Muttaki-eena AAala rafrafin khudrin waAAabqariyyin hisan (surah Rahman: 76)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(55:76) They shall be reclining on green cushions and splendid carpets. *52

Muttaki`eena `alaa rafratin khudrinw wa `abqariyyin hisaan

*52) The word abqari in the original is from abqar. the capital city of the jinn in the legends of the pre-Islamic Arabia. It was on that account that the Arabs called every fine and rare thing abqari as if it belonged to the fairyland and had no match in the material world. So mach so that in their idiom the man who possessed extraordinary abilities and who performed wonderful works was also called abqari The English word genius also is spoken in the same sense and is also derived from genii which is a synonym of jinn. That is why the word abqari; has been used here to give an idea of the extraordinary exquisiteness of the provisions of Paradise to the Arabs.