وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ لَا نُكَلِّفُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَآ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلْجَنَّةِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَٰلِدُونَ · وَنَزَعْنَا مَا فِى صُدُورِهِم مِّنْ غِلٍّ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهِمُ ٱلْأَنْهَٰرُ وَقَالُوا۟ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى هَدَىٰنَا لِهَٰذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِنَهْتَدِىَ لَوْلَآ أَنْ هَدَىٰنَا ٱللَّهُ لَقَدْ جَآءَتْ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَنُودُوٓا۟ أَن تِلْكُمُ ٱلْجَنَّةُ أُورِثْتُمُوهَا بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
Wa'lladhīna āmanū wa ʿamilu'ṣ-ṣāliḥāti lā nukallifu nafsan illā wusʿahā ulāʾika aṣḥābu'l-jannati hum fīhā khālidūn · Wa nazaʿnā mā fī ṣudūrihim min ghillin tajrī min taḥtihimu'l-anhār, wa qālu'l-ḥamdu li'llāhi'lladhī hadānā li-hādhā wa mā kunnā li-nahtadiya lawlā an hadāna'llāh, laqad jāʾat rusulu rabbinā bi'l-ḥaqq, wa nūdū an tilkumu'l-jannatu ūrithtumūhā bimā kuntum taʿmalūn
"Those who believe and do righteous deeds — We charge no soul beyond its capacity — those are the people of the Garden; they will remain in it. · We have pulled out whatever rancour was in their breasts. Rivers run beneath them. They say: 'Praise be to God, who guided us to this. We would never have found the way had God not guided us. The messengers of our Lord did come with the truth.' And they are called to: 'This is the Garden you have been made to inherit for what you used to do.'"
A point of word order must be recorded, and it is striking: the sentence lā nukallifu nafsan illā wusʿahā comes in between the subject (wa'lladhīna āmanū wa ʿamilu'ṣ-ṣāliḥāt) and its predicate (ulāʾika aṣḥābu'l-janna).
This is a construction seen in the second verse too (there fa-lā yakun fī ṣadrika ḥarajun minh had come in between two parts). In both places the intervening sentence is an announcement that lightens a load.
| Verse | The intervening sentence | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 7/2 | Fa-lā yakun fī ṣadrika ḥarajun minh | It lightens the messenger's load |
| 7/42 | Lā nukallifu nafsan illā wusʿahā | It limits the addressee's load |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the two sentences stand in the same position of word order.
Wusʿ — the root و-س-ع: breadth. Wusʿ is "a person's breadth", that is, his capacity. The same sentence occurs at al-Baqara 2/286 (lā yukallifu'llāhu nafsan illā wusʿahā) and was treated in al-Baqara; I rely on that treatment.
| Verse | Expression |
|---|---|
| 7/42 | Illā wusʿahā — capacity |
| 7/89 | Wasiʿa rabbunā kulla shayʾin ʿilmā — in Shuʿayb's mouth |
| 7/156 | Wa raḥmatī wasiʿat kulla shayʾ |
The root ن-ز-ع was treated at the twenty-seventh verse (yanziʿu ʿanhumā libāsahumā). And the same verb comes back here.
| Verse | What was pulled out | From whom |
|---|---|---|
| 7/27 | Libāsahumā — their clothing | From Adam and his wife — by Satan |
| 7/43 | Mā fī ṣudūrihim min ghill — the rancour in their breasts | From the people of the Garden — by God |
I record this as my own reading and it is not binding; its ground is the two occurrences of the verb: the same verb is in one place the taking away of a covering, in the other the taking away of a burden. One a loss, the other a gain.
The root غ-ل-ل: a thing's seeping in between, entering secretly. Ghill is "rancour that has seeped into the breast"; from the same root come ghull (the ring or fetter put on the neck) and ghulūl (secretly filching from the spoils).
And the other branch of the root will occur in the hundred and fifty-seventh verse of this sūra: wa'l-aghlāla'llatī kānat ʿalayhim — "the fetters that were upon them".
| Verse | Word | Branch of the root |
|---|---|---|
| 7/43 | Ghill | Rancour — what seeps inward |
| 7/157 | Al-aghlāl | The fetter — what is put on the neck |
Two words from one root, and both carry the idea of a binding. And both are lifted: one in the Garden (nazaʿnā), the other by the messenger (wa yaḍaʿu ʿanhum). This is an overlap that can be verified within the sūra.
A point of word order must be recorded: the sentence contains the lām of denial (lām al-juḥūd) — mā kunnā li-nahtadiya.
In Arabic the pattern mā kāna + li- + imperfect states negation in its strongest form: "it was not a thing that could be, there was no possibility of it." This pattern was treated in al-Shuʿarāʾ and in the sections of Yūnus.
And it is akin to the pattern mā yakūnu laka an tatakabbara in the thirty-third verse — there too an impossibility was being stated.
I record this as an observation: the first sentence of the people of the Garden is a praise, the second a withdrawal of themselves. And the third is the confirmation of the messengers' truthfulness (laqad jāʾat rusulu rabbinā bi'l-ḥaqq). Three sentences: thanks, humility, confirmation.
The root و-ر-ث: to come into an inheritance. The verb here is passive: "you have been made to inherit it."
| Verse | Expression | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 7/43 | Ūrithtumūhā | The people of the Garden |
| 7/100 | Alladhīna yarithūna'l-arḍa min baʿdi ahlihā | Those who inherit the earth |
| 7/128 | Inna'l-arḍa li'llāhi yūrithuhā man yashāʾu min ʿibādih | Moses's word to his people |
| 7/137 | Wa awrathna'l-qawma'lladhīna kānū yustaḍʿafūna mashāriqa'l-arḍi wa maghāribahā | Those who had been made weak |
And a point of word order must be recorded: the sentence ends with bimā kuntum taʿmalūn — "for what you used to do." In the same verse, "you were made to inherit" (a giving without return) and "for what you used to do" (a giving in return) stand side by side. I record this as an observation; the text joins the two and does not resolve the relation between them.