Ayah 57:12
QURANHIVE
Surah Al-Hadid · The Day of Judgement
يَوْمَ تَرَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَسْعَىٰ نُورُهُم بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَبِأَيْمَانِهِم بُشْرَاكُمُ الْيَوْمَ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ
“On the Day you will see the believing men and believing women, their light proceeding out in front of them and on their right. [It will be said]: “Your good tidings today are [of] gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein you will abide eternally”. That is in fact the ultimate great success”.
True faith becomes visible, righteous action becomes light, and the believers receive joyful news of eternal gardens. Safety from peril and attainment of what is beloved meet in the ultimate great success.
Placement in the Surah
Ayah 57:12 begins the third section of the Surah, covering Ayaat 12–15. The Surah moves from the majesty of Allah, through faith and spending, into the visible outcome of faith on the Day of Judgement.
The opening section establishes the majesty, knowledge and absolute authority of Allah.
The second section calls for belief and spending in the path of Allah.
Ayaat 12–15 reveal their consequences on the Day of Judgement.
The opening address
The singular form of تَرَى creates a direct and personal address. It places the coming scene before a single observer with immediacy.
The singular address can be directed to the Prophet ﷺ: “On the day, You, O Prophet, will see the believing men and believing women.” Nobody carries greater concern for the Ummah than him. Before the believers’ relief is described, the Messenger ﷺ receives comfort through the promise that he will see their honoured state.
Another common interpretation treats تَرَى as a general address to the believers or to those present on the Day of Judgement: each one will see the believing men and believing women.
The Prophet ﷺ was previously mentioned twice by the title رَسُول. “Messenger” expresses his official role.
The title عَبْد expresses the close intimacy between the Rabb and His slave. Direct second-person address brings the Prophet ﷺ even closer within the wording of the ayah.
سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى
“Exalted is the perfection of He who took His Slave (عَبْد – ‘Abd) by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haram to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa”
فَأَوْحَىٰ إِلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ مَا أَوْحَىٰ
“Then, He revealed to His Servant what He revealed”
The earlier addresses وَمَا لَكُمْ لَا تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ — “What is the matter with you that you don’t believe in Allah” — and وَمَا لَكُمْ أَلَّا تُنفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ — “What is the matter with you that you don’t spend in the path of Allah” — address the Ummah in Al-Madinah with rebuke. The small verb تَرَى now carries love for the Messenger ﷺ and acknowledges his concern for the believers on Judgement Day.
A permanent identity
“The believing men and the believing women” appears in noun form. The wording describes faith as a defining identity rather than a limited action.
A verbal form describes an action within the past, present or future. It does not necessarily define the person.
A noun describes those whose Iman became part of their identity and their true inner reality.
In worldly life, true Iman is inward and hidden. On the Day of Judgement, every person’s reality is exposed and that Iman becomes outward and apparent.
هُوَ الْأَوَّلُ وَالْآخِرُ وَالظَّاهِرُ وَالْبَاطِنُ
“He is Al-Awwal (The First) and Al-Aakhir (The last) and He is Azh-Zhaahir (The Apparent or Manifest) and Al-Baatin (The Hidden)”
Explicit inclusion
Arabic can use the sound masculine plural for a mixed group, while the feminine plural is exclusive to women. Naming both forms deliberately draws every believer into the scene, removes any possibility of imagining the reward as gender-exclusive, and makes the promise personally immediate. The pairing affirms equal spiritual standing in the Hereafter and contrasts with Christian and Jewish portrayals in which women do not hold the same standing as men in reward and closeness to Allah.
Ibn ‘Ashour notes in several places, especially his Tafsir of 33:35, that the Madani Qur’an gives deliberate and explicit attention to mentioning women alongside men in matters of faith, virtue, and responsibility, reflecting the Qur’an’s affirmation of women’s moral and spiritual agency.
The visible outcome
The light belongs to the believers, moves with them, illuminates their direction and manifests the faith and righteous action cultivated in worldly life.
Allah does not merely say that light will be given to them or will emerge from them. He calls it “their light.” Belief and spending were chosen through the ability and potential Allah granted them, so the resulting light is attributed to what they willingly did.
The light illuminates the direction in which they are proceeding.
The honoured right side evokes righteous deeds, fulfilled oaths and the record received in the right hand.
Ustadh Nu’man’s most compelling interpretation follows the Surah’s repeated pattern of “Believe” (آمِنُوا) and “Spend” (أَنفِقُوا). What a person spends is legitimately earned and associated with the right hand. The right hand also represents good deeds, the believer’s receipt of the record of deeds, and the fulfilment of oaths.
The light coming from the believers’ chests represents the light of Iman. The light coming from the right represents actions and good deeds. This corresponds to the Surah’s repeated pairing of inward belief with outward action, including Allah’s knowledge of what people do and what lies within their chests.
هُوَ الَّذِي يُنَزِّلُ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ آيَاتٍ بَيِّنَاتٍ لِّيُخْرِجَكُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ
“It is He who sends down upon His Servant [Muhammad] verses of clear evidence that He may bring you out from darknesses into the light”
Revelation brings people out of darknesses into light in worldly life. Darknesses also confront humanity on the Day of Judgement, while the light of those who followed revelation proceeds before them and at their right.
Physical strength grows through exercise and enables further effort. Iman and righteous action reinforce one another in the same way. Progress also requires the removal of wrongdoing. Good deeds combined with persistent bad deeds resemble exercise combined with harmful consumption: steps forward are offset by steps back.
Language study
سَعَى · سَعْي
The verb refers to moving quickly or walking briskly with purposeful intent. It also describes effort, work and setting out in pursuit of something.
السَّعْوة refers to a wax candle. السِّعْوة and السَّعْوة were also used for an hour or a part of the night that had elapsed.
Ustadh Nu’man adopts an understanding in which يَسْعَىٰ نُورُهُم conveys not only forward movement but a light whose capacity is being used as the believers walk, like a torch consuming fuel or the wax of a candle being expended.
Transmitted and classical readings
“They will be given their light in proportion to their deeds. They will pass over the Siraat (Path to Jannah or/and over hellfire). Among them is one whose light is like a mountain; among them is one whose light is like a palm‑tree; and the one with the least light is he whose light is on his thumb, flaring up at times and extinguishing at times.”
“The apparent meaning is that the light is of two kinds: A light before them that illuminates the direction toward which they are heading, and a light on their right that illuminates what surrounds them. The majority said: The original light is on their right, and what is before them is the radiance spreading out from that. It has also been said that the Baa’ (بِ - Bi) in بِأَيْمَانِهِم (Bi‑Aymaanihim) means ‘From,’ i.e., ‘From their right sides,’ and the meaning is that the light is in all their directions, mentioning the right side because of its honour.”
“It has been said that: The Qur’an is meant here by the light. It has also been said that the light is a metaphor for the guidance and pleasure that they are in.”
“The meaning is: Their light proceeds when they proceed, but this (explicit wording) is omitted because the light only moves when its bearer moves; otherwise it does not separate from him nor depart. And the attribution of ‘light’ to them (i.e., ‘their light’) and the placing of that light before them and on their right, shows that it is a light belonging to their very selves, an honour with which they have been honoured. The Baa’ (بِ - Bi) in بِأَيْمَانِهِم (Bi‑Aymaanihim) carries the meaning of ‘from’, and the mention of the right side alone is out of honouring it … It is also possible that the Baa’ (بِ - Bi) is for association/connection, and that the light associated with the right side is the light of the record of good deeds, as the Exalted said: فَأَمَّا مَنْ أُوتِيَ كِتَابَهُ بِيَمِينِهِ فَسَوْفَ يُحَاسَبُ حِسَابًا يَسِيرًا ‘As for he who is given his book in his right hand, he will be reckoned with an easy reckoning’ (Al‑Inshiqaq: 7–8).”
The joyful announcement
بُشْرَاكُمُ الْيَوْمَ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا
بُشْرَى is joyful news that brightens the face. The verb بَشَّرَ means to convey news that brings joy and happiness. “Glad tidings” therefore carries an emotional reality: the recipient is filled with happiness by what has been announced.
The speaker is understood implicitly. The angels say to the believers as an act of honour and greeting: We give you glad tidings today of gardens underneath which rivers flow.
“This verse indicates that the believers will not be touched by the terrors of the Day of Resurrection, because Allah, Most High, has made clear that this is their condition on the Day of Resurrection without specification.”
ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ
الْفَوْزُ joins two realities: rescue from what is feared and attainment of what is loved. Paradise is not merely reached; the dangers on the way are crossed and left behind.
A مَفازة was a barren land without water across a journey of two nights. The person who crossed it safely was a فَائِز: one who escaped danger and found safety. The image captures the trials and temptations that must be traversed in worldly life before the gardens of Jannah are attained.
By remaining on Allah’s path through every trial, the believers cultivate the light that illuminates their way on Judgement Day. They move toward eternal gardens, receive the joyful announcement, and attain الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ — the great success, attainment and accomplishment.