Tafseer of The Iron · Al-Hadid · 57:12
On the Day you see the believing men and believing women, their light proceeding before them and on their right, [it will be said], "Your good tidings today are [of] gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein you will abide eternally." 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 exegetes differed concerning the interpretation of His word: يَوْمَ تَرَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَسْعَى نُورُهُمْ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَبِأَيْمَانِهِمْ ("on the Day when you will see the believing men and the believing women, their light hastening before them and on their right"). Some of them said: its meaning is: on the Day when you will see the believing men and the believing women while their light shines before them and on their right.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: يَوْمَ تَرَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ... (the verse). It has been transmitted to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ used to say: "Among the believers is one whose light shines from Medina to ʿAdan Abyan and Ṣanʿāʾ, and less than that, until among the believers there is one whose light illuminates only the place of his two feet."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, in a similar manner.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard my father mention, on the authority of al-Minhāl, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Qays ibn Sakan, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, who said: their light is given to them in proportion to their deeds; among them is one whose light is given to him like a palm tree, and among them is one whose light is given to him like a man standing upright, and the least of them in light has it upon his thumb, which extinguishes one moment and blazes up another.
And others said: no, its meaning is: on the Day when you will see the believing men and the believing women while their faith and their guidance hasten before them, and on their right: their books.
* Mention of who said that:
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: يَسْعَى نُورُهُمْ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَبِأَيْمَانِهِمْ ("their light hastens before them and on their right"): their books; Allah says: as for him whose book is given in his right hand; and as for their light: that is their guidance.
And the most correct of the two statements concerning this is the statement which we have mentioned on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk. That is because, if what was intended thereby was the well-known, luminous radiance, the report about the hastening would not be specifically restricted to before them and on their right to the exclusion of the left side, for the brilliance that the believers are given in the Hereafter illuminates for them everything that is around them. In Allah's specific restriction—exalted be His praise—of the report about its hastening to before them and on their right, to the exclusion of the left side, there is an indication that something other than the radiance is intended thereby, even though they do not lack the radiance.
The interpretation of the word, then, since the matter is as we have described, is: and to all Allah has promised the best, on the Day when you see the believing men and the believing women while the reward for their faith and their good deeds hastens before them, and on their right fly about the books of their deeds.
By His word يَسْعَى ("hastens") He means: proceeds. And the bāʾ in His word وَبِأَيْمَانِهِمْ ("and on their right") has the meaning of "in." Some of the grammarians of Basra said: the bāʾ in His word وَبِأَيْمَانِهِمْ has the meaning of "upon their right."
And His word: يَوْمَ تَرَى ("on the Day when you see") is connected to "He promised."
And His word: بُشْرَاكُمُ الْيَوْمَ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ ("your glad tidings this Day are gardens beneath which the rivers flow"). The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: it is said to them: your glad tidings this Day, O believers, with which you are made glad, are gardens beneath which the rivers flow; so rejoice over that.
And His word: خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا ("abiding therein eternally"). He says: abiding in the gardens, neither departing from them nor moving away from them.
And His word: ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ ("that is the great triumph"). He says: their eternal abiding in the gardens which He has described—that is the great success which they sought after the deliverance from the punishment of Allah and the entry into Paradise, abiding therein eternally.
