Az-Zumar: (20) "But those who feared their Lord..."

"But those who feared their Lord, for them are chambers, above them chambers built..." This is a correction (istidrak) placed between what resembles two opposites and two contraries, namely the believers and the disbelievers and their respective conditions. The intent by "those who feared" is those described with the virtuous qualities previously enumerated. "Chambers" (ghuraf) is the plural of ghurfa, which is an upper room—meaning they have many magnificent upper rooms, one above another.

"Built"—it is said: This is like a preamble to His saying, the Almighty: "rivers flow beneath them," meaning beneath those upper and lower chambers. That is, they are constructed in such a way that the flow of rivers beneath them is possible, which is contrary to the upper rooms of this world. Thus, the description conveys that they were leveled with the leveling of a building on the ground and made into a single surface upon which the flow of rivers is possible. Furthermore, since the waters of Paradise—according to the Hadith—descend from the undersides of the Throne, they are higher than the chambers, so there is no wonder in the water flowing over them from above and below. However, there must be a configuration that allows for the flow, and the aforementioned description is to convey that.

Some eminent scholars said: The apparent meaning is that this description confirms the reality and clarifies that the chambers are not like the [disbelievers'] coverings, where a metaphorical meaning was intended by way of sarcastic irony. Some of our contemporary virtuous brethren said: A benefit of this description is to point to the loftiness of the status of these chambers, as it signals that Allah Almighty is the One who built them; and what could possibly be said of a structure built by the Majestic and Exalted?

I say—and Allah, the Exalted, knows best: The chambers were described as such to indicate that they are prepared and ready for them, with their completion already finalized, as the description implies—not that they will be built for them on the Day of Resurrection. In this lies an exaltation of the status of the pious. In this verse, based on this interpretation, is a refutation of the Mu'tazila, and perhaps that is why al-Zamakhshari did not hover around this perspective and limited himself to what we first narrated, even though what we have stated is closer [to the truth], so let this be remembered.

"The promise of Allah"—an infinitive source (masdar) confirming the content of the sentence before it, for it is a promise—"Allah does not fail in the promise," because failing it implies a deficiency that is impossible for Him, the Almighty and Exalted.