Ikhlās I (Sincerity I)

Ikhlās (Sincerity)

As for the life of the Hereafter, the narrations indicate that a single individual will be granted a Paradise as vast as five hundred years, furnished with seventy thousand palaces and heavenly companions. They also state that every inhabitant of Paradise will be completely pleased with his own share of heavenly reward.^[1] This shows that in the Hereafter there is nothing that can cause rivalry; indeed, rivalry is impossible there.

Thus, righteous deeds relating to the Hereafter likewise cannot be a cause of rivalry; there is no room for jealousy in them. Whoever is jealous in such matters is either a hypocrite seeking worldly results through righteous deeds, or a sincere but ignorant person who does not understand the true aim of righteous deeds and fails to realise that the soul and essence of righteous deeds is ikhlās. By harbouring a kind of hostility toward the awliyā because of rivalry, he is in effect objecting to the vastness of Allah’s mercy.

An incident that confirms this truth:

There was once someone among our former friends who harboured hostile feelings toward another person. In his presence, some people praised that man’s admirable qualities, saying that he was a pious person and even possessed a high spiritual rank. Our friend did not become jealous or upset. Then someone said: “That enemy of yours is brave and strong.” Suddenly, we saw intense jealousy and rivalry arise in him. We said to him:

A significant question asked by a distinguished person: In a narration, it is stated that one person in Paradise will be granted a Paradise stretching over a distance of five hundred years. How can such a truth be accessible to human reason? The answer: In this world, every person possesses a personal and temporary world as vast as the world itself. The foundation of that individual world is his life. Through all his senses, both physical and spiritual, he can benefit from it. For example, he may regard the sun as his lamp and the stars as his candles. The existence of other creatures and living beings does not obstruct his dominion; on the contrary, they enliven and beautify his personal world. Likewise, but in a far more exalted way, every believer will have, besides his personal garden with thousands of palaces and hūrī, a personal Paradise stretching over a distance of five hundred years within the shared Paradise. He will benefit from Paradise and eternity through his senses and faculties, according to the degree of development they have attained. The presence of others will not restrict his dominion or enjoyment; rather, it will strengthen them and make his vast personal Paradise even more alive. Indeed, in this world, a person benefits—according to the capacity of his senses, such as his mouth, ears, eyes, feelings, and taste—from a garden he can explore in an hour, a sight he can discover in a day, a city he can visit in a month, and a country he can traverse in a year. In Paradise, however, these senses will develop and expand in range. Thus, for example, the senses of smell and taste, which in this world enjoy a garden that can be explored in an hour, will in the eternal Paradise enjoy a garden that can be explored in a year. And the faculties of sight and hearing, which in this world can take pleasure in a country that can be traversed in a year, will there enjoy a domain of delight that can be traversed in five hundred years, in a manner befitting that magnificent Paradise in all its adorned beauty. Every believer will experience delight, pleasure, and benefit in the Hereafter according to his rank, the development of his senses, and the degree of sawāb he earned in this world through the good deeds he performed. ↩︎