What Does it mean by ‘Good Life’ in the Quran?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
What Does it mean by ‘Good Life’ in the Quran?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I hope you are well. This is a good question.
Good life in the above verse of the Quran means, feeling tranquil in all aspects of life in this world, pleasure, gracefulness and contentment, as the majority have mentioned in their commentaries, and some say, in the Next life, Akhira.
Wondrous life fair, as translated beautifully by some, or simply ‘Good Life’ does not mean a person will never encounter poverty or sickness.
It means that a believer – even when he encounters poverty or pain – he has two things to shield him from becoming broken and disturbed. First is the habit of being content with what is available to him (qana’a) and second there is this belief that he will receive tremendous blessings and reward for the pain and poverty of this world he experiences.
As for those who are disbelievers and sinners, they will have nothing to hold together, to give them solace and peace, and will find brokenness and anxiety in one’s life.
This promise from Allah (Most High) means by Ibn `Abbas and a group of scholars to mean good, lawful provisions.
It was reported that `Ali bin Abi Talib (Allah be pleased with him) interpreted as contentment. This was also the opinion of Ibn `Abbas, `Ikrimah and Wahb bin Munabbih.
Dahhak (Allah have mercy on him) said: “It means lawful provisions and worship in this life”. Dahhak also said: “It means working to obey Allah and finding joy in that.” The correct view is that a good life includes all of these things.
As found in the Hadith recorded by Imam Ahmad from `Abdullah bin `Amr that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:
« قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ أَسْلَمَ، وَرُزِقَ كَفَافًا، وَقَنَّعَهُ اللهُ بِمَا آتَاه »
‘He who submits (becomes a Muslim) has succeeded, is given sufficient sustenance and provisions, and is content with Allah for what he is given.’ [Muslim]
[Ibn Kathir, Tafsir ibn Kathir; Mufti Shaf’i, Ma’riful Quran]
May Allah (Most High) give us a life of continuous sound faith and good works, allow us to repent and seek forgiveness when we fail, remember Him with our tongue moist with His remembrance, fulfilling His rights and of his fellow human beings, and may our end state be with sound faith and good actions, amin!
I pray this helps in your question.
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.
He started his early education in UK. He went onto complete hifz of Qur’an in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.
He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.
He currently resides in UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.
