Paradise: Questions & Answers

Question: According to the meaning of the hadith

الْمَرْءُ مَعَ مَنْ اَحَبَّ

a person will be together in Paradise with the one whom he loves. This means that a simple Bedouin who spent only a single minute in conversation with the Prophet (pbuh) and sincerely loved him for the sake of Allah will be in his company in Paradise. But how can the limitless blessings bestowed upon the Noble Messenger of Allah (pbuh) be reconciled with the blessings of a simple Bedouin?

Answer: We can illustrate this exalted truth with the following comparison:

Imagine a magnificent and breathtaking garden with a splendid view, where an illustrious person has prepared a grand banquet. This banquet contains every delight that the sense of taste can enjoy, every beauty that can please the eye, every scene that can delight the imagination, and everything that can gratify and satisfy both the outward and inward senses.

Two friends attend this remarkable banquet together and sit at the same table. But one of them possesses only a weak sense of taste and therefore experiences but a small measure of enjoyment. His sight is limited, he has no sense of smell, and he has no appreciation of the exquisite works of art and wondrous bounties before him. Consequently, according to his capacity, he experiences only a thousandth—or perhaps even a millionth—of the splendour of that place.

The other friend, however, possesses perfectly developed outward and inward senses. His intellect, heart, emotions, and subtle faculties are so highly refined that he perceives and delights in every detail, every beauty, every subtlety, and every wonder of that place in a unique way. Yet they are seated side by side at the same table.

If such differences can exist in this confused, painful, and constricted world, where two friends sit side by side, yet their share of its bounties differs by an immense distance—as though one were on earth and the other in the heavens—then this will be even more so in Paradise, the abode of bliss and eternity. There, a friend will be with his friend, and each will partake of the banquet of Rahmān ar-Rahīm according to the measure of his capacities, each receiving his own share.

Even if they reside in different levels of Paradise, this will not prevent them from being together. For although the eight levels of Paradise differ in rank and are situated one above another, they all share the same roof: the Arsh.

Imagine a cone-shaped mountain, surrounded from its base to its summit by concentric circular walls, each rising higher than the one below it. Although these circles are situated one above another, they do not obstruct one another's view of the sun. They can see one another and move from one to another. Likewise, the various narrations indicate that the levels of Paradise are arranged in a similar manner.