THE PARTY OF PARADISE

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim

Alhamdulillahi rabb al-‘alamin was salatu was-salamu ‘ala nabiyyina muhammad wa ‘ala alihi wa ashabihi wa man tabi’ahum bi ihsanin ila yawm ad-din,
amma b’ad:

The Companions of our Prophet Muhammed (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa salam) used to gather to remember death so that they would benefit their souls by increasing in fear of Allah and strive to gain His pleasure. If this was the case of the Sahabah and they were the best of generations, the most pious and God-fearing of this Ummah, then what about us? Surely, it means that we need to engage in the remembrance of Allah – the Most Perfect, the Most High – even more. After all, we are in far more need of this act of worship than they were.

Let us begin at the end of a man’s life, in his last moments. He is lying on his death bed and his family are at his side. His father is calling for the doctor. His wife asks him: “To whom are you leaving us?”. The man’s little daughter asks him, “Why do you not answer me?”, and his small boy cries but nobody responds to him. This is the situation Allah, the Most High and the Most High, has informed us about:

“Nay, when the soul reaches the throat, and it is said: ‘Who will cure him now?’ The dying person concludes that this is the time for departing. The leg joins the other leg.”
(Al-Qur’an 75:26-29)

They place him in his shroud, his leg joins his other leg. Then he is carried upon the shoulders and taken to a dark hole. If he was a transgressing criminal he cries out: “Woe to it! Where are you taking it?”

“The drive that day will be to your Lord.”
(Al-Qur’an 75:30)

As for the other group, the ones who obeyed their Lord in this world, let us describe briefly their fate:

When he is placed into his grave it is widened and made spacious for him. He smells the sweet fragrance of Al-jannah and feels some of its comforts. He sleeps in his grave like a bride on her wedding night who no-one shall awaken except her beloved. When the cry comes he is gathered to the crowding place and waits there for 50,000 years. This time passes as if it were the time between dhuhr and ‘asr. Then the Lord of the worlds comes to make judgement, so He calls His slave saying, “Oh my slave, do you not remember that sin, do you not remember this sin.” So the slave replies, “My Lord I have perished!” So Allah replies to him, “I hid it in the world for you and this day I forgive it.”

This good man is handed his book in his right hand. Due to his happiness he runs to the people and says

“Take it; read my book. Indeed I used to think I would meet my accounting.”

“So he will be in a content life.”
(Al-Qur’an69:19-21)

Then he will be crowded from a group of al-Jannah. The Jannah has eight gates and between each gate is a distance that would take 40 years to traverse. There comes a day when the gates are crowded. So as this slave of Allah enters al-Jannah he is greeted with salam (peace). He sees before him 4 rivers:

” … In it are rivers of water, the taste and smell of which are not changed. Rivers of milk of which the taste never changes, rivers of wine delicious to those wo drink and rivers of clear and pure honey … ”
(Al-Qur’an 47:15)

He has therein a house and he knows this house as he knows his dwelling in this life. His house is made from bricks of gold and silver. In it he has wives from the Hur al-‘Ayn.

“And Hur al-‘Ayn, like untouched, unseen, precious pearls. A reward for what they used to do.”
(Al-Qur’an 56:22-24)

“Indeed we have created them a special creation, made them virgins, loving only their husbands of equal age.”
(Al-Qur’an 56:35-37)

Every time they cohabit with their husbands they return to being virgins. Outside this house he has a tent, in it he has wives. When he goes to one of them, the other does not see him.In al-Jannah the righteous slave has everything he desires, wishes and wants. He neither feels extreme heat nor the bitter cold:

“They will see there neither the excessive heat of the sun nor the bitter cold.”
(Al-Qur’an 76:13)

There is not a tree in al-Jannah except its trunk is made of gold. When he requires its fruit he does not need to get up from his place, since it comes to him:

“The bunches of fruit thereof hang low, within reach.”
(Al-Qur’an 76:14)

“They are served by youthful boys who never age. If you were to see them you would think them scattered pearls.”
(Al-Qur’an 76:19)

So he resides therein, tranquil and at ease. No pain, no ill feeling and no foul speech. Life without death, lasting with no end.

These are not mere stories that we tell to amuse ourselves or scare one another, rather they are the destinies of the ones who obey Allah and those who disobey. Allah calls His slaves to repentance many times in every day so avail these opportunities. Repentance has only three conditions, that you be sincere to Allah, that you leave the sin and that you make a firm resolve that you never return to the sin.

So be the children of the Hereafter and not the children of this life; a party in Paradise and a party in the Hell-fire.

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