Ar-Ra'd (The Thunder)

35. “The likeness of the Garden (of bliss) which the pious are promised, (is such that) beneath it rivers flow, its fruits and its shades are everlasting. This is the End of those who keep from evil, and the End of the unbelievers is the Fire.”

From among the methods of education in the Qur’an, one can cite comparison and evaluation among individual’s cases and the end-result of the truth and the untruth.

Therefore, as the future of the pagans was already explained in the previous verse, the ultimate destiny of the men of virtue is being discussed in his verse so that one can select his own way of life with a more and better understanding when comparing the two.

Therefore, this noble verse deals with Resurrection and specifically with the blessings of Paradise and with the infernal punishments.

At first, it says:

“The likeness of the Garden (of bliss) which the pious are promised, (is such that) beneath it rivers flow…”

The second attribute relating to the Gardens of the Paradise is that their fruits are everlasting and perennial. They are not of the sort of this world in which case the fruits are seasonal and appear only in certain seasons, or under certain circumstances.

In this life, the fruits sometimes disappear altogether in some years because of pestilence and for unforeseen reasons. Their shadow is also eternal.

The verse says:

“…its fruits and its shades are everlasting…”

One can conclude from this sentence that the Gardens of the Paradise have no autumn and one may conclude still further that illumination of light, or similar to it, also exists in Paradise in its nature.

At the end of the holy verse, after recounting the three-fold characteristics of Paradise, the Qur’an implies: Such is the ultimate destiny of the devout and the pious, though the fate of the pagans is Fire and inferno.

The verse says:

“…This is the End of those who keep from evil…”

In this beautiful meaning, the blessings of Paradise have been explained in detail and with delicacy. However, with regard to the inhabitants of Hell, He remarks in a short, harsh, and rough tone:

“…and the End of the unbelievers is the Fire.”

Anyway, Paradise is a compensation for one’s virtuosity and it will not be offered to anyone undue.

The reward of the devout and self-abstaining from the worldly sins, is eternal happiness in Hereafter.

“…its fruits and its shades are everlasting.”

And whatever one can make out of the Paradise is similar and like that one,

“the likeness of the Garden (of bliss)…”.

Otherwise, the Paradise is not to be comprehended fully by some limited beings such as us.