Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:119
Allah will say, "This is the Day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness." For them are gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever, Allah being pleased with them, and they with Him. That 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 exposition of His word: قَالَ اللَّهُ هَذَا يَوْمُ يَنْفَعُ الصَّادِقِينَ صِدْقُهُمْ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا ("Allah said: This is the Day on which the truthful benefit from their truthfulness. For them are gardens beneath which the rivers flow, wherein they shall abide forever and ever.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differ over the reading of His word: "hādhā yawm yanfaʿu al-ṣādiqīn." Some of the people of the Ḥijāz and of Medina read this as: (hādhā yawma yanfaʿu al-ṣādiqīn), with the accusative (naṣb) on "yawm."
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Others of the Ḥijāz and some of Medina, as well as the general reciters of Iraq, read it as: "hādhā yawmu yanfaʿu al-ṣādiqīn," with the nominative (rafʿ) on "yawm." Whoever placed it in the nominative placed it in the nominative by means of "hādhā," and made "yawm" a noun (ism), even though its annexation (iḍāfa) was not pure, because it had become like a qualified word (manʿūt). (27) Some grammarians claimed that the Arabs, in declining temporal designations such as "al-yawm" (the day) and "al-layla" (the night), treat them in accordance with what follows them. If what follows is in the nominative, they place it in the nominative, as in their saying: "hādhā yawmu yarkabu al-amīr" (this is the day on which the emir rides), and "laylatu yaṣduru al-ḥājj" (the night on which the pilgrims depart), and "yawmu akhūka munṭaliq" (the day on which your brother departs). And if what follows is in the accusative, they place it in the accusative, as in their saying: "hādhā yawma kharaja al-jaysh wa-sāra al-nās" (this is the day on which the army went forth and the people set out), and "laylata qutila Zayd" (the night on which Zayd was killed), and the like; even though its meaning in both cases is "idh" and "idhā" (when / whenever).
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It is as though the one who read it thus in the nominative understood the words as being from the utterance of Allah on the Day of Resurrection.
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And thus al-Suddī used to speak concerning this.
13039 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: Allah said: "hādhā yawm yanfaʿu al-ṣādiqīn ṣidquhum" (this is the Day on which the truthful benefit from their truthfulness) — this is a separate portion from the words of ʿĪsā, and this is the Day of Resurrection.
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By his saying "this is a separate portion from the words of ʿĪsā," al-Suddī means: that His word سُبْحَانَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِي أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِحَقٍّ ("Glory be to You, it is not for me to say that to which I have no right") up to His word فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ ("for truly You, You are the Almighty, the All-Wise") belongs to the report of Allah, mighty and exalted is He, concerning ʿĪsā, namely that he uttered this in the worldly life after He had raised him up to Himself; and that what comes after that belongs to the words of Allah to His servants on the Day of Resurrection.
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As for the accusative herein, it may be explained in two ways:
The first of them: that the annexation of "yawm," since it is not to a noun, places it in the accusative, because the annexation is not pure; for the annexation is pure only when it is annexed to a proper noun. Comparable to "al-yawm" herein are: "al-ḥīn" (the moment) and "al-zamān" (the time), and what resembles them among temporal designations, as al-Nābigha said:
"At the time when I reproached hoary old age on account of youth, and I said: Will you not yet grow wise, while greyness restrains?" (28)
And the other way: that what is meant by the words is: "this matter and this affair, on the day on which the truthful benefit" — whereby "al-yawm" then stands in the accusative as an adverbial of time and qualification, in the meaning: this matter takes place on a day on which the truthful benefit from their truthfulness.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct of the two readings herein, in my view, is: (hādhā yawma yanfaʿu al-ṣādiqīn), with the accusative on "al-yawm," as being placed in the accusative as an adverbial of time and qualification. For the meaning of the words is: that Allah, mighty and exalted is His mention, answered ʿĪsā when he said: سُبْحَانَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِي أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِحَقٍّ إِنْ كُنْتُ قُلْتُهُ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُ ("Glory be to You, it is not for me to say that to which I have no right; if I had said it, then You would surely have known it") up to His word فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ ("for truly You, You are the Almighty, the All-Wise"). He, mighty and exalted is He, then said to him: this is the beneficial word — or: this is the beneficial truthfulness — on the day on which the truthful benefit from their truthfulness. So "al-yawm" is the time of the beneficial word and the beneficial truthfulness.
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If someone were to say: What then is the grammatical position of "hādhā"?
Then it is answered: the nominative.
If he were to say: Where then is that which places it in the nominative?
Then it is answered: it is implicit (muḍmar). It is as though He said: Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said: this is it; this is the day on which the truthful benefit from their truthfulness — as the poet said: (29)
"Do you not see the clouds, how they are driven onward? This, and not your cavalry, O son of Bishr!"
He means: this is it, and not your cavalry.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The exposition of the words, since the matter is as we have described for the reason we have clarified, is therefore: Allah said to ʿĪsā: this is the beneficial word on a day on which the truthful benefit from their truthfulness in the worldly life, namely in the Hereafter with Allah = لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ ("for them are gardens beneath which the rivers flow"). He says: for the truthful in the worldly life there are gardens beneath which the rivers flow in the Hereafter, as a reward for them from Allah, mighty and exalted is He, for their truthfulness with which they were truthful to Allah regarding what they had promised Him; they fulfilled this toward Allah, and Allah, mighty and exalted is He, fulfilled for them what He had promised them of reward = خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا ("wherein they shall abide forever and ever"). He says: remaining in the gardens that He has given them = "abadan" (forever), perpetually; for them therein is a bliss that does not depart from them and does not vanish. (30)
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And we have already clarified earlier that the meaning of "al-khulūd" is perpetuity and remaining. (31)
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The exposition of His word: رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ ذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ ("Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him; that is the magnificent triumph.") (119)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says: Allah is well pleased with these truthful ones, who were truthful in fulfilling toward Him what they had promised Him, namely the performance of obedience to Him and the avoidance of disobedience to Him = "wa-raḍū ʿanhu" (and they are well pleased with Him). He says: and they are well pleased with Allah, exalted is His mention, on account of His fulfilling toward them what He had promised them for their obedience to Him in what He commanded them and forbade them, of abundant reward (32) = "dhālika al-fawzu al-ʿaẓīm" (that is the magnificent triumph). He says: this which Allah has given them of the gardens beneath which the rivers flow, wherein they abide forever, while He is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with their Lord — that is the magnificent victory in attaining the desired (33), and the reaching of the need that they pursued in the worldly life and for which they labored therein; thus they attained what they pursued and reached what they hoped for.
