مَّثَلُ ٱلۡجَنَّةِ ٱلَّتِى وُعِدَ ٱلۡمُتَّقُونَ ۖ تَجۡرِى مِن تَحۡتِهَا ٱلۡأَنۡهَٰرُ ۖ أُكُلُهَا دَآئِمٌ وَظِلُّهَا ۚ تِلۡكَ عُقۡبَى ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَواْ ۖ وَّعُقۡبَى ٱلۡكَٰفِرِينَ ٱلنَّارُ
The example [i.e., description] of Paradise, which the righteous have been promised, is [that] beneath it rivers flow. Its fruit is lasting, and its shade. That is the consequence for the righteous, and the consequence for the disbelievers is the Fire.
Why is the word مَثَل (an example, or a representative depiction) important here? Because it is something you can picture in your mind.
Allah wants us to try to imagine Paradise, to do our very best to picture it before our eyes.
And this is the beautiful promise: whatever you picture in your imagination, it will be far more beautiful than you imagined.
So when you recite or memorize these ayahs, you actually need to let your imagination run a little free; this is something encouraged. Try to picture in your mind what is being described.
تَجۡرِى مِن تَحۡتِهَا ٱلۡأَنۡهَٰرُ
Beneath it rivers flow…
Perhaps there are valleys, or garden-covered hills stretching one after another, with rivers flowing at the foot of each one.
أُكُلُهَا دَآئِمٌ
Its fruit is lasting.
They do not spoil, they do not rot. Without needing any preservatives, they remain ever fresh and flawless.
وَظِلُّهَا
And its shade [is lasting].
Think of those perfect moments you have lived: that day when the breeze was just right, when the sunlight filtering through the leaves felt exactly as it should, and as you sat looking out over the water you thought to yourself, “I wish every day were like this; I wish this moment would never end, that the air would get neither any warmer nor any cooler; right now everything is perfect”…
What is being described is exactly that feeling of perfect contentment; with the one difference that this feeling never ends. It stays that way forever.
We have all eaten fruits like apples, oranges and strawberries; but sometimes you take a bite of one and that fruit is extraordinary. You say, “It tastes amazing, where did you get these strawberries?” But when you eat the next one, you do not find the same taste.
In Paradise, however, it is different; there, أُكُلُهَا دَآئِمٌ, that is, the taste, texture and quality of the fruit always remain the same. It is flawless every single time.
تِلۡكَ عُقۡبَى ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَواْ
That is the consequence for the righteous.
وَّعُقۡبَى ٱلۡكَٰفِرِينَ ٱلنَّارُ
And the consequence for the disbelievers is the Fire.
That is the only description needed for them.
The contrast between the two could not be any clearer.