Saba (Sheba)

37. “And neither your wealth nor your children are that which bring you nigh unto us, except for him who believes, and does righteousness, these are (the ones) for whom is a double recompense for what they did, and they in the exalted places shall be secure.”

Allah (s.w.t.) has appointed faith, righteous deed, charity, and sincerity as means for His nearness, while some unaware people think of wealth, children and race as the factors of nearness to Allah and having prosperity.

So, in this verse, the Qur’an pursues this very meaning more explicitly, and says:

“And neither your wealth nor your children are that which bring you nigh unto us…”

This is a great mistake that a group of people imagine that those who are in deprivation from the point of finance are disfavoured and reprobate in the sight of Allah, and those who are apparently in welfare with affluence of favours are beloved and accepted by Him.

There are many deprived persons who are tried by this means and reach the most superior ranks; and there are many persons who enjoy the comforts of life but whose wealth and properties are some pests for them and work as the cause of their punishment.

Does not the Holy Qur’an explicitly say in Surah Taqabun, No. 64, verse 15:

“Verily your properties and your children may be but a trial; where as Allah, with Him is the highest Reward”?

This statement does not mean that man may stop the necessary effort and endeavour in life, but the purpose is that having financial possibilities and abundant human powers are never counted as the criterion of spiritual values of man with Allah.

Then the Qur’an refers to the standard of the values of individuals and that which causes the nearness to Allah, and (as a separate exception) says:

“…except for him who believes, and does righteousness, these are (the ones) for whom is a double recompense for what they did, and they in the exalted places shall be secure.”

Thus, all these criterions of these two cases return to

“Faith and righteous deed”

from any one, in any time, and wherever they may be, and the difference of persons in the presence of Allah depends on the difference of the degrees of their Faith and righteous deeds, and there is nothing else save this.

Even having much knowledge and relating to some great persons, even to prophets, if they are not accompanied with these two criterions do not lonely increase anything to the value of man.

It is here that the holy Qur’an, with its unique explicitness, nullifies all deviated and superstitious imaginations in the field of the factors of getting nearness to Allah and the man’s value of existence, and summarizes the noble standard in two things which all human beings can tolerate and obtain, so that neither anyone’s material possibilities nor his deprivation, are effective in them.

Yes, if wealth and children also pave this way, they will take this divine colour and will assume the colour of faith and righteous deed, and they will be the cause of getting nearness to Allah.

But the properties and children that make man aloof from Allah, and like an idol will be worshipped which cause mischief and corruption, they are the fuels of Hell, and, as the Qur’an says, they are the man’s enemy and the enemy of his happiness.

It says:

“O’ you who have Faith! Verily, among your wives and your children are (some that are) enemies to yourselves so beware of them…”1 However, as it was also said before, the Arabic term /di‘f/ singly does not mean ‘two fold’, but it means “many folds”, and it has been used with the same sense in the verse under discussion, because we know that the reward of each good deed is at least ten folds with Allah.

The holy Qur’an says:

“Whoever brings a good (deed) he shall have ten times its like…”,2

and sometimes it is much more than that.

The Arabic word /qurufat/ is the plural form of /qurfah/ in the sense of some rooms which are in the upstairs that have both some lighter and better weather, and the pests are far from them. That is why this meaning has been applied for the best abodes of Paradise.

This word is originally derived from /qarf/ in the sense of lifting and taking something.

The application of the Qur’anic term /’aminun/ (those who are in security), concerning the people of Paradise, is a very comprehensive meaning which reflects the peace of their both body and spirit from any point of view, because they have neither the fear of an annihilation, destruction, and death, nor the fear of the enemy’s attack, nor the fear of sickness, pest, grief and even the fear of fear; and there is no bounty higher than this that one passes time in a complete security; in the same way that there is no affliction worse than insecurity in different aspects of life.