His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And give good news to those who have believed and done righteous deeds that they will have gardens beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with fruit from therein as provision, they will say, 'This is what we were provided with before.' And they will be given something similar. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally.﴾

"Give good news" is taken from the word 'bushra', because what a person gives good news of, whether good or bad, shows an effect on the countenance of the face. The predominant usage of 'bushra' is for good, and it can be used for bad, constrained by it, explicitly mentioned as the bad news being given, as He, the Most High, said: ﴿So give them tidings of a painful punishment﴾ [Al-Inshiqaq: 24]. Whenever the term 'bushra' is used, it is to be understood as referring to good.

And in His saying, the Most High: ﴿and done righteous deeds﴾ is a refutation of those who say that the term 'faith' by itself entails obedience, for if that were the case, it would not have been repeated. "That" is in the accusative case as a result of "give good news", and it is said to be in the genitive case based on the assumption of a preposition. And "gardens" is the plural of "garden", which is an orchard of trees and palms, and an orchard of grapes is called 'Al-Firdaws'. It is named a garden because it conceals the one who enters it, meaning it covers him. From it is 'mijann' and 'jannah' and 'jinn' of the night.

And ﴿beneath which﴾ means: beneath the trees that are included in the mention of the garden. It is said that His saying ﴿beneath which﴾ means: adjacent to it, as you say: my house is beneath the house of so-and-so. This is weak. And "the rivers" are the waters in their expansive, flowing channels, for it is a term derived from 'anharat', meaning it widened. From it is the saying of Qays ibn Al-Khatheem:

I possessed it with my hand, so I flowed its opening, and one standing can see beyond it.

And from it is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "What has flowed of blood, and the name of Allah was mentioned upon it, eat it," meaning it has flowed until the blood ran like a river. And the flowing is attributed to the river, although only the water flows, figuratively, as He said: ﴿And ask the city﴾ [Yusuf: 82], and as the poet said:

I was informed that the fire was kindled after you, and the council was in turmoil after you, O Kulayb.

And it is narrated that the rivers of Paradise are not in trenches; rather, they flow on the surface of the land of Paradise, well-defined.

And His saying: "Whenever" is an adverb that implies restriction.

And in this verse is a refutation of those who say that provision must be owned, as some of the scholars of principles have mentioned this, and I do not have a clear proof for it.

(p-152) And their saying "This" is an indication to the kind, meaning: This is of the kind that we were provided from before. The speech may imply astonishment, and this is the saying of Ibn Abbas. It is also possible that it is news from some of them to others, as said by a group of the interpreters. Al-Hasan and Mujahid said: They are provided with the fruit, then they are provided after it with something similar in appearance. The taste is different, so they are astonished by that, and some of them inform each other. Ibn Abbas said: There is nothing in Paradise that is from this world except for the names. As for the essences, they are different. Some of the interpreters said: The meaning is that they see the fruit and distinguish its kinds when its appearance resembles what was in this world, so they say: This is what we were provided from before in the world.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And the saying of Ibn Abbas which is accepted, this responds somewhat to this saying. Some of the interpreters said: The meaning is this which we were promised in the world, so it is as if they have been provided with it in the world since the promise of Allah is fulfilled. And a group said: Indeed, when the fruit of Paradise is picked, something comes out in its place immediately like it. This is an indication to what comes out in the place of the harvested. The majority of the people read "And they are given" with the hamzah and the ta marbuta both pronounced. Harun al-A'war read: "And they came" with the hamzah and the ta both opened. The doer in this reading is the boys and the servants. And "They are given" in the reading of the group, its origin is "They were given"; the movement of the ya was transferred to the ta, then the ya was omitted due to the meeting.

And His saying, the Exalted: "Similar" Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, al-Hasan, and others said: Its meaning is that some resemble each other in appearance, while they differ in taste. And Ikrimah said: Its meaning is that it resembles the fruit of this world in appearance, but it differs in most of the attributes. And Qatadah said: "Similar" means it is of the best quality, with no inferior quality in it, like His saying, the Exalted: "A Book that is similar" [Az-Zumar: 23].

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It is as if he means that it is consistent in that every type is of the highest of its kind. This is a resemblance. And it was said "Similar" meaning with the fruit of this world in names, not in anything else (p-153) of form and taste. And "Pairs" is the plural of pair. The woman is the pair of the man, and the man is the pair of the woman. It is also said regarding the woman: spouse. From this is the saying of al-Farazdaq:

And indeed, the one who strives to corrupt my wife ∗∗∗ is like one striving to a lion of the hunt to seize her.

And Ammar ibn Yasir said regarding Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her: By Allah, I know that she is his wife in this world and the Hereafter, but Allah has tested you. Al-Bukhari and others mentioned the hadith in detail. And "Pure" is more eloquent than "Pure", and the meaning of this purity is from menstruation, saliva, and all the impurities of human beings. It is said also from sins. And "Eternity" means permanence in life, or ownership and the like. He remained in the place if his stay continued there. And "Eternity" may be used metaphorically for what is long-lasting. As for that which is in the verse, it is truly eternal.