Tafseer of Jonas · Yunus · 10:64
For them are good tidings in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. No change is there in the words of Allah. That is what is the great attainment.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah the Exalted: لَهُمُ الْبُشْرَى فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الآخِرَةِ لا تَبْدِيلَ لِكَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter. There is no change in the words of Allah. That is the tremendous triumph.") (64)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says: ("For them is the glad tiding of Allah in the life of this world and in the hereafter") — for the friends of Allah (awliyāʾ Allāh) who believe and have fear.
Thereafter the exegetes differed concerning what the glad tiding (al-bushrā) is with which Allah has gladdened this people: what is it, and what is its nature? Some said: it is the good dream (al-ruʾyā al-ṣāliḥa) which the Muslim man sees or which is seen for him, and in the hereafter the Garden (al-janna).
Mention of who said this:
17717 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthanná related to us, he said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Sulaymān, on the authority of Dhakwān, on the authority of a sheikh, on the authority of Abū al-Dardāʾ, he said: I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this verse: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter"), and the Prophet ﷺ said: "The good dream which the believer sees or which is seen for him."
17718 — Al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd related to us, he said: my father informed me, he said: al-Awzāʿī informed us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr informed me, he said: Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to me, he said: ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this verse: الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَكَانُوا يَتَّقُونَ * لَهُمُ الْبُشْرَى فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الآخِرَةِ , and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "You have asked me about something about which no one before you has asked me" — or he said: "except you." He said: "It is the good dream which the righteous man sees or which is seen for him."
17719 — Al-Muthanná related to us, he said: Abū Dāwūd related to us through someone he named, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, on the authority of Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit, he said: I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the word of Allah the Exalted: الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَكَانُوا يَتَّقُونَ * لَهُمُ الْبُشْرَى فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الآخِرَةِ , and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "It is the good dream which the Muslim sees or which is seen for him."
17720 — Abū Qilāba related to us, he said: Muslim related to us, he said: Abān related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, on the authority of Abū Salama, on the authority of ʿUbāda, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ — the same.
17721 — Ibn al-Muthanná and Abū ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmar related to us, they said: ʿAlī ibn Yaḥyā related to us, on the authority of Abū Salama, he said: It was reported to me that ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this verse: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter," and he said: "You have asked me about something about which no one before you has asked me! It is the good dream which the man sees or which is seen for him."
17722 — Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, he said: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, on the authority of a man of the people of Egypt, on the authority of Abū al-Dardāʾ: concerning "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter" — he said: A man asked Abū al-Dardāʾ about this verse and he said: "You have asked me about something about which I have heard no one ask after a man who asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about it. He said: 'It is the good dream which the Muslim man sees or which is seen for him — his glad tiding in the life of this world. And his glad tiding in the hereafter is the Garden.'"
17723 — Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me, he said: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn al-Munkadir, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, on the authority of a man of the people of Egypt, he said: I asked Abū al-Dardāʾ about this verse: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter," and he said: "No one has asked me about it since I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about it, except one man! I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about it and he said: 'No one has asked me about it since Allah sent it down, except one man. It is the good dream which the Muslim sees or which is seen for him.'"
17724 — ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn al-Munkadir, who heard ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār reporting, on the authority of a man of the people of Egypt: that he asked Abū al-Dardāʾ about: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter" — then he mentioned the same as the ḥadīth of Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd.
17725 — Abū Ḥumayd al-Ḥimṣī Aḥmad ibn al-Mughīra related to me, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to me, he said: ʿUmar ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd al-Aḥmūsī related to us, on the authority of Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Mazanī, he said: A man came to ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit and said: "There is a verse in the Book of Allah about which I wish to ask you: the word of Allah the Exalted: 'For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter.'" ʿUbāda said: "No one has asked me about it before you! I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the same and he said the same: 'No one has asked me about it before you. The good dream which the believing slave sees in sleep or which is seen for him.'"
17726 — Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Abū Bakr related to us, he said: Hishām related to us, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The good dream — that is the glad tiding — which the Muslim sees or which is seen for him."
17727 — ... he said: Abū Bakr related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥaṣīn, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, he said: Abū Hurayra said: "The good dream is a glad tiding from Allah, and those are the bearers of glad tidings (al-mubashshirāt)."
17728 — Muḥammad ibn Ḥātim al-Muʾaddib related to us, he said: ʿAmmār ibn Muḥammad related to us, he said: al-Aʿmash related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world" — the good dream which the righteous slave sees or which is seen for him. And in the hereafter it is the Garden.
17729 — Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd related to us, he said: Rushdīn ibn Saʿd related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith, on the authority of Abū al-Samḥ, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, that he said: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world" — the good dream with which the slave is gladdened is one part of forty-nine parts of prophethood.
17730 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, he said: Mūsā ibn ʿUbayda related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb ibn Khālid ibn Ṣafwān, on the authority of ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit, that he said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter" — we already know the glad tiding in the hereafter, but what is the glad tiding in the world? He said: "The good dream which the slave sees or which is seen for him, and it is one part of forty-four" — or sixty — "parts of prophethood."
17731 — ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to us, he said: al-Walīd ibn Muslim related to us, he said: Abū ʿAmr related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr related to us, on the authority of Abū Salama, on the authority of ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit, that he asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this verse: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world," and he said: "You have asked me about something about which no one of my community before you has asked me! It is the good dream which the Muslim sees or which is seen for him. And in the hereafter it is the Garden."
17732 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥammād al-Dawlābī related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿUbaydallāh ibn Abī Yazīd, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Sibāʿ ibn Thābit, on the authority of Umm Kurz al-Kaʿbiyya: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying: "Prophethood has departed, but the bearers of glad tidings have remained."
17733 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Dhakwān, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Abū al-Dardāʾ, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, concerning the word: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world," he said: "The good dream which the Muslim sees or which is seen for him. And in the hereafter the Garden."
17734 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: his father related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, on the authority of a man who was in Egypt: he said: I asked Abū al-Dardāʾ about this verse: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter," and Abū al-Dardāʾ said: "No one has asked me about it since I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about it!" And the Prophet ﷺ said: "No one has asked me about it before you. It is the good dream which the Muslim sees or which is seen for him. And in the hereafter the Garden."
17735 — ... he said: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū al-Dardāʾ, he said: I asked the Prophet ﷺ about the word: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter." He said: "No one has asked me about it except you. It is the good dream which the Muslim sees or which is seen for him."
17736 — ... he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, on the authority of Abū al-Dardāʾ, concerning the word: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter," he said: I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about it and he said: "No one has asked me about it before you. It is the good dream which the slave sees or which is seen for him. And in the hereafter the Garden."
17737 — ... he said: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Rafīʿ, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ — Ibn ʿUyayna said: then I heard it from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz himself, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Sammān — on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, on the authority of a man of the people of Egypt, he said: I asked Abū al-Dardāʾ about this verse: "For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world," and he said: "No one has asked me about it since I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about it. He said: 'No one has asked me about it since it was sent down to me, except one man. It is the good dream which the man sees or which is seen for him.'"
17738 — ... he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Bakr al-Sahmī related to us, on the authority of Ḥātim ibn Abī Ṣaghīra, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār: that he asked a learned man of the people of Egypt who visited them during one of those seasons, he said: I said: "Can you inform me about the word of Allah the Exalted: 'For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world'?" He said: "I asked Abū al-Dardāʾ about it, and he informed me that he had asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about it, and he said: 'It is the good dream which the slave sees or which is seen for him.'"
17739 — ... he said: his father related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Mubārak, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, on the authority of Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit, he said: I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the word of Allah the Exalted: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world"), he said: "It is the good dream which the slave sees or which is seen for him."
17740 — Al-Muthanná related to me, he said: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm and Abū al-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī related to us, they said: Abān related to us, he said: Yaḥyā related to us, on the authority of Abū Salama, on the authority of ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit, he said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, Allah the Exalted said: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter"), and he said: "You have asked me about something about which no one before you has asked me" — or: "no one of my community." He said: "It is the good dream which the righteous man sees or which is seen for him."
17741 — ... he said: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, he said: Ḥammād ibn Zayd related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdala, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, he said: I heard Abū al-Dardāʾ, and he was asked about: الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَكَانُوا يَتَّقُونَ * لَهُمُ الْبُشْرَى فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا , he said: "No one has asked me about it before you, since I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about it, and he said: 'No one has asked me about it before you. It is the good dream which the slave sees or which is seen for him.'"
17742 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿUbaydallāh ibn Abī Yazīd, on the authority of Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr, on the authority of a man of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, concerning the word: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world"), he said: "It is the good dream which the human being sees or which is seen for him."
17743 — ... and he said: Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Abū al-Dardāʾ — or Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, on the authority of Abū al-Dardāʾ, he said: I asked the Prophet ﷺ about it and he said: "It is the good dream."
17744 — ... and Ibn Jurayj said, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, he said: "It is the dream which the man sees."
17745 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, he said: "It is the good dream which the Muslim sees or which is seen for him."
17746 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: ʿAbda related to us, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world"), he said: "It is the good dream which the righteous slave sees."
17747 — ... he said: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: "It is the good dream which the Muslim sees or which is seen for him."
17748 — ... he said: ʿAbda ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of Ṭalḥa al-Qannād, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn Abī al-Mughīra, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world"), he said: "It is the good dream which the Muslim slave sees for himself or for some of his brothers."
17749 — ... he said: his father related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: They used to say: "The dream belongs to the bearers of glad tidings."
17750 — Al-Muthanná related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn Saʿd: that a man asked the Prophet ﷺ about it, and he said: "No one of my community has asked me about it since it was sent down to me, before you!" He said: "It is the good dream which the man sees for himself or which is seen for him."
17751 — ... he said: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, he said: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of al-ʿAwwām, on the authority of Ibrāhīm al-Taymī, that Ibn Masʿūd said: "Prophethood has departed, but the bearers of glad tidings have remained!" It was said: "What are the bearers of glad tidings?" He said: "The good dream which the man sees or which is seen for him."
17752 — ... he said: ʿAbdallāh related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the word: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world") — that is His word to His Prophet: وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ بِأَنَّ لَهُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ فَضْلا كَبِيرًا ("And give glad tidings to the believers that for them there is from Allah a great bounty") [Surah al-Aḥzāb: 47]. He said: "It is the good dream which the believer sees or which is seen for him."
17753 — ... he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Ḥarb related to us, he said: Ibn Lahīʿa related to us, on the authority of Khālid ibn Yazīd, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, concerning the word: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world"), he said: "It is the dream of the Muslim man with which he is gladdened in his life."
17754 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me, that Darrāj Abū al-Samḥ related to him, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he said: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world") — the good dream with which the believer is gladdened is one part of forty-six parts of prophethood.
17755 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Anas ibn ʿAyyāḍ informed us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of his father, concerning this verse: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter"), he said: "It is the good dream which the man sees or which is seen for him."
17756 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf related to us, he said: Abū al-Mughīra related to us, he said: Ṣafwān related to us, he said: Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbdallāh related to us: that a man asked ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit about the word of Allah the Exalted: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter"), and ʿUbāda said: "You have asked me about something about which no one before you has asked me, and I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the same as what you ask me, and he said to me: 'O ʿUbāda, you have asked me about something about which no one of my community has asked me! That is the good dream which the believing slave sees for himself or which is seen for him.'"
Others said: It is a glad tiding given to the believer in the world at death.
Mention of who said this:
17757 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī and Qatāda: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world"), he said: "It is the glad tiding at death, in the life of this world."
17758 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Yaʿlā related to us, on the authority of Abū Busṭām, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: ("For them is the glad tiding in the life of this world"), he said: "He knows before his death where he is going."
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of the statements concerning the explanation of this is to say: Allah the Exalted has announced that for His pious friends there is, in the life of this world, the glad tiding. Among the glad tidings in the life of this world is the good dream which the Muslim sees or which is seen for him. And among them is the glad tiding of the angels to him at the departure of his soul with the mercy of Allah — as has been transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ: "That the angels who are present at the departure of his soul say to his soul: 'Go forth to the mercy of Allah and His good pleasure.'" And among them is the glad tiding of Allah to him: what He has promised him in His Book and upon the tongue of His Messenger ﷺ of abundant reward, as He the Exalted said: وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ the verse [Surah al-Baqara: 25].
All these meanings belong to the glad tiding of Allah to him in the life of this world with which He has gladdened him, and Allah has not designated a specific meaning above the others. That, then, is what He the Exalted intended by it in its generality: "that for them is the glad tiding in the life of this world." And as for the hereafter — that is the Garden.
As for the word: ("There is no change in the words of Allah") — its meaning is: Allah does not break His promise and does not change His word from what He has said. Rather He fulfills His promises to His creatures and brings them to completion for them.
17759 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, he said: al-Ḥajjāj made his sermon long and Ibn ʿUmar laid his head in my lap. Then al-Ḥajjāj said: "Ibn al-Zubayr has changed the Book of Allah!" Ibn ʿUmar sat up straight and said: "You cannot do that, nor can Ibn al-Zubayr! There is no change in the words of Allah!" Al-Ḥajjāj said: "You are indeed favored with knowledge — if it benefits you!" Ayyūb said: But when he addressed him in particular concerning his own person, he fell silent.
And His word: ("That is the tremendous triumph") — Allah the Exalted says: This glad tiding in the life of this world and in the hereafter — "that is the tremendous triumph": the success in the need and the striving, and the deliverance from the Fire.