A glimpse of Paradise

Allah the Almighty has created Paradise for His believing slaves; He has created in it pleasures that no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard of, and no mind could ever comprehend. Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “Allah, the Exalted, has said: ‘I have prepared for my righteous slaves (in Paradise) what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and the mind of no man has conceived.’” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]There are many verses in the Qur’an that describe Paradise and some of what it contains; the following are a collection of some of them:* It is a wide space:{“And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden [i.e. Paradise] as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous.”} [Qur’an, 3: 133]* It is an eternal abode:{“Wherein they abide eternally. They will not desire from it any transfer.”} [Qur’an, 18: 108]* It contains gardens beneath which rivers flow:{“Allah has promised the believing men and believing women gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally, and pleasant dwellings in gardens of perpetual residence; but approval from Allah is greater. It is that which the great attainment is.”} [Qur’an, 9: 72]* Its food and shade are everlasting:{“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…”} [Qur’an, 13: 35]* Its drinks and foods are delicious and varied:{“…the description of Paradise, which the righteous are promised, wherein are rivers of water unaltered, rivers of milk the taste of which never changes, rivers of wine delicious to those who drink, and rivers of purified honey, in which they will have from all [kinds of] fruits and forgiveness from their Lord…”} [Qur’an, 47: 15]* Its inhabitants are adorned with gold and pearl jewellery:{“[For them are] gardens of perpetual residence, which they will enter. They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearls…”} [Qur’an, 35: 33]* Its furniture is extremely beautiful from the exterior, and it is lined with silk that is decorated with gold:{ “[They are] reclining on beds whose linings are of silk brocade and the fruit of the two gardens is hanging low.”} [Qur’an, 55: 54]* In Paradise, men are given Hoor, the special women of Paradise, in addition to the wives to whom they were married in this life:{“And with them will be women limiting [their] glances, with large, [beautiful] eyes, As if they were [delicate] eggs, well protected.”} [Qur’an, 37: 48-49]* The people of Paradise will be served by beautiful youths who will never die:{“There will circulate among them young boys made eternal. When you see them, you would think them [as beautiful as] scattered pearls.”} [Qur’an, 76: 19]* Its utensils are made of gold and silver:{“‘Enter Paradise, you and your kinds, delighted.’ Circulated among them will be plates and vessels of gold. And therein is whatever the souls desire and [what] delights the eyes, and you will abide therein eternally.”} [Qur’an, 43: 70-71]* The climate in Paradise is both moderate and pleasant:{“[They will be] reclining therein on adorned couches. They will not see therein any [burning] sun or [freezing] cold.”} [Qur’an, 76: 13]* The children of the dwellers of Paradise will be raised to their rank, even if they were to fall short of it. This is so that the joy of the dwellers of Paradise will be completed by the presence of their children:{“And those who believed and whose descendants followed them in faith – We will join with them their descendants, and We will not deprive them of anything of their deeds. Every person, for what he earned, is retained.”} [Qur’an, 52: 21]Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “The Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “The first group (of people) to enter Paradise will be shining like the moon on a full-mooned night. Then will come those who follow them, who will be (shining) like the brightest planet in the sky. They (i.e., all the people of Paradise) will not stand in need of urinating, defecating, spitting, or blowing their noses. Their combs will be of gold and their sweat will smell of musk. Their wives will be large-eyed maidens. All the men (in Paradise) will be alike and in the form of their father Aadam - sixty cubits tall.”” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]The greatest pleasure of the dwellers of Paradise will be the sight of their Lord. When the dwellers of Paradise see Him, they will forget everything, including all the types of pleasure that they had previously enjoyed.The bounty of seeing Allah in Paradise is one of its distinct features, and is a means of Allah The Almighty honoring its dwellers:{“[Some] faces, that Day, will be radiant, Looking at their Lord.”} [Qur’an, 75: 22-23]Meaning that the faces of the believers will be beautified and joyful as a result of their looking at the Face of their Lord, as was stated by Imaam al-Hasan, may Allah have mercy upon him.Allah The Almighty also Says: {“For them who have done good is the best [reward] — and extra…”} [Qur’an, 10: 26] The ‘best reward’ in this verse refers to Paradise, and the ‘extra’ is to be given permission to look at the Face of Allah. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, clarified in the following narration: Suhayb, may Allah be pleased with him, reported: “The Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “When the inhabitants of Paradise enter it, Allah, the Glorious and Exalted, will say to them: ‘Do you wish for me to give you anything more?’ They will reply: ‘Have You not made our faces bright? Have You not brought us into Paradise and delivered us from Hell?’ Then, Allah will remove the Veil (that screens Him from the believers); the (dwellers of Paradise) will then feel that they have not been awarded anything dearer to them than looking at their Lord.” [Muslim] Then he, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, recited the verse (i.e., the 26th verse of Chapter Yoonus).”Having known the greatest bounty and pleasure which the dwellers of Paradise will attain is looking at the Face of their Lord, it becomes evident how deprived the sinners are and how great their loss is. They will be prevented from seeing the Face of their Lord, as Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {“No! Indeed, from their Lord, that Day, they will be partitioned”} [Qur’an, 83: 15]Reward for women in ParadiseAllah The Almighty clarifies (what means): {“And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a believer - those will enter Paradise and will not be wronged, [even by as much as] the speck on a date seed.”} [Qur’an, 4: 124] This reflects the kindness of Allah The Almighty and informs us that He will deal fairly and equally with both males and females in terms of accepting their good deeds; He will not wrong anyone by even an amount as small as the ‘speck’ on the date seed, which is a reference to the very fine membrane that covers it.In this verse, Allah The Almighty informs women specifically that He will not wrong them, provided they fulfil the condition in it (which means): {“Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer— We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do.”} [Qur’an, 16: 97] Imaam Ibn Katheer, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “This is a promise from Allah to anyone from the children of Aadam, whether male or female, who perform good deeds, which (of course) are those deeds that are in accordance with the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, and who perform them whilst their hearts believe in Allah and His Messenger, that they will live a good life.”If women still doubt their reward in the Hereafter, then the following narration ought to put their mind at ease. Umm ‘Umaarah, may Allah be pleased with her, went to the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, and said, “O Messenger of Allah! Why are women not mentioned in the Qur’an as much as men are?” So Allah The Almighty revealed the verse (which means): {“Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so – for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.”} [Qur’an, 33: 35] [At-Tirmithi]