Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:57
But those who believe and do righteous deeds - We will admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide forever. For them therein are purified spouses, and We will admit them to deepening shade.
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 statement: وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ سَنُدْخِلُهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا لَهُمْ فِيهَا أَزْوَاجٌ مُطَهَّرَةٌ وَنُدْخِلُهُمْ ظِلا ظَلِيلا (4:57) (And those who believe and do righteous deeds, We shall admit them into gardens beneath which the rivers flow, abiding therein eternally, forever; therein they shall have purified spouses, and We shall admit them into a rich, broad shade (4:57).)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His praise — means by His statement "and those who believe and do righteous deeds": and those who believe in Allah and in His Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ, and who give credence to what Allah has sent down to Muḥammad, confirming what they already possess, among the Jews of the Banū Isrāʾīl and the remaining communities besides them — "and do righteous deeds," by which He says: and they fulfill what Allah has charged them with of His obligations, and they avoid what Allah has forbidden them of His disobediences; and that is "the righteous" (al-ṣāliḥ) among their deeds — "We shall admit them into gardens beneath which the rivers flow," by which He says: Allah will admit them on the Day of Resurrection — "gardens," by which He means: orchards — "beneath which the rivers flow," by which He says: beneath those gardens the rivers flow through — "abiding therein eternally, forever," by which He says: remaining therein forever, without end and without interruption, that being permanent for them therein, for eternity — "for them therein are spouses," by which He says: for them, in those gardens whose quality He described, are "purified spouses," by which He means: free of impurities, doubts, menstruation, defecation, urine, pregnancy, saliva, and all the remaining matters that occur with the women of the people of this world. We have already mentioned earlier the reports that exist concerning that, and this makes repeating them unnecessary.
As for His statement "and We shall admit them into a rich, broad shade," He says thereby: and We shall admit them into a protecting, sheltering shade, just as He — exalted be His praise — has said: وَظِلٍّ مَمْدُودٍ [Sūra al-Wāqiʿa: 30] (and an outstretched shade), and as:
9838 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us — and Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us — both of them said: Shuʿba related to us, saying: I heard Abū al-Ḍaḥḥāk narrate, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "Indeed, in Paradise there is a tree under whose shade the rider travels for a hundred years without traversing it: the tree of eternity (shajarat al-khuld)."
