Tafsir of An-Nahl 16:96

The statement of the Almighty, "What you have..." is a justification for the state of being 'better,' presented by way of an initiation (istī'nāf). That is: that which you enjoy of worldly pleasures—nay, the world and all that is within it—"will perish," meaning it will come to an end and vanish, even if its number is great and its duration long. It is said: nafada (with a kasrah on the ‘ayn), yanfadu (with a fatḥah), nafādan, when it departs and perishes. As for nafadha (with the dotted dhāl), it is with a fatḥah on the ‘ayn, and its imperfect tense is yanfudhu (with a ḍammah on the ‘ayn).

"And what is with Allah"—from the treasuries of His worldly and otherworldly mercy—"is lasting," having no end. As for the otherworldly [mercy], it is self-evident. As for the worldly, since it is connected to the otherworldly and is a consequence of it, it has been threaded into the string of "lasting good deeds." Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Ibn Jubayr that what is meant by "what is with Allah" in both instances is the otherworldly reward, and some of the Imams chose this view. The preference for the noun [form] over the imperfect verb form carries a connotation of permanence that is not hidden. The verse serves as a refutation of Jahm ibn Safwan, who claimed that the pleasures of Paradise would cease.

His saying, "And We will surely reward"—with the 'nun' of majesty, which is the reading of ‘Asim and Ibn Kathir—is a shift (iltifāt) from the third person to the first person. It is a repetition of the promise derived from His, the Exalted’s, saying: "Indeed, what is with Allah is better for you," delivered in the manner of a categorical emphasis, as an exaggeration in inciting steadfastness to the covenant. The rest of the seven [reciters] read it with the 'ya' [i.e., "He will surely reward"], so there is no shift.

The departure from what the external context requires—which would be to say: "And We will reward you" (with the 'nun' or 'ya')—to "their reward" is to reach the point of mentioning their deeds and signifying that these deeds are the cause of the reward. That is: By Allah, We will surely reward "those who were patient"—in keeping the covenant, or in enduring the harm of the polytheists and the hardships of Islam, among which is the fulfillment of covenants, even if those with whom they covenanted promised to break them—"their reward" (an object of 'We will reward')—meaning: We will give them the reward specific to them in exchange for their patience—"according to the best of what they used to do."

(96) This refers to patience, for it is among the deeds of the heart. The speech contains an elliptical genitive; that is: We will reward them with the recompense of their patience. Patience is the best of deeds because all obligations depend upon it; it is the head of all of them, as Abu Hayyan stated. In Irshād al-‘Aql al-Salīm, it is stated that the "best" is added to what was mentioned to signify the perfection of its excellence, as in His saying, "And the good reward of the Hereafter," not to imply restricting the reward to the "best" while excluding the "good," for that is something that would not cross anyone's mind, especially after His saying, "their reward." Thus, the addition is for encouragement.

It is permissible that the meaning is: We will reward them according to their best individual deeds. That is, we will give them, in exchange for the lowest degree of their deeds, the same abundant reward we give for the highest degree of them, rather than us rewarding them according to their individual variations in the ranks of excellence—i.e., that we reward the "good" with the "good" and the "best" with the "best." This contains a hidden, beautiful promise of pardoning any impatience that might afflict them in the midst of their patience, threading it into the string of "beautiful patience."

Alternatively, "best" (aḥsan) may be an adjective for an elliptical noun—the recompense—and the addition is in the sense of the comparative, meaning: We will reward them with a recompense better than their deeds, and its being "better" is due to its multiplication. It has been said: "The best" refers to what is preferred to be done rather than left, such as the obligatory and recommended acts, or what is preferred to be left, such as forbidden and disliked acts. The "good" (ḥasan) is that which is not preferred to be done nor left, and one is not rewarded for it. This is challenged in al-Irshād by stating that the context of urging them to remain steadfast in the specific good deeds they are performing, and the encouragement to attain their fruits, does not support this. Indeed, the attempt to exclude some of their deeds from the scope of reward belongs to the category of restricting the vast mercy in a place where its bounds are being expanded.

It is also said: The "best" refers to the supererogatory acts, and it was "best" because it was not made mandatory, but the human performs it by choice, not by compulsion. And when you know the rewarding for the supererogatory act, which is "best," you know the rewarding for the obligatory act, which is "good." It is not hidden that the latter [the obligatory] is not merely "good" at all.