and is of value when coupled with happy ending of the life Hereafter. How happy they are and what a good happy ending awaits them.

The verse says:

“‌‌Those who believe and do righteous deeds; joy is for them, and a goodly (final) return.”