Tafsir of Al-`Ankabut 29:5

"The meeting with Allah": This is a metaphor for reaching the final outcome—encountering the Angel of Death, the Resurrection, the Reckoning, and the Recompense. This state is likened to a servant arriving before his master after a long absence, while the master has been fully aware of everything the servant did and left undone. Either the master meets him with joy and welcome because he is pleased with his deeds, or the opposite, because he is displeased with them.

The meaning of His saying, "Whoever hopes for the meeting with Allah": Whoever anticipates that state and hopes to encounter honor and glad tidings from Allah therein.

"Then the term of Allah"—which is death—"is surely coming" without fail. Therefore, let him hasten to perform righteous deeds that will verify his hope, realize his aspiration, and through which he may acquire nearness and proximity to Allah.

"And He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing": Nothing of what His servants say or do is hidden from Him; thus, He is worthy of being feared and revered.

It has been said that "hopes" (yarju) here means "fears," based on the saying of the Hudhayli poet describing a honey-gatherer: If the wasps sting him, he does not "hope" (fear) their sting.

If you ask: Since "the term of Allah is surely coming," how does this serve as the response to the conditional clause (the jawab al-shart)?

I reply: When it is understood that "the meeting with Allah" refers to that metaphorical state, and the time in which that state occurs is the appointed term for death, it is as if He said: "Whoever hopes for the meeting with Allah, then the meeting with Allah is surely coming," because the term is the time in which the meeting occurs. It is like saying: "Whoever hopes to meet the King, then Friday is near," provided it is known that the King holds audience for the people on Friday.

"And whoever strives, he only strives for his own soul. Indeed, Allah is free from need of the worlds."