What Is the Good Life Mentioned in 16:97?
Question:
Verse 16:97 mentions that the person with faith and good deeds will be granted a good life. My query is that will this good life be in this world which is the life of test? (The life of reward and punishment is the life after death).
Answer:
Before answering this question I would like to make a general point about rewards and punishments. You wrote:
“The life of reward and punishment is the life after death”
The above is absolutely correct. I would like to add another dimension to it:
“The life of realising reward and punishment is the life after death”
Based on my general understanding of the Qur’an, those who deserve punishment are already surrounded by it in this world, that is the consequence of their bad deeds. Likewise those who deserve God’s mercy in the hereafter are already surrounded with His special blessings and rewards in this world. The only thing is that neither of the two groups fully and literally realise this. It is only in the hereafter that their eyes will become sharp enough (50:22) to see the reality of the things and therefore to see what was surrounding them in this world as the result of their deeds, in its ultimate form.
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In my current understanding, the first part of the above verse (16:97) refers to the naturally rewarding consequences of belief and righteous deeds in this very world. The second part of the verse refers to the ultimate reward in the hereafter. In fact, az Zamakhshari writes, the second part of the verse (being about the hereafter) is an evidence that the first part is about this world, moreover this is what can be derived from the appearance (Zuhur) of the verse.
I would therefore interpret the verse as follows:
“Whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while he is a believer, We will surely revive a good life for him/her (in this world) and (in the hereafter) We will surely give them their reward according to the best of what they used to do.”
The reward of belief and righteous deed in this world is the inner peace, inner happiness, confidence and other elevated states of mind and soul in this life, some of which are mentioned in the Qur’an (48:4, 89:27, 13:28).
There are other verses in the Qur’an where the good results of belief and righteous deeds in this world are referred to. In verse 3:148 God refers to the reward of those who are steadfast in helping the prophet of their time. In 6:122 a similar expression is used as in 16:97, referring to being rightly guided in this world as ‘reviving after death’.
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October 2013
Verse 16:97 mentions that the person with faith and good deeds will be granted a good life. My query is that will this good life be in this world which is the life of test? (The life of reward and punishment is the life after death).
Answer:
Before answering this question I would like to make a general point about rewards and punishments. You wrote:
“The life of reward and punishment is the life after death”
The above is absolutely correct. I would like to add another dimension to it:
“The life of realising reward and punishment is the life after death”
Based on my general understanding of the Qur’an, those who deserve punishment are already surrounded by it in this world, that is the consequence of their bad deeds. Likewise those who deserve God’s mercy in the hereafter are already surrounded with His special blessings and rewards in this world. The only thing is that neither of the two groups fully and literally realise this. It is only in the hereafter that their eyes will become sharp enough (50:22) to see the reality of the things and therefore to see what was surrounding them in this world as the result of their deeds, in its ultimate form.
**********
In my current understanding, the first part of the above verse (16:97) refers to the naturally rewarding consequences of belief and righteous deeds in this very world. The second part of the verse refers to the ultimate reward in the hereafter. In fact, az Zamakhshari writes, the second part of the verse (being about the hereafter) is an evidence that the first part is about this world, moreover this is what can be derived from the appearance (Zuhur) of the verse.
I would therefore interpret the verse as follows:
“Whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while he is a believer, We will surely revive a good life for him/her (in this world) and (in the hereafter) We will surely give them their reward according to the best of what they used to do.”
The reward of belief and righteous deed in this world is the inner peace, inner happiness, confidence and other elevated states of mind and soul in this life, some of which are mentioned in the Qur’an (48:4, 89:27, 13:28).
There are other verses in the Qur’an where the good results of belief and righteous deeds in this world are referred to. In verse 3:148 God refers to the reward of those who are steadfast in helping the prophet of their time. In 6:122 a similar expression is used as in 16:97, referring to being rightly guided in this world as ‘reviving after death’.
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October 2013
