Heaven and Hell are among the realities of Futurity in which it is essential
for a Muslim to believe. These are the ultimate and eternal dwelling
places of mankind. In the Quran, Paradise, with its incomparable blissfulness,
and Hell, with its dreadful chastisement have been dwelt upon so frequently
and with such thoroughness that if all the verses relating to them are
collected they alone will make a volume.
Likewise, in the compilations of the Traditions hundreds of the sayings
of the Prophet dealing with Heaven and Hell are preserved from which
an adequate idea of the two places can be obtained. The exact import
of what is revealed in the Quran and the Traditions about Heaven and
Hell will, however, be known only when we will reach there and see the
whole thing for ourselves. What to speak of Paradise, it is an everyday
experience that the image formed in our minds after hearing or reading
about a beautiful city is much short of what it actually is. In any
event, the account of Heaven and Hell contained in the Quran and the
Traditions should be read in the light of this elementary principle.
The aim of the Quranic verses and the sayings of the Prophet is far
from delineating the topography of Heaven and Hell or giving a detailed
picture of what is to be experienced there but to produce the fear of
Hell and its punishment in the people so that they abstained from the
vices that led to it and arouse the love and eagerness for Paradise
and its boons and comforts that would induce men to practise virtue
and perform such deeds as are likely to make them worthy of admission
to it. Fairness to the verses and Traditions of the above category,
therefore, demands that feelings of dread and desire, as the case be,
were produced as a result of reading or listening to them.
(110) It is related by Abu Hurairah that the Apostle of God said: “God
says that ‘for Our faithful bondmen We have got ready things no
eye has seen nor ear heard nor the thought of which has ever crossed
the mind, and, if you like, you can read the verse: No soul knoweth
what is kept hid for them of joy, as a reward for what they used to
do.,” [xxxii : 17]
-Bukhari
and Muslim
Commentary.-The above is a celestial Tradition. If the prophet says
anything with the explicit remark that it is stated by God [and it is
not found in the Quran], such a Tradition is called a celestial Tradition.
In it, a general aspect of the glad tidings for truthful bondmen is
that in the Hereafter they will be favoured with boons and blessings
which no man has experienced or even imagined in the existing world.
The other and special aspect lies in the words : “We have got
ready for Our faithful bondmen thins …..”
(111) Abu Hurairah related to us that the Apostle of God said : “A
sweepings-place in Paradise is better than the world and all that it
contains.”
-Bukhari
and Muslim
Commentary.-In ancient Arabia the custom was that when a caravan of
riders made a halt, each rider would throw some rubbish at the place
where he intended to put up. It was, then, considered, to have been
reserved for him. The word “sweepings-place” in this Tradition,
thus, denotes the small place which was supposed to have been set aside
for the traveler who threw the waste-matter over it, and that little
place, according to it, was more valuable than the whole world.
(112) It is related by Anas that the Apostle of God said: “To
set out in the path of God, once in the morning or in the evening, is
better than the world and all that it contains, and if a bride from
among the brides of the dwellers of Paradise cast a glance at the world,
the whole space intervening between the two [i.e., from the Heaven to
the earth] will be filled with light and fragrance, and the covering
for her head is better than the world and all that is contained therein.”
-Bukhari
Commentary.-In the opening part of this Tradition the virtue of setting
out in the way of God [i.e., undertaking a journey in the service of
Faith] has been referred to and we are told that to do so once in the
morning or in the evening is better than the entire universe. The specification
of the morning and the evening, here, is probably, due to the fact that,
in the olden times, people habitually started on a journey during those
parts of the day otherwise if a person left his home at any other time
for a religious purpose it will possess the same merit.
In the later part, the wondrous beauty of the celestial brides of the
dwellers of Paradise and the worth and value of their apparel have been
mentioned, possibly with a view to encourage people to set off from
their homes in the service of Faith by telling them that if they will
leave their homes and their wives for some time with the object of serving
the cause of God, they will be rewarded for ever and ever in Heaven
with spouses of such rare charm and elegance that if they glanced towards
the earth and entire atmosphere would be filled with radiance and sweet
scent and whole dress was so very costly that the headgear alone was
more valuable than the whole of the world.
(113) It is related by Abu Hurairah that the Apostle of God said: “In
Heaven there is a tree [which is so large that if a horseman rides under
its shade even for a hundred years he will not be able to pass from
one side of it to the other, and the space of anyone of you in Heaven,
even of the length of a bow, is better than the world on which the sun
rises or sets”.
-Bukhari
and Muslim
Commentary.-The object of this Tradition is to produce in the hearts
an earnest yearning for Paradise by stressing the world. The first thing
it tells in this connection is about the wonderful trees of Heaven.
It says that their shade is so extensive that a horseman cannot cross
it in a hundred years. It, then, assures that a bow-length of space
in Paradise more valuable than the world and all that there is in it.
We have referred earlier to the Arab custom of throwing rubbish over
the place by the rider where he wanted to stay as a mark of reservation.
In the same way, when a person travelling on foot wanted to make a halt
at some place he used to put his bow at it. A bow-length of space in
the above Tradition, thus, signifies that even the smallest place in
Heaven is more precious than the entire universe.
(114) It is related by Jabir that the Apostle of God said: “The
dwellers of Paradise will eat and drink in Heaven but neither a secretion
will be formed in their mouths and nostrils nor will they have to empty
their bowels or bladders. Some of the Companions asked, ‘what
will, the, happen to the food [taken by them]?’ The Prophet replied,
‘It will be passed out by means of eructation and perspiration
which will be smelling like musk, and on the tongues of the dwellers
of Heaven the praises of the Lord will go on, by His Command [effortlessly],
[and] in the same way as your respiration goes on [without an effort].”
-Muslim
Commentary.-The foods and drinks of Heaven will be free from all bulk-forming
properties. They will be so pure and empyreal that no effete may at
all be formed by them in the bowels. The stomach will become empty after
a light eructation and the other waste-matter will be eliminated through
perspiration which will be as sweet-scented as musk. Moreover, just
as in this world we breath in and out without an effort, in Paradise
the remembrance of the lord will be carried out unconsciously and words
of praise to the Almighty like Subhan Allah wa Al-hamdulillah and Subhan
Allah wa Behamdihi will be on the lips of everyone all the time.
(115) Abu Sa’eed and Abu Hurairah related to us; they both relate
that the Apostle of God said: “As the dwellers will enter Paradise
a heavenly herald will proclaim: Here good health is your right and
good health ahs been ordained for you; so, now you will never fall ill.
Here life has been decreed for you; so, now you will never die. Here
only youth is you lot; so, now you will never grow old. Here only happiness
has been bestowed upon you; so, now neither pain nor sorrow will afflict
you.”
-Muslim
Commentary.-Heaven is the home of cloudless bliss and eternal felicity.
There will not be the faintest trace of suffering in it, neither sickness,
nor death, nor old age, nor any other type of affliction, worry or anxiety.
As soon as the dwellers will enter Heaven they will be made comfortable
with the tidings of imperishable life and everlasting happiness.
(116) Abu Hurairah narrates that he inquired from the Prophet, “From
what have the living things been created?” “From water”,
replied the Prophet. Abu Hurairah, then, asked, “Of what is Paradise
made [i.e., it has been built with bricks, stones or what]?” The
Prophet replied, “It has been built in such a way that one brick
is of gold and the other of silver, and the binding material is of sweet-scented
musk, the gravel spread over it is of pearls and rubies, and its dust
is, as you would say, saffron. Those who enter it will live in never-ending
peace and happiness. No distress will every touch them, and they will
live forever – death will not come to them in Heaven -, and their
clothes will never become dirty and worn-out, nor will their clothes
wither away [at any time or in any degree].”
-Musnad-i-Ahmad
and Tirmidhi
Commentary.-It shows that all living beings have been created from water.
God first made water, and, then, from it, He made all the other creatures.
In the Quran, too, it is stated: Allah hath created every animal of
water. (xxiv : 45). We made every living thing of water (xxi : 30).
The reality of what the Prophet has told about the structure of Paradise,
its walls and floors, will become evident to us only when we shall see
it. The basic thing is that Heaven has not been constructed the way
buildings are in our world. It has been built solely at the bidding
of God and without the aid of masons and architects exactly as the heavens
and the earth and the sun, the moon and the stars have got created directly
in response to His Command. But His command, when He intendeth a thing;
is only that He saith unto it : Be ! and it is. (xxxiv : 81)