Dr. Bassam Saeh shows that Surah at-Takathur is a perfect example of how the Quran introduced new words, structures, and linguistic forms that Arabs had never used in this way before.
He begins by showing that even short words like You Will Surely See (لترون) and You Will Surely Be Asked (لتسألن) are unique to this surah and cannot be found in the same form in pre-Islamic poetry or hadith. Their heavy rhythmic structure, with four vowels in a row and strong emphasis (lam and heavy nun), created a style unseen in Arabic before.
The word The Blazing Fire (الجحيم), though known to Arabs, was given a completely new meaning by the Quran as one of the names for Hell, repeated twenty-six times. Other terms like That Day (يومئذ) and The Bliss (النعيم), which were rare or almost unused in pre-Islamic poetry, became widespread through the Quran, again with new layers of meaning.
Dr. Saeh points out that Surah at-Takathur also introduced new grammatical structures. For example, it uses the past tense (زرتم) to talk about a future event (death), to express certainty. It uses kalla (كلا) in new combinations with future and conditional verbs, combining rebuke, certainty, and warning in a way Arabs were not familiar with. Even the famous phrases Knowledge of Certainty (علم اليقين) and Eye of Certainty (عين اليقين) appear only here, showing how the Quran created new concepts and expressions.
Throughout the surah, open-ended words like competition (التكاثر), distracted you (ألهاكم), and the bliss (النعيم) are left deliberately broad, so they can apply to many times, places, and situations. This openness made the Quran’s language flexible, rich, and timeless, in contrast to the more rigid, narrow structures of pre-Islamic Arabic.
He shows how the surah’s short, flowing phrases became deep expressions that could summarise entire life situations in just a few words, such as Competition Distracted You (ألهاكم التكاثر) and You Will Surely Be Asked About the Bliss (لتسألن عن النعيم).
Surah at-Takathur is an example of how the Quran expanded Arabic, opened new horizons for meaning and expression, and created a language structure that no human speech, poetry, or prose could imitate.
The Words: You Will Surely See and You Will Surely See It (لترون، لترونها)
Even though these two words are repeated twice in the surah, they do not appear again anywhere else in the Quran. They also do not appear in this exact form in Arabic poetry, neither before Islam nor after it. So they are another unique feature of Surah at-Takathur.
One might think that the reason Arabic poetry did not use this form is because the structure, where four vowels come one after another, does not fit well with the natural rhythms of Arabic poetry. This kind of continuous movement is very rare in Arabic metre, and can hardly be found except in a rare metre called muta‘alin.
However, the fact that the hadith literature, with its prose style and wide variety, also does not include this structure, shows that the reason is deeper. It shows that this form is truly special to the Quran.
The Word: The Blazing Fire (الجحيم)
The root of this word was known in Arabic. “Al jahim” means an intensely hot place. We find the word at least twice in pre-Islamic poetry. The first is with Amr ibn Qami’ah (d. 85 years before Hijrah) when he describes travelling under the fierce heat, so strong that even desert insects stop moving:
وهاجرة كأوار الجحيم
قطعت إذا الجندب الجون قالا
“And the midday heat was like the blaze of the jahim
Which I crossed when even the black locust paused.”
Antarah ibn Shaddad (d. 22 years before Hijrah) in a love poem:
“Whenever I tasted the coolness of her lips,
I thought it in my mouth like the fire of the jahim.”
عنترة بن شداد (ت ٢٢ ق.هـ) يتغزل:
كلما ذقت بارداً من لماها
خلته في فمي كنار الجحيم
However, Dr Saeh repeats his doubts about the true authorship of these lines. In both cases, the way the word is used seems heavily influenced by the later Islamic meaning of Hell, which casts doubt on whether these poems are really from the pre-Islamic time.
What is clear is that the Quran gave the word a new meaning when it made “al jahim” one of the names for Hell, mentioning it twenty six times. This is a high number compared to how often the name “Jahannam” is mentioned, which is seventy seven times. It is also a big difference from how rarely the word appeared in pre-Islamic poetry, even if we accept those poems as genuine.
The Word: You Will Surely Be Asked (لتسألن)
The pre-Islamic poets did not know this verb or its related forms with the new Quran-given meaning of accountability and being questioned about one’s actions.
Even though the Quran uses this word and related forms about twenty two times with this new meaning, in pre-Islamic poetry it only appears with its old meaning of simple questioning, with no idea of accountability or judgement. For example:
عن تأبط شراً (ت ٨٥ ق.هـ):
إن يسأل القوم عني أهل معرفة
فلا يُخبرهم عن ثابت لاق
“If the people ask about me, those who know will tell,
But let them not be misled about Thabit”
(Attributed to Ta’abbata Sharran, d. 85 years before Hijrah)
“And ask about the caravans, where they have travelled,
Their fathers, and when they will return” (Attributed to Antarah, d. 22 years before Hijrah)
عنترة بن شداد (ت ٢٢ ق.هـ):
واسأل عن الأظعان أين سَرَتْ بها
آباؤها ومتى يكون رجوعها
What catches attention is not only the new meaning the Quran gave to the verb (لتسألن) but also the new grammatical form.
The form (لتفعلن) with such strong emphasis is strange. It does not exist with this exact structure or meaning in pre-Islamic or later poetry. The only example found in old poetry is a line by
Amir ibn at-Tufayl (d. 11 AH): “And you will surely ask Asma’, while she is concerned,
Her advisers: was I driven away or not?”
عامر بن الطفيل (ت ١١هـ): [و] لَتَسْأَلَنْ أسماء وهي حَفِيَّةٌ
نُصَحَاءَها: أطْرِدتُ أم لم أطرد
But even there, the verb is active, while the verb is passive. The poet’s verb is lightened in its ending, while the Quran’s is strongly emphasised. Also, the poet uses it in the old sense of simple questioning, not accountability.
Even though the verb appears three times in the Quran, it does not appear in the hadith except when quoting this surah.
Perhaps forms like (لتفعلن) appear here and there in poetry and prose after the Quran, but always in the sense of a command, not as a prediction or a certain event, which is the special way the Quran uses it here.
Both verbs (لترون) and (لتسألن) in the Quran have a special nature that makes it difficult for them to be said by one human to another. Especially because both verbs come with strong emphasis (with the “lam” and the double “nun”) yet they do not have the meaning of command, which is one of the most unusual and new features in the Quran.
The Word: That Day (يومئذ)
I hesitated before including this word here. It is found once in pre-Islamic poetry, attributed to the very old poet al-Shanfarah (d. about 70 years before Hijrah):
“You are the master that day, so rise,
And beat me with your whip, no father to you.”
فأنت البعل يومئذ فقومي
بسوطك لا أبا لك فاضربيني
But the Quran repeats this word seventy times, a number so high compared to poetry that it forces us to consider it among the new Quran expressions.
In two places the Quran adds (يوم) to what came before, leading to forms like (من عذاب يومئذ), which was unknown in pre-Islamic poetry.
The heavy use of the word in the Quran leaves a strong mark. Even when we hear it in a normal sentence, it makes us pause and wonder about its connection to the Quran.
The poets after the Quran up to the end of the Umayyad era only used it four times, showing how deeply it became linked to the Quran.
The Word: The Bliss (النعيم)
This word appears only twice in pre-Islamic poetry. But in the Islamic period, it appears at least forty seven times until the end of the Umayyad period, clearly influenced by the Quran.
In the Quran, the word repeats seventeen times, usually describing Paradise, making it almost another name for it.
However, in this surah, it refers to the blessings of this life, not the next, giving it another special meaning unique to Surah at-Takathur.
The Quran’s strong focus on this word helped it enter Arabic poetry and speech with great force, and the Quran’s unique use of it in this surah adds even more special character to it.
Second: Linguistic Forms and Internal Relationships
Under this heading, as usual, we will study every new structure, form, or expression that the Quran introduced in this surah, going against the Arabic stylistic traditions that existed before the time of revelation. We were able to count twelve cases in this surah:
Until You Visited the Graves (حتى زرتم المقابر)
The new thing in this Quran expression, if we understand the verse to mean “you kept competing until you died and were buried,” is that the verb came in the past tense (زرتم) even though it refers to something that will happen in the future, because the people being addressed had not yet died.
The past tense was used to show certainty and to stress that it will definitely happen. It is as if the Quran says to them: you are already dead, even if you have not yet died. This style, using the past tense to show certainty, is very common in the Quran.
If, however, the verse means a real visit to the graves to boast about the dead, as some interpretations suggest, then there is no special new structure here. But we still include it because we cannot rule out the first meaning.
You Visited the Graves (زرتم المقابر)
The Quran’s way of expressing death by saying “you visited the graves” is a new image in Arabic expression. It does not say “you visited the people of the graves,” as in the poem attributed to Antarah, but simply “the graves” themselves. The visit here is a clear reference to death itself.
No Then You Will Know / Then No (كلا سوف، ثم كلا)
The appearance of the word (كلا) in these three new forms brings new constructions into Arabic that were not known before.
In (كلا سوف تعلمون), (no) comes before (sawfa), combining rebuke and warning about consequences. This combination of the two words was not known before.
In (ثم كلا سوف تعلمون), adding (ثم) increases the emotional weight and fear. It combines two words that were not usually joined together in this way.
In (كلا لو تعلمون), (كلا) is added to the conditional word (لو), introducing another unexpected combination, leading to an even deeper warning, by putting people face to face with facts that would shock them if they could see them.
If You Only Knew (لو تعلمون)
Most interpreters insist that the conditional (لو) here has a missing answer, and that (لترون الجحيم) (you will surely see the blazing fire) is not the answer to it. We will see later that we do not agree with them.
If their view were right, then this is an unusual kind of missing answer in Arabic.
Leaving out the answer to a condition is one of the most important styles in the Quran. That is why I include this point here even though it may differ from the normal cases in the Qur’an of missing answers.
There are many examples in the Quran where the answer to (لو) or other conditional words is missing, like:
“Until the earth became tight upon them, and their own beings became tight upon them, and they thought there is no refuge from Allah except with Him, then He turned to them so they would repent” (al-Tawbah 118)
حتى اذا ضاقت عليهم الارض بما رحبت وضاقت عليهم انفسهم وظنوا ان لا ملجأ من الله الا اليه ثم تاب عليهم ليتوبوا (التوبة ١١٨)
“Until, when Gog and Magog are released, and they rush from every hill” (al-Anbiya 96)
حتى اذا فتحت يأجوج ومأجوج وهم من كل حدب ينسلون (الانبياء ٩٦)
“And when it is said to them, fear what is before you and what is behind you, so that you may be shown mercy, but no sign comes to them from the signs of their Lord except that they turn away” (Yasin 45 to 46)
واذا قيل لهم اتقوا ما بين ايديكم وما خلفكم لعلكم ترحمون
وما تأتيهم من آية من آيات ربهم الا كانوا عنها معرضين (يس ٤٥-٤٦)
“Until when they come to it, and its gates are opened, and its keepers say to them, peace be upon you, you have done well, so enter it forever” (al-Zumar 73)
حتى اذا جاءوها وفتحت ابوابها وقال لهم خزنتها سلام عليكم طبتم فادخلوها خالدين (الزمر ٧٣)
Many grammarians argue that (لترون الجحيم) cannot be the answer to (لو) because the answer to (لو) should usually be negative or something that does not happen. (لو) normally implies that something would have happened if something else had happened, but since it did not happen, the result also did not happen.
For example: “If you had known what he said about you, you would have been angry.”
لو كنت تعلم ما قاله عنك لغضبت
Because he did not know, he was not angry.
They argue that since seeing the Fire in the afterlife is guaranteed to happen, (لترون الجحيم) cannot be the answer to (لو). Instead, they claim there must be an unspoken oath, like: “I swear you will surely see the Fire.”
But in reality, there is a big difference between seeing the Fire in the next life and the seeing meant in the surah. In this surah, it is a call to imagine and realise the image of the Fire in this life, through reflection and inner awareness, not physical sight in the afterlife.
Seeing it in the afterlife is certain, but seeing it through reflection in this life will not happen for those people. Therefore, the Quran uses the conditional (لو) properly here.
I promised not to turn this study into a grammar book and to keep it close to everyone’s understanding. But this is a very important point, and I am sure you will enjoy it if you read it carefully. Grammar is like a smart game that gives a lot of pleasure and surprise if you are patient.
Notice that when we gave the example “If you had known, you would have been angry,” the verb of the answer was in the past tense. In classical grammar, the answer to (لو) is usually a past tense verb, not a present tense.
Sometimes the answer can be a nominal sentence, especially if it has the connecting (lam), like the poet said:
لو كنت من مازن لم تستبح إبلي
بنو اللقيطة من ذهل بن شيبان
“If I had been from the tribe of Mazin,
The sons of al-Laqitah from Dhuhl would not have stolen my camels.”
Here, the verb is in the present tense but used in the meaning of the past because it is preceded by (lam).
But in the Quran verse (لترون الجحيم), the answer comes in the present tense with strong future meaning, breaking the usual rule. This is another reason grammarians said that (لترون) is not an answer to (لو) but an answer to a hidden oath.
By doing this, the grammarians tried to protect the old grammar rules. They ended up assuming two missing words: a missing answer to (لو) and a missing oath, even though they admit it is better not to imagine missing words unless necessary.
But the truth is that the Quran’s greatness shows in how it enriches Arabic by introducing new ways of expression without breaking its deep rules. If it had broken them, it would have become a different language.
The Quran opened new doors for Arabic to grow and flourish, but unfortunately, we did not notice these openings or use them to renew and develop our language. One of the goals of this study is to help rediscover them.
Knowledge of Certainty and Eye of Certainty (علم اليقين عين اليقين)
These two expressions are not found anywhere outside the Quran, and not even outside this surah, nor do they appear in the hadith, except when the hadith mentions this surah.
As for (علم اليقين), it is, as the interpreters said, the knowledge of the heart and mind, not the seeing with the eyes. It means that a person with insight sees the Fire while still in this life before moving to the next life.
This supports what we previously said about the condition in the verse. As for (عين اليقين), it is the real seeing with the eyes on the Day of Resurrection, when the disbelievers will see the Fire and taste its punishment, or when the believers also see it with their eyes and are fully certain of its horror and intensity, as Allah said: “There is none of you but will come to it” (Maryam 71).
You Will Surely See the Blazing Fire (لترون الجحيم)
Once again, if we placed this small sentence, made of only two words, among hundreds of other short sentences, we would be able to identify its Quran source:
Because of the uniqueness of its two words, as we proved before.
Because of its structure (the form of action with strong emphasis using both the lam and nun, directed to a group not to an individual, and carrying the meaning of information not command).
This form, apart from its important special nature, is very rare even in everyday language, even in the normal usage of hadith language, but it appears often in the Quran, such as:
“You will surely cause corruption in the land twice, and you will surely reach great arrogance” (al-Isra 4)
“You will surely move from stage to stage” (al-Inshiqaq 19)
Then You Will Surely See It / Then You Will Surely Be Asked (ثم لترونها ثم لتسألن)
The appearance of the word (ثم) before two strongly emphasised sentences like these, with their verbs starting with the lam of emphasis and ending with the heavy nun of emphasis, is something unusual and unprecedented in the Arabic language, whether with these verbs or with others.
The conjunction (ثم) adds an extra layer of confirmation, something we have felt in more than one verse, especially when the same word or phrase is repeated after it, like in:
“No, they will soon know. Then no, they will soon know” (al-Naba 4 to 5)
“Woe to you, then woe” (al-Qiyamah 34 to 35)
There is no doubt that when we say, insisting and confirming, “no, then no,” we are influenced by the Quran style that introduced this way of speaking. It has stayed in our daily language memory.
The Bliss (النعيم)
Usually, a person is asked or held accountable about an action, whether he did it or not. But here, the questioning is about (the bliss) itself, which is not an action or event. Therefore, there must be an action or something like an action understood before this word.
The meaning becomes that he will be asked: Did you thank Allah for the blessings He gave you? Or: Did you use this blessing properly? Or: How did you acquire this blessing?
This gives the expression a new rhetorical style that is unique to the Quran.
Third: The Linguistic Patterns (ثالثاً: السبائك اللغوية)
When the Quran was revealed, its new linguistic patterns were a true revolution in the fabric of the Arabic language. They astonished the Arabs even though they could not fully understand what was happening. They found themselves unable even to imitate these patterns or replace their traditional old structures with them.
That is why we rarely find today any true examples of these new Quran patterns in Arabic, except where someone clearly quotes from the Quran. Most of the Quran’s patterns, if not all of them, remained impossible to imitate in a natural way that would blend them into regular speech.
Thus, the influence of the Quran on our language mostly remained limited to some words, some phrases, and a few short and memorable sayings. The Quran’s open style also influenced Arabic poetry to some extent, but the unique “openness” remained mostly a Quran-only feature, shared a little with some hadiths.
The Quran’s patterns still keep their heavenly flavour, which no human can truly copy or fully understand. What we are doing now is only a humble attempt to uncover what our limited minds can find from the deep secrets of this divine linguistic chemistry.
We will now look at the eight patterns in this surah, which in fact cover the whole surah.
Competition Distracted You Until You Visited the Graves (ألهاكم التكاثر حتى زرتم المقابر)
The words and their connections here, as we studied before, contain enough elements of uniqueness to make the phrase a clear Quran pattern.
The word (حتى) stands at the centre of this pattern, linking, in at least one meaning, the beginning (being distracted by competing) and the result (death and accountability), giving the phrase its special Quran structure.
The closest Quran pattern to it, in the overall form though not in every linguistic detail, is:
“So leave them to converse vainly and amuse themselves until they meet their Day which they are promised” (al-Ma’arij 42)
No Then You Will Know (كلا سوف تعلمون)
This is surely a very distinct structure, where negation and confirmation are combined at the same time.
Opening the verse with a negating or rebuking word prepares us to expect more negation, but then the future particle (سوف) immediately follows, surprising us with a meaning of confirmation and insistence, creating an unusual shift in tone that gives the sentence a strong Quran flavour.
No Then You Will Know, Then No Then You Will Know (كلا سوف تعلمون ثم كلا سوف تعلمون)
The new added feature here is repetition. The structure is broken at the word (ثم), where the two parts of the sentence meet again.
The closest Quran’s pattern to it is:
“No, they will soon know. No, they will soon know” (al-Naba 4 to 5)
Again, even someone with a modest familiarity with the Quran could easily recognise this structure among thousands of human sentences, even if they carried a similar meaning.
No If You Only Knew with Knowledge of Certainty (كلا لو تعلمون علم اليقين)
Whether we agree with those who said that the conditional (لو) here has no visible answer, or whether we say that the answer comes later with (لترون), this verse still has all the features of a special structure.
Starting the verse with (كلا) is itself an unusual opening. Then immediately following it with a conditional is another unusual structure. Then the condition itself consists of a verb plus its derived noun (تعلمون علم), and finally comes the unique expression (علم اليقين), forming a structure unlike anything in pre-Islamic Arabic.
You Will Surely See the Blazing Fire (لترون الجحيم)
Even though we already discussed this expression earlier under structures and internal relationships, the full form here with all its elements, including the lam of emphasis, the waw of the subject, the heavy nun of emphasis, and the object, allows it to be counted as a full Quran pattern, even though it consists of only two words.
Then You Will Surely See It with Eye of Certainty (ثم لترونها عين اليقين)
This verse also includes everything that we found in the previous one, plus the new feature of opening with (ثم) and ending with the rare structure (عين اليقين) as an unusual type of emphatic construction.
Then You Will Surely Be Asked That Day About the Bliss (ثم لتسألن يومئذ عن النعيم)
Here again, the Quranic form (لتفعلن) stamps the verse with its special mark, beginning with the emphatic conjunction (ثم).
Also, the heavy repetition of the word (يومئذ) in the Quran, which appears seventy times, and the repeated use of (نعيم) give this structure even more of its special Quran flavour.
Open Ended Expressions
This part of the study looks at the many meanings suggested by interpreters for certain words and expressions in the surah.
The more meanings these words can carry, the more they fit our definition of open ended expressions, and the more they show the flexibility and lasting power that allow them to live through ages, cultures, and different ways of understanding.
We will now focus on the important words and phrases in Surah at-Takathur:
Distracted You (ألهاكم)
The Arabs used to connect this verb with the preposition (عن) to show what the distraction was from. For example, Imru al-Qays said:
“I distracted her from the one with the amulets”
If the preposition is not there, the verb could just mean being busy with things, not necessarily being distracted from something. For example, ‘Ubayd ibn al-Abras said:
وأنت امرؤ الهاك دن وقينة
فتصبح مخموراً وتمسي كذلك
“You are a man distracted by wine and a singer,
Becoming drunk in the morning and evening.”
In the Quran, although the meaning leans towards being distracted from important matters, the preposition (عن) is not there. This leaves the verb open to many possible meanings: distraction from the next life, from thinking about reward and punishment, from prayers, from doing good deeds, and so on.
If (عن) and its object had been mentioned, the meaning would have been closed and limited. Now, it remains rich with possibilities.
Competition (التكاثر)
Again, the word comes open ended. Had it been linked to another word, it would have been limited to that thing. But as it is left open, it can mean competition in wealth, children, lineage, tribes, business, comfort, luxury, and so on.
This openness led to many different opinions about the occasion of the surah’s revelation.
Some said it was about the Jews competing about who had more people.
Some said it was about certain Arab clans.
Some said it referred to the boasting about the dead in the graves.
The hadith also supports this understanding:
“The son of Adam says, my wealth, my wealth, but you only have what you ate and consumed, what you wore and wore out, or what you gave in charity and kept.”
Thus, the word (التكاثر) without any attached detail opened the meaning greatly.
You Visited (زرتم)
We saw earlier how the word (زرتم) is full of possibilities:
Was it a real visit to the graves while alive?
Was it death itself?
Was it a temporary stay in the graves before the Day of Resurrection?
Or was it all of these together?
Even the particle (حتى) gained several meanings here: it could mean to the extent that, or until, or for the purpose of.
No Repeated Three Times (كلا مكرر ثلاث مرات)
The Quran’s development of the meaning of (كلا) and its use in different contexts gave it the strength of an open ended word, open to meanings like rebuke, negation, beginning of a new idea, and even a warning sign.
You Will Know Repeated (تعلمون مكرر)
The verb (تعلمون) without mentioning an object leaves open many possibilities: knowing the result of their competition, knowing the reality of life and death, knowing the punishment, seeing the Fire, and more.
Repeating the verb twice also added more layers: was it just emphasis?
Or was each mention connected to a different stage, like death, then the grave, then the Hereafter?
Knowledge of Certainty (علم اليقين)
Interpretations varied:
Was it death?
The Resurrection?
The seeing of truth after death?
Or deep insight into the reality before death?
The Blazing Fire (الجحيم)
Even though Arabs knew the word before, now it refers to a full terrifying world of punishment, not just ordinary fire.
Eye of Certainty (عين اليقين)
This expression directed meaning towards direct seeing of the truth in the next life.
Then You Will Surely Be Asked That Day (ثم لتسألن يومئذ)
The questioning here is open:
Who will be questioned?
Who will question?
What exactly will be asked?
What happens after the questioning?
The Bliss (النعيم)
The blessings referred to are open to all that Allah has given: safety, health, time, senses, food, water, homes, beauty, religion, the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and more.
The hadith explain it further: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“The first thing the servant will be asked about on the Day of Resurrection is whether he was given health in his body and cool water to drink.”
The Short Comprehensive Expressions
Most of the phrases in this surah have not yet found their place in our daily language. However, we will see that many of these phrases have the qualities of a flowing expression that can, in just a few words, summarise entire life situations that we usually try to describe with long human speech.
Competition Distracted You (ألهاكم التكاثر)
This phrase, made up of only two words, sums up a full lesson that one of us could give to people who have been distracted by the life of this universe and forgotten death, accountability, Paradise, and Hell.
Competition Distracted You Until You Visited the Graves (ألهاكم التكاثر حتى زرتم المقابر)
When these two verses are joined in one phrase, they combine the first situation, which is being distracted by the life of this universe, with another situation: we repeat this phrase to ourselves as we watch the funeral of a person who spent his life gathering wealth and possessions, then left all of it behind and moved towards his inevitable end.
No, You Will Soon Know (كلاً سوف تعلمون)
When you try to convince people that they are wrong, but they stubbornly insist that they are right, even though the mistake is clear to anyone with insight, the most powerful and concise reply to sum up your opinion about them, your despair about correcting them, and your certainty that the truth will eventually appear, is to say: “No, you will soon know.”
Knowledge of Certainty and Eye of Certainty (علم اليقين عين اليقين)
These two phrases summarise two situations, each one in just two words:
The first is being certain of something without seeing it with your eyes (knowledge of certainty).
The second is being certain of it after seeing it with your own eyes (eye of certainty).
If someone tells us serious news that we are still unsure about, the quickest and most powerful way to find out how sure they are is to ask: was it knowledge of certainty or eye of certainty?
Then You Will Surely Be Asked That Day About the Bliss (ثم لتسألن يومئذ عن النعيم)
This phrase is good for a person to repeat whenever they find themselves enjoying blessings, wealth, or happiness, or when they feel that the pleasures of life are coming to them easily. Repeating this phrase serves as a rebuke to the whisperings of the self if it tries to drag them into materialism, and it reminds them of the next life and the work needed to prepare for it.
Muslim narrated from Abu Hurayrah that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) went out one day or night and he found Abu Bakr and Umar. He said: “What brought you out of your houses at this hour?” They said: “Hunger, O Messenger of Allah.” He said: “And I, by the One in Whose hand is my being, what brought me out is what brought you out.
Come, let us go.” So they all went together until they came to a man from the Ansar, and he was not at home. When his wife saw them, she said: “Welcome and greetings.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: “Where is so and so?”
She said: “He went to get fresh water for us.” Soon the Ansari came back, looked at the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his two companions, and said: “Praise be to Allah, no one today has more honoured guests than I.” He went and brought a bunch of dates with unripe, ripe, and dried fruits, and said: “Eat from these.” Then he took a knife. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him: “Do not slaughter a milk giving animal.”
So he slaughtered for them a goat, and they ate from it and from the dates, and they drank water. After they had eaten and drunk and rested, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to Abu Bakr and Umar: “By the One in Whose hand is my being, you will surely be asked about this blessing on the Day of Resurrection. Hunger brought you out of your houses, and you did not return until you were given this blessing.”
