Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:82
But they who believe and do righteous deeds - those are the companions of Paradise; they will abide therein eternally.
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 discourse on the explanation of His exalted statement: وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أُولَئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْجَنَّةِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ (82)
(And those who believe and do righteous deeds, they are the inhabitants of Paradise, therein they shall abide eternally.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His statement wa-lladhīna āmanū (and those who believe) He means: those who held to be true what the Prophet ﷺ brought. And by His statement wa-ʿamilū al-ṣāliḥāt (and do righteous deeds) He means: those who obeyed Allah, and thereby maintained His prescribed limits (ḥudūd), fulfilled His obligations, and abstained from what He has forbidden. And by His statement fa-ulāʾika (those, then) He means: those who are thus, aṣḥāb al-jannah hum fīhā khālidūn (are the inhabitants of Paradise, therein they shall abide eternally), that is to say: its inhabitants, who are truly its inhabitants, abiding therein khālidūn (eternally), remaining forever.
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This āyah and the one preceding it are merely an announcement from Allah to His servants concerning the perpetuity of the Fire and the perpetuity of its inhabitants therein, [and the perpetuity of Paradise and the perpetuity of its inhabitants therein],⁴⁷ and concerning the permanence of what has been prepared in each of the two for its inhabitants — as a refutation by Allah, exalted is His praise, of those among the Jews of the Banū Isrāʾīl who said: that the Fire would touch them only for a counted number of days, and that they would thereafter go to Paradise. Thus He informed them that their unbelievers shall abide eternally in the Fire, and that their believers shall abide eternally in Paradise. As:—
1445 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to me, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr or ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: wa-lladhīna āmanū wa-ʿamilū al-ṣāliḥāt ulāʾika aṣḥāb al-jannah hum fīhā khālidūn (And those who believe and do righteous deeds, they are the inhabitants of Paradise, therein they shall abide eternally), that is to say: whoever believes in that which you have rejected, and acts according to that of His religion which you have abandoned, for them is Paradise, abiding therein eternally. He informs them that the recompense — for good and for evil — remains forever with its possessors, never to be cut off.
1446 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: wa-lladhīna āmanū wa-ʿamilū al-ṣāliḥāt (And those who believe and do righteous deeds) — that is the Prophet ﷺ and his companions — ulāʾika aṣḥāb al-jannah hum fīhā khālidūn (they are the inhabitants of Paradise, therein they shall abide eternally).
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Footnotes:
(47) What is between the brackets is an indispensable addition, for the sake of the coherence of the argument.
