In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
It is Paradise.
The gates of Paradise.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
And may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad.
And upon all his family and his Companions.
To proceed:
O you who yearn for Paradise!
Our journey must continue.
Come, mount these she-camels.
Sit upon these golden saddles.
And advance toward the gates of Paradise.
Here we have reached its gates.
The eight magnificent gates.
These gates,
Which will be opened in Ramadan,
So that not a single one of them is closed throughout the month.
Look!
This is the gate of al-Rayyan,
Through which those who fasted will enter.
That is the gate of prayer, O people of prayer and the mosques.
And that is the gate of charity, O people of generosity and giving.
And there are other gates besides these.
And every gate has its own people.
We will crowd, by the permission of Allah, at these gates,
Until our shoulders are pressed together,
And they are almost displaced from their places due to the intensity of the throng.
Even though the distance between the two sides of the gate,
Is like the distance between Makkah and Hajar.
And for some gates, the distance between their two sides is a forty-year journey.
And between one gate and the next,
Is a seventy-year journey.
But why are the gates still closed?
Why do they not open?
When the people—all the people—reach the gates,
They find them locked.
So they turn to our father Adam, peace be upon him.
They ask him to intercede for them to have the gates of Paradise opened.
For he is their father.
He answers them by saying,
"Did anything drive you out of it except your father’s sin?"
"I am not the one for this."
"But go to my son, Ibrahim, the Khalil (Intimate Friend) of Allah."
So they come to him.
Ibrahim, peace be upon him, says,
"I am not the one for that."
"I was only a Khalil from afar."
Then he says,
"Betake yourselves to Musa, peace be upon him,"
"Whom Allah spoke to directly."
So they come to Musa, peace be upon him.
He says, "I am not the one for that."
"Go to Isa, the Word of Allah and His Spirit."
So they come to him.
Isa, peace be upon him, says,
"I am not the one for that."
"Go to Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him."
So they come to Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
He stands and intercedes, and permission is granted to him.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, comes
To the gate of Paradise.
And we are with him, around him, and behind him.
He takes hold of the ring of the gate of Paradise.
He moves it and knocks on the gate.
The keeper of Paradise asks,
"Who are you?"
He says, "Muhammad."
The keeper says,
"Welcome, O Muhammad."
"I was commanded regarding you; I shall not open for anyone before you."
Then the gate is opened.
Our beloved and our Prophet, peace be upon him, enters it first.
And we are behind him.
And the rest of the nations are behind us.
For we are the last in this world,
But the first on the Day of Resurrection to enter Paradise.
Come, O people of Paradise!
Come, press forward with the people,
And advance toward the gates,
And enter the Gardens.
In the midst of this,
We hear the voice of a caller calling out.
It is a call for Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him.
He is summoned to enter Paradise from whichever of its gates he wishes.
And this is another call as well.
It is for those who used to perform their ablution well,
And then say after finishing it:
"I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner,"
"And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger."
Here they are now, being called from the eight gates of Paradise,
To enter from whichever they wish.
And another call,
For women who are called from all the gates of Paradise.
They are those who prayed their five obligatory prayers,
Fasted their month,
Guarded their chastity,
And obeyed their husbands.
How wonderful is their call!
How great and beautiful the gates are as they stand open!
These gates will never be closed after that.
So do not fear and do not worry.
Did Allah the Almighty not say:
﴾Gardens of perpetual residence, whose doors will be opened for them﴿
"Enter them in peace."
This is the day of eternity.
The angels receive us, welcome us, and congratulate us.
They say, "Peace be upon you for what you patiently endured."
How excellent is the final home!
If a human could fly with joy, we would have flown.
Here our faces have been whitened,
Overspread with joy and radiant.
We have entered Paradise.
Here we meet our fathers,
Who raised us when we were small,
And departed from us while we had not yet repaid them some of their due.
Here we will meet our mothers,
Who labored in raising us when we were young.
Now we shall meet them.
O you who lost your son,
The apple of your eye,
And swallowed the bitterness of pain at his departure,
And were waiting for this day to meet him—
Now you shall meet him.
O you who lost your daughter,
The fragrance of your heart,
Now you shall meet her.
O you who loved your brother and your sister,
And death separated you—
Here is a meeting after which there is no parting.
O beloved ones and companions,
You shall meet.
You shall be happy in a delightful life that has no distress.
“Lo! this is the supreme triumph.” (37:60)
“For the like of this, then, let the workers work.” (37:61)
O you who were ill in the world,
Do you remember your illness now?
O you elderly man,
Do you remember your fatigue and your pain?
O you poor person,
Do you feel the humiliation of poverty now?
O you who were wounded and in pain,
Do you remember your pain and your suffering now?
O you who were constant in your prayer,
Do you see the effect of your prayer now?
O you who spent your wealth,
And O you generous one,
Have you found the reward of your kindness?
Do you remember the toil of obedience now?
Or has the fatigue passed away,
And only the reward from the Lord remains?
O people of remembrance (dhikr),
Did your remembrance benefit you?
O people of the Qur'an,
Did the Qur'an elevate you?
This is the Paradise for which you labored,
And for which you abstained from the forbidden to enter it,
And restrained yourselves in acts of obedience to be among its people.
You have attained it by the mercy of the Most Merciful of the merciful.
So enter it, abiding eternally.
“Are these they of whom ye swore that Allah would not show them mercy? (Unto them it hath been said): Enter the Garden. No fear shall come upon you nor is it ye who will grieve.” (7:49)
O people of the Gardens,
Do you see?
These poor people,
They precede the wealthy in entering Paradise.
They precede them by five hundred years.
For they have no dirhams or dinars to be held accountable for.
They lived in the world lightly,
So they enter Paradise now swiftly.
And look at this group entering Paradise,
Their faces are like the moon on the night of the full moon.
And the ones after them, their faces are like the brightest star in the sky.
And these,
Seventy thousand,
They enter Paradise,
With no reckoning and no punishment upon them,
Because in the world they did not seek incantations, did not use cauterization, and did not believe in omens,
And they relied upon their Lord.
Here are the throngs,
Entering Paradise in succession.
The Prophets with their followers.
The delegations follow one another,
And the generosity and mercy of Allah toward His servants are manifested.
And all people hope for His mercy.
Look at those detained on a high place,
They are the people of al-A'raf,
Whose good deeds and bad deeds were equal.
They fear the fate of the wrongdoers,
And they hope for the generosity of the Lord of the worlds.
And Allah does not disappoint their hope,
So He encompasses them with His mercy.
O you who yearn for Paradise!
Paradise receives its people,
Until the last of those to enter it,
Is a group who were the weakest of people in walking upon the Sirat (the bridge).
They crawl upon it, crawling.
Until, when they have crossed it,
And Allah has saved them from the Fire,
They turn toward it and say,
"Blessed is He who saved us from you."
"Allah has given us something,"
"That He has not given to anyone among the first and the last."
While they are in that state, having passed beyond the Fire,
a tree is raised up for them.
They look toward it,
and one of them says,
"O my Lord,
bring me near to this tree,
that I may seek shade in its shadow
and drink from its water."
Allah the Exalted says,
"O My servant,
perhaps if I bring you near to it, you will ask Me for something else."
He says,
"No, O my Lord."
He makes a covenant with Allah that he will not ask Him for anything else,
and his Lord excuses him,
because he sees what he has no patience to endure.
So He brings him near to it,
and he seeks shade in its shadow
and drinks from its water.
Then a tree is raised up for him,
which is better than the first.
He says,
"O my Lord,
bring me near to this one so that I may drink from its water
and seek shade in its shadow;
I will not ask You for anything else."
Allah says,
"O son of Adam,
did you not covenant with Me that you would not ask Me for anything else?
Perhaps if I bring you near to it, you will ask Me for something else."
He makes a covenant with Him that he will not ask Him for anything else,
and his Lord excuses him,
because he sees what he has no patience to endure.
So He brings him near to it,
and he seeks shade in its shadow
and drinks from its water.
Then a tree is raised up for him
at the gate of Paradise,
which is better than the first.
He says,
"O my Lord,
bring me near to this one,
that I may seek shade in its shadow
and drink from its water;
I will not ask You for anything else."
Allah says,
"O son of Adam,
did you not covenant with Me that you would not ask Me for anything else?"
He says,
"Yes, O my Lord;
this one—I will not ask You for anything else."
And his Lord excuses him,
because he sees what he has no patience to endure.
So He brings him near to it.
Once He brings him near to it,
he hears the voices of the people of Paradise.
He says,
"O my Lord, admit me into it."
Allah says,
"O son of Adam,
how treacherous you are!"
The servant says,
"O my Lord,
do not make me the most wretched of Your creation."
Allah says to him,
"Enter Paradise."
So he enters it,
and finds it has been filled.
He returns to his Lord and says,
"O my Lord, I found it full."
Allah says to him,
"Go and enter Paradise,
for you shall have the likes of the world and ten times more."
The servant says,
"Are You mocking me, while You are the King?"
Our Lord laughs and says,
"I am not mocking you,
but I am able to do whatever I will."
Then the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, will intercede,
as will the righteous among the servants of Allah,
those whom Allah permits.
They will intercede for people who entered the Fire,
or for the people of major sins.
They will be brought out of it after they have been purified,
for Allah has forbidden the Fire to consume the traces of prostration upon them.
They will be brought out of it having been scorched,
and water will be poured upon them called the Water of Life,
and they will sprout as a seed sprouts in the silt of a flood.
Then they will enter Paradise.
Even when the intercessors have finished,
Allah, Glory be to Him and Exalted, will bring out people from the Fire
who possess the essence of faith,
but have no righteous deeds.
He will bring them out by His grace and generosity,
and admit them into Paradise by His mercy.
This is the intercession of the Most Merciful of the merciful.
Its gates are eight, as has come
in the text, and they are for the one who performs good deeds.
The gate of Jihad is the highest of them,
and the gate of fasting is called the Gate of Rayyan.
For every righteous endeavor there is a gate,
and the master of that endeavor shall enter through it in safety.
A person will be called from all of its gates
if he fulfills the requirements of faith.
Among them is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq,
the successor to the one sent with the Qur'an.
Seventy years between each two of them,
measured by count and calculation.
Yet between them is a distance of forty,
as narrated by the scholar of the Ummah, the Shayban.
O Allah, grant us Paradise and its bliss.
O Allah, admit us into the highest gardens of Firdaws,
without reckoning and without prior punishment.
O Allah, Amen.
The journey has a remainder,
for it is Paradise.