The remembered servants now move from Solomon’s unparalleled kingdom to Ayyūb’s affliction: وَاذْكُرْ عَبْدَنَٓا اَيُّوبَۢ. The change of circumstance is immense, but both men receive the same praise: an excellent servant, repeatedly returning to God. Ayyūb calls from hardship and pain. Suffering has not made him rejected, just as abundance did not prevent Solomon’s devotion. The two lives disclose fidelity to God under profoundly different conditions.

Ayyūb names his affliction before his Lord: اَنّ۪ي مَسَّنِيَ الشَّيْطَانُ بِنُصْبٍ وَعَذَابٍۜ. Satan has touched him with hardship and pain. He acknowledges the harm and appeals to God for relief. In his other Qur’anic call, he says that harm has touched him and names God as the most merciful of the merciful. Neither prayer conceals the suffering. Both place it before the Lord whose mercy he seeks.

Restoration widens beyond the body: وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُٓ اَهْلَهُ وَمِثْلَهُمْ مَعَهُمْ رَحْمَةً مِنَّا وَذِكْرٰى لِاُو۬لِي الْاَلْبَابِ. God grants Ayyūb his family and as many more besides. This is mercy from Him and a reminder for people of understanding. The parallel account names the same doubled restoration as mercy and a reminder for worshippers. Those who hear it are taught to endure hardship and turn to God in hope of relief. The blessed Book had just called people of understanding to ponder and take heed; Ayyūb’s deliverance gives them an instance of mercy to remember.

God’s appraisal is explicit: اِنَّا وَجَدْنَاهُ صَابِرًاۜ نِعْمَ الْعَبْدُۜ اِنَّهُٓ اَوَّابٌ. “We found him patient.” His appeal for healing has not contradicted his patience. To bring pain before God and seek relief from Him is part of his continuing devotion, not its failure. The same words of approval that introduced Solomon now close Ayyūb’s trial.

The command to remember now expands from one servant into a prophetic company: وَاذْكُرْ عِبَادَنَٓا اِبْرٰه۪يمَ وَاِسْحٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ اُو۬لِي الْاَيْد۪ي وَالْاَبْصَارِ, followed by وَاذْكُرْ اِسْمٰع۪يلَ وَالْيَسَعَ وَذَا الْكِفْلِۜ وَكُلٌّ مِنَ الْاَخْيَارِۜ. Elsewhere, many of the same servants are gathered as those God guided, and the Messenger is told to follow their guidance; that passage too closes by naming the message a remembrance for all worlds.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are اُو۬لِي الْاَيْد۪ي وَالْاَبْصَارِ—possessors of hands and sights. The description joins strength in obedience to insight in religion. David had likewise been praised for strength in worship; here strength is expressly paired with discernment. These servants understand the truth and act upon it.

Their devotion is explained by the final home they keep in view: اِنَّٓا اَخْلَصْنَاهُمْ بِخَالِصَةٍ ذِكْرَى الدَّارِۚ. God made them wholly devoted to Him through a pure, distinguishing quality: constant remembrance of the Hereafter. What they undertake and what they leave behind are directed toward nearness to God and the meeting with Him. The preceding sūrah describes the provision of God’s chosen servants; later in this one, Iblis will acknowledge that such servants lie outside his claim to mislead. Remembrance of the Abode directs their life in the world toward the One they hope to meet.

God’s judgment follows: وَاِنَّهُمْ عِنْدَنَا لَمِنَ الْمُصْطَفَيْنَ الْاَخْيَارِ, and then وَكُلٌّ مِنَ الْاَخْيَارِۜ. They are among the chosen and the good with Him. Later, the people of Hell will recall counting believers among the worthless, and Iblis will defend his rebellion by declaring himself better than Adam. The sūrah places these mistaken assessments beside God’s praise of His servants. Their goodness does not depend on the esteem of those who reject them.

Then comes the hinge: هٰذَا ذِكْرٌۜ. This is an honorable mention of the remembered servants. Their patience, strength, insight, and devotion are preserved in revelation for those who come after them. The account now turns from this honor among the living to their good return in the Hereafter. The transition fulfills the direction of their own remembrance: the Abode they kept before them is about to be described.

The assurance given personally to David and Solomon now opens to the God-conscious: وَاِنَّ لِلْمُتَّق۪ينَ لَحُسْنَ مَاٰبٍۙ. Each king was praised as a returning servant, and each was promised the good return. Here the same promise embraces those who live in reverence for God. The destination is not reserved for royal power or prophetic office. The lives just remembered lead into an assurance addressed to all who heed God.

The first image of that return is a welcome prepared for them: جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ مُفَتَّحَةً لَهُمُ الْاَبْوَابُۚ. Gardens of lasting residence, with their doors opened. Al-Zumar supplies the fuller arrival: the God-conscious are brought in groups and greeted by the keepers with peace and an invitation to enter forever. Later in Ṣād, a band will enter Hell to hear that there is no welcome for them. The open doors introduce more than access to a place; they express the honor of being received.

Within the opened home, the scene settles into repose: مُتَّكِـ۪ٔينَ ف۪يهَا يَدْعُونَ ف۪يهَا بِفَاكِهَةٍ كَث۪يرَةٍ وَشَرَابٍ. They recline there and call for abundant fruit and drink. The passage has moved from relief for an afflicted servant to the hospitality of the lasting home.

وَعِنْدَهُمْ قَاصِرَاتُ الطَّرْفِ اَتْرَابٌ. Their companions keep their gaze for their husbands and are matched in age. The preceding sūrah places the same devoted gaze among the delights of God’s chosen servants. The Garden’s rest includes companionship and affection, not only food and drink.

The Day earlier mocked is now named as the appointed fulfillment of promise: هٰذَا مَا تُوعَدُونَ لِيَوْمِ الْحِسَابِ. This is what you are promised for the Day of Account. The rejecters had demanded their allotted share before that Day. Now the address turns to those promised the Garden. Their obedience is not lost, and judgment brings the reward into view.

The provision is secured by God’s promise: اِنَّ هٰذَا لَرِزْقُنَا مَا لَهُ مِنْ نَفَادٍۚ. “This is Our provision; it will never run out.” Elsewhere what human beings possess is set beside what remains with God. In this home, enjoyment does not bring the anxiety that the gift will be exhausted.

One word turns the reader: هٰذَاۜ. This is their state—then comes the opposing return: وَاِنَّ لِلطَّاغ۪ينَ لَشَرَّ مَاٰبٍۙ. The God-conscious have a good return; those who rebel against God and reject His messengers have an evil one. The contrast answers the earlier question about whether believers and corrupters will be treated alike. The following scene reveals the outcome of the rejection heard at the sūrah’s beginning.

The evil return is named: جَهَنَّمَۚ يَصْلَوْنَهَاۚ فَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ. They enter Hell and suffer its burning—what an evil resting place. A bed ordinarily offers repose; here the image names a place of torment. Elsewhere the one whom sinful pride prevents from heeding the command to fear God is threatened with Hell in the same terms. The proud resistance exposed at Ṣād’s opening now stands before its consequence.

The opening warning now reaches its fulfillment. They had not yet tasted God’s punishment; now: هٰذَاۙ فَلْيَذُوقُوهُ حَم۪يمٌ وَغَسَّاقٌۙ. Let them taste this: boiling water and foul discharge, with further kinds of equally dreadful punishment. Ayyūb received cool water for washing and drinking; the Garden offered abundant drink. Here the offered drink becomes torment. Al-Nabaʾ repeats the same pair while denying the condemned coolness and drink. What they dismissed when warned is now an affliction they must taste.

Hell then becomes audible: هٰذَا فَوْجٌ مُقْتَحِمٌ مَعَكُمْۚ. The angels announce to the leaders of misguidance a band of their followers entering the Fire with them. The leaders answer with rejection: لَا مَرْحَبًا بِهِمْۜ اِنَّهُمْ صَالُوا النَّارِ. No welcome for them; they too will burn. These followers can bring their former leaders no relief. The Garden’s opened doors and greeting of peace are answered here by company that meets company with hostility.

The followers return the rejection: قَالُوا بَلْ اَنْتُمْ۠ لَا مَرْحَبًا بِكُمْۜ اَنْتُمْ قَدَّمْتُمُوهُ لَنَاۚ فَبِئْسَ الْقَرَارُ. No welcome for you instead—you brought this punishment upon us. They accuse their leaders of leading them into the beliefs and deeds that brought them here. At the sūrah’s opening, the chiefs moved together and urged persistence in worshipping their gods. Here such organized resistance has become mutual accusation. Al-Aʿrāf likewise shows communities blaming those who misled them while God keeps responsibility upon each. The followers’ accusation names real misguidance without making their own following innocent.

The followers then turn from their leaders to God: رَبَّنَا مَنْ قَدَّمَ لَنَا هٰذَا فَزِدْهُ عَذَابًا ضِعْفًا فِي النَّارِ. They ask their Lord to double the punishment of whoever brought this upon them. The judgment they now invoke is the judgment their former leaders taught them to resist. The same address, “our Lord,” had appeared in the mockers’ demand for punishment to be hastened; here it accompanies a plea for increased punishment upon their misleaders. Derision has given way to a bitter appeal within the judgment itself.

Another consequence of their former judgments appears: وَقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لَا نَرٰى رِجَالًا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ مِنَ الْاَشْرَارِۜ. Why do they not see the men they used to count among the worthless? They mean poor believers whom they despised for their poverty and faith. They had expected to find those men here, but their expectation has failed. Al-Muʾminūn likewise recalls believers made objects of ridicule and then rewarded for their patience. The contempt of their opponents had never been the measure of their standing with God.

Their next question turns against their own mockery: اَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا اَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الْاَبْصَارُ. Did we make them objects of ridicule? Or have our eyes missed them? They reproach themselves for their former contempt while still searching for the men they expected to see in the Fire. Earlier servants were praised for strength and insight; these people now face the failure of the judgment by which they had looked down upon the faithful. The men they despised have escaped the punishment in which their mockers are gathered.

God affirms the future just disclosed: اِنَّ ذٰلِكَ لَحَقٌّ تَخَاصُمُ اَهْلِ النَّارِ۟. This quarrel of the people of the Fire will surely take place. Earlier disputants came before David seeking judgment in truth; here the condemned dispute after their own judgment, exchanging blame without release.