3:148 God gave them this world's reward and the beauty of the next world's reward, and God loves the beautiful-doers.
Concerning the reward of the next world He said "beauty," which is to say that the reward is beautiful, but He did not say this about the reward of this world. This is because the reward of the afterworld is lasting, but the reward of this world is passing. The former comes into being constantly without blight and without trouble, but the latter is soon cut off and has blights and tribulations.
God loves the beautiful-doers. The beautiful-doers are the "grateful" who are mentioned in verse 3:144. The "recompense" to which He alludes there is the love that He explains here. Beautiful-doing is what Muṣ?afā said in answering Gabriel: "It is that you worship God as if you see Him." Beautiful-doing is the attribute of the self-watchful, the state of the finders, the station of the approving, and the mark of the friends. Love for God is their watchword and remembering God their blanket. God's love is pouring down on them, and this pouring is like a sweetheart inside their spirit. From it the tree of happiness gives fruit and the spirit has a happy springtime.
Hail, O sweet breeze of early spring!
You give off the scent of that idol's tresses.