The second is Taqwa or piety and is mentioned in many verses of the Qura’n.

In Surah Maryam verse 63 the term the everlasting gardens of Paradise and other bounties are mentioned and then the verse adds:

“Such will be the Paradise that We shall give as inheritance to Our pious servants.”

Piety has a very elevated status in Islam as described in verse 13 of Surah Hujiraat:

“The closest to God is the pious one amongst you.”

This is nothing strange that Qura’n regards piety as the key to Paradise. Taqwa means to restrain oneself from sins, and to bow before all the commands of God and to be always just and protective of the rights of others. In other words Taqwa means to fear God in the core of one’s heart and the control that results with it. This condition restrains a person from all evils. It has a vast meaning that includes all moral values and human responsibilities.

The word “tilka” used in the verse normally denotes distance but here it refers to loftiness of Paradise. It is so elevated that it is beyond our sight and comprehension.

The word “Aras” may mean the following:

It means every thing solid because an inheritance that cannot be destroyed and cannot be taken back is the one that a person receives as an endowment. The pious is like the same for the pious.

Inheritance as a legal bearing as well as a natural one through which the attributes of the parents are passed on to the progeny. The verse means to say that there is a natural and symbolic relation between piety and Paradise.

A person does not toil for what he gets as inheritance. The bounties of paradise are so great that the deeds of the pious are ordinary compared to them.

It is as if Paradise has been given to them without them working hard for it because their hardships and toils are very ordinary compared to the bounties of Paradise. In other words, it is correct that a person’s piety and good deeds is the base for his attaining Paradise but the bounties of paradise are so great that it seems they have got it for free.

This is why we say God’s bounties need to be earned and also to be mercifully bestowed.

There is a hadith about the Messenger explaining this verse:

“Every person has a station in Paradise as well as in Hell. The disbelievers take the believers place in Hell as an inheritance and the believers take their place in Paradise as the same. (2)

This des c r i p tion is very clear and tells us that all mankind have been born free. They have the capacity to go to Paradise as well as Hell and it depends on their choice. (3)

1. These Surahs too speak about piety and Paradise: al Imran-15,133,198, Raad-35, Hijr-45, Nahl-3, Furqan-15, Shuara-19, Zumar-20 and 73, Dukhan-51, Mohammad-15, Qaf-31, and Zaariyaat-15 etc.

2. Tafsir Nurus Saqlain vol. 2 page 31 hadith 121, Majmaul Bayan-verse 43 of Surah A’raf, Tafsir Ali bin Ibrahim mentions the same words through Imam Sadiq.

3. The meaning of the word “Arus’ is not only in the above verse but also in Surah Muminun-10 and 11, A’raf-43, Zukhruf-72, Shuara – 85. It is a very meaningful des c r i p tion.