Tafsir of As-Sajdah 32:19

This is a detailed exposition of the ranks of the two groups after the negation of their equality, or, as others have said, after mentioning their states in the worldly life.

The Gardens are attributed to "Refuge" (al-Ma’wa) because they are the true refuge and the real abode, whereas the worldly life is a dwelling from which one must inevitably depart. It is also said that "al-Ma’wa" is a proper noun for a specific place within the Gardens, like ‘Adn. Others have said it is "The Garden of Refuge" based on the narration from Ibn Abbas that the souls of the martyrs take refuge within it, and it is narrated that it lies to the right of the Throne. The remoteness of considering it a proper noun is not hidden; regardless, it is not far-fetched that it contains an allusion to what was mentioned regarding their forsaking their beds—which were their refuges in the worldly life.

Talhah read it as "The Garden of Refuge" (Jannat al-Ma’wa) in the singular.

"As accommodation (Nuzulan)"—meaning a reward. In its original usage, it refers to what is prepared for a guest arriving—food, drink, and gifts—then it became generalized to include any gift. Its grammatical state is an accusative denoting a state (hal) from "Gardens," and the operative factor is the prepositional phrase (lahum). It is also permitted that it be a plural for "one who arrives" (nazil), thus making it a state from the pronoun in "those who believed." Abu Haywah read "Nuzulan" with the zay quiescent (sukoon), as in the poet’s saying: “And when the tyrant visits us with his army, we make for him the spears and the swift horses as accommodation.”

"For what they used to do"—meaning because of the righteous deeds they used to perform in the worldly life. This is based on "ma" being relative (mawsulah) with the returning pronoun omitted, and the ba (in "bima") indicating causality. That this serves as a cause is according to the requirements of His Exalted Grace and His Honorable Promise; thus, it does not contradict the Hadith: "None of you will enter Paradise by his deeds." It is also permissible for the ba to be for the sake of recompense and exchange, like the ’ala (on/upon) in the example: "I sold you the house for a thousand dirhams," meaning they shall have that in exchange for what they used to do.