Tafsir of Al-Ahzab 33:44

After explaining the immediate effects of His mercy—namely the aforementioned extraction—the greeting is that one should say: "May Allah grant you life (hayyaka Allah)," meaning: He has granted you life. This is originally an announcement, then it is made into an invocation. It is said, "So-and-so greeted (hayya) so-and-so with a greeting (tahiyyah)" if he said that to him. The root of this term is al-hayah (life); then every invocation was termed a greeting, because all of them do not deviate from the attainment of life or the cause of life, whether for this world or the hereafter.

Here, it is a verbal noun (masdar) attributed to the object, serving as the subject (mubtada'), and "Peace" (salam)—the literal term being intended—is its predicate. The intent is what Allah, Exalted is He, greets them with and says to them the day they meet Him, the Almighty, and enter the abode of His honor: "Peace," meaning this very word. It is narrated that Allah, Exalted is He, says: "Peace be upon you, My servants. I am pleased with you; are you pleased with Me?" They all respond: "Our Lord, we are pleased, completely pleased." It is also reported that Allah, Exalted is He, says: "Peace be upon you; welcome to My believing servants who pleased Me in the abode of the world by following My command." It is said: The angels, upon them be peace, greet them with it when they enter Paradise, as the Almighty said: "And the angels will enter upon them from every gate, 'Peace be upon you'."

It is also said: They greet them upon exiting their graves, saluting them and giving them glad tidings of Paradise. Another view is that this occurs at the time of death.

It is narrated from Ibn Mas’ud that he said: When the Angel of Death comes to take the soul of the believer, he says: "Your Lord sends you peace." It is said that in this case, the pronoun in "meet Him" (yalqawnahu) refers to someone not mentioned, namely the Angel of Death. But there is no necessity for that, as there is no impediment to the pronoun referring to Allah, Exalted is He, as it is in all the other opinions. Meeting Allah, Exalted is He, according to what the Imam pointed out, is an expression for turning to Him, Exalted is He, entirely, such that nothing distracts, diverts, or causes the person to be heedless of Him, the Mighty and Majestic. This occurs upon entering Paradise and while therein, as well as at the Resurrection and at the time of death.

Al-Raghib said: Meeting Allah, Exalted is He, is an expression for the Day of Resurrection and the return to Him, the Mighty and Majestic. Al-Tabrisi said: It is meeting His reward, Exalted is He; this is not apparent across all the previous opinions, but rather apparent in some of them, as is not hidden. From Qatadah regarding the verse: on the day they enter Paradise, they will greet one another with peace, meaning: "I am safe and you are safe from every fear." The greeting in "their greeting" (tahiyyatuhum)—according to what al-Khafaji said—is a verbal noun attributed to the doer. In al-Bahr, it is a verbal noun attributed to the one being greeted, and the greeter, not by way of operation (grammatically), because a single pronoun cannot be both doer and object. Rather, it is like His saying: "And we were witnesses to their judgment" (i.e., the judgment that transpired between them).

Likewise, it is said here: the greeting that occurs between them is "Peace." The statement of the greeter on that day is "Peace"—an announcement rather than an invocation, because it is more emphatic, as is said—so reflect upon this. The opinion most worthy of acceptance in my view is that Allah, Exalted is He, greets them on the day they meet Him as an honor and exaltation to them.

"And He has prepared for them a noble reward." (44) Meaning: He, the Mighty and Majestic, has readied for them a beautiful reward. It is apparent that the preparation occurred before entering Paradise and the greeting; hence, the sentence was not brought in the form of the preceding one by saying "Their reward is a noble reward" (i.e., "They have a noble reward"). It is said: It is after entry and the greeting; thus, the speech is an exposition of the effects of His mercy, Exalted is He, flowing upon them after entering Paradise, following the exposition of the effects of His mercy that reached them before that. Perhaps the preference for the verbal sentence over the nominal one, which would have been more consistent with what preceded it, is for the sake of exaggeration in inciting desire and longing for the promised, by explaining that the matter which is the ultimate goal among all the effects of mercy is already existent and prepared for them, along with the regard for the rhythm of the verse endings.