Tafsir of Az-Zumar 39:74

"And they will say, 'Praise be to Allah...'"

(And they will say): This is a conjunction attached to [the verb] "said" [mentioned earlier], or to the implicit response following "abiding therein," or to another implicit element. That is: "So they entered it and said: 'Praise be to Allah, who has fulfilled His promise to us'" regarding resurrection and reward, "and has made us inheritors of the earth." They mean the place in which they have settled. If the earth of the Hereafter, upon which one walks, is truly called earth, then that is it; otherwise, their application of the word "earth" to it is metaphorical, likening it to the earth of this world. The former view is more apparent. It is narrated from Qatadah, Ibn Zayd, and as-Suddi that what is meant is the earth of this world, but there is no merit to this view. Inheriting it means taking possession of it as a successor, or being empowered to dispose of it just as an heir is empowered over what he inherits. This is based on the premise that in the Hereafter, there is no ownership except for Him, the Almighty and Exalted, and it is merely a permission to utilize and be empowered over that which He, in His glory, owns. It is also said: They inherited it from the people of Hell, for each of them had a place in Paradise ordained for them, conditional upon faith.

(We may settle in Paradise wherever we will): That is, each of us may settle in any place he desires within his own vast Paradise—not that each one of them may settle in any place within the absolute totality of Paradise or within the Paradises specifically designated for others. Thus, it cannot be argued that this necessitates the possibility of everyone occupying the same single, literal location, which is impossible, nor that one might seize another's Paradise, which is not intended. It is also said that the statement is to be taken literally, and each of them may settle in any place he wishes within the totality of Paradise and within the Paradises of others, except that he does not desire anything other than his own place, due to the integrity of his soul and the protection of Allah Almighty for him against such a desire. The Imam said: The sages of Islam have stated that for every person, there are two Paradises: a physical one and a spiritual one. The stations of the second do not mutually exclude one another; therefore, it is possible for an infinite number of their inhabitants to be in a single station. This sentence is a circumstantial clause (hal); the meaning is: "He has made us inheritors of the stations of Paradise, in a state where we roam through the dwellings of the spirits as we wish."

Some of the divinely inspired philosophers have said: A narrow house can contain a thousand thousand spirits and imaginal forms—which are the bodies of those detached from elemental bodies—due to their lack of mutual exclusion, as it is said: The eye of a needle, with loved ones, is a vast field. The spiritual station is interpreted as that which the soul perceives of divine knowledge and witnesses of the pleasure of Allah Almighty and His primordial care, of which no eye has seen and no ear has heard.

This has been criticized by the assertion that if this is counted among the meanings of the Great Quran, then there is no dispute; otherwise, interpreting Paradise in such a way is something the Arabs would not recognize, and it should not be interpreted as such. Moreover, it may be said against it that it implies everyone can attain any spiritual station, whereas some stations are specific to the honored Prophets and the near-stationed Angels, and it is apparent that not everyone among the gnostics can reach their stations. Understand this and do not be heedless.

(For excellent is the reward of the [righteous] workers): According to the majority, these are the words of those who have entered [Paradise]. The entity being praised is omitted, meaning: "This is the reward" or "Paradise [is the reward]." Perhaps the expression "reward of the workers" was used instead of "our reward" to subtly suggest that the people of Hell are not among the workers. Muqatil said: It is from the words of Allah Almighty.