In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
It is Paradise.
The vision of Allah, the Exalted, in Paradise.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
And may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad.
And upon all his family and companions, and thereafter:
O people of Paradise!
We have wandered together through the gardens of Paradise.
And we have learned of the everlasting bliss contained therein,
Which Allah has prepared for His righteous allies.
Yet, place all that has passed on one side of the scale,
And what I am about to tell you now,
Place it on the other.
Our discussion now is about the greatest and most perfect bliss,
A bliss that, once its sweetness is tasted,
Makes one forget every other delight in Paradise.
For no one in Paradise has been given
Anything greater than this bliss.
It is none other than gazing upon the Face of Allah, the Exalted and Generous,
And hearing His speech,
And the coolness of the eyes in being near to Him.
For every pleasure in this world and the Hereafter
Does not compare in the slightest
To this pleasure, ever.
Even the smallest, most trivial portion of His pleasure, the Exalted,
Is greater than the Gardens and all they contain,
Just as our Lord, the Exalted, has informed us
Himself, saying:
“Allah promiseth to the believers, men and women, Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide - blessed dwellings in Gardens of Eden. And - greater (far)! - acceptance from Allah. That is the supreme triumph.” (9:72)
And the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, informed us,
Saying that He, glory be to Him,
When He manifests,
And they see His Face clearly,
They will forget all the bliss they are in.
Our Lord,
Who created us from nothingness,
And provided us with blessings,
And protected us in this world of hardship,
And sustained us without any power or strength of our own,
Our Lord, to whom we have long turned,
And He sheltered us,
And we sought Him, and He gave us,
And we hoped in Him, and He did not disappoint our hope.
Our Lord, whom we worshipped and prayed to,
And for whom we made our religion sincere.
Our Lord, who said—how we have longed to see Him
And hear His speech!
Now, in Paradise,
We shall see our Lord, O my companions.
When we enter Paradise,
We shall attain the great vision therein,
The vision that is the greatest of all visions,
And the goal toward which those who strive
Have striven,
And for which the competitors have competed,
And of which those who are veiled from their Lord are deprived,
And from His door are turned away.
Some people asked, saying:
"O Messenger of Allah,
Shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?"
He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"Do you have any doubt in seeing the moon on the night of the full moon,
When there is no cloud obscuring it?"
They said, "No, O Messenger of Allah."
He said, "Do you doubt the sun,
When there is no cloud obscuring it?"
They said, "No." He said,
"Then you shall see Him likewise."
And the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, informed us,
Saying: "When the people of Paradise enter,
Allah, Blessed and Exalted be He, will say:
'Do you wish for anything more that I may increase for you?'
They will say:
'Has He not brightened our faces?
Has He not admitted us to Paradise,
And saved us from the Fire?'
Then the veil will be lifted,
And they will not have been given anything dearer to them
Than gazing upon their Lord, the Almighty and Majestic."
“For those who do good is the best (reward) and more (thereto). Neither dust nor ignominy cometh near their faces. Such are rightful owners of the Garden; they will abide therein.” (10:26)
"No darkness or humiliation will cover their faces."
(This refers to the believers).
Those are the people of Paradise,
They will abide therein forever.
And the 'best' (al-husna) in this verse
Is Paradise,
And the 'increase' (al-ziyadah) is the gaze upon the Face of the Most Merciful,
In His majesty and the holiness of His names.
And there is nothing between the people and seeing their Lord
Except the mantle of pride
Upon His Face in the Garden of Eden.
And along with this vision,
Our Lord, the Almighty and Majestic, speaks to us,
With no translator between us and Him.
How delicious is this speech!
And oh, the delight of that hearing!
Yes, we are in Paradise,
We hear the speech of the angels,
As they welcome and greet us,
And we hear the speech of the people of Paradise,
But our hearing
Of the speech of Allah and His addressing us
Is more delicious, more delightful,
And greater and sweeter to our souls.
And this speech, as Allah, the Exalted, described it:
“The word from a Merciful Lord (for them) is: Peace!” (36:58)
The Exalted says:
"O people of Paradise!"
And they will say:
"At Your service, our Lord, and at Your command,
And all good is in Your hands."
He will say: "Are you satisfied?"
They will say: "And why should we
Not be satisfied, O Lord,
When You have not given anyone among Your creation [what You have given us]?"
He will say: "Shall I not give you
Something better than that?"
They will say: "O Lord,
And what thing is better than that?"
He will say: "I bestow upon you
My pleasure, so I shall never be angry with you
After it, ever."
What do you think of our state on that day,
When our faces are radiant with splendor and beauty,
And majesty and glory?
Did Allah, the Exalted, not say:
"Faces, that Day, will be radiant,
Looking toward their Lord"?
The caller will call out:
"O people of Paradise, your Lord,
Blessed and Exalted be He, invites you to visit Him,
So come to His visitation."
And we will say: "We hear and we obey,"
And we will rise to the visitation, hastening.
And there, the wonders of the mounts
Have been prepared for us,
So we mount their backs, hurrying,
Until we reach the spacious valley
For which He has set us an appointment,
And we gather there,
And the caller will not leave anyone behind.
The Lord, Blessed and Exalted be He, will command
His Throne to be set up there,
Then pulpits of light will be set up for us,
And pulpits of pearl,
And pulpits of chrysolite,
And pulpits of gold,
And pulpits of silver.
And the lowest of us—
Though there is no one among us who is truly 'low'—will sit upon mounds of musk.
Until our seats are settled,
And our places are secured,
The caller will call out:
"O people of Paradise,
You have an appointment with Allah,
Which He wishes to fulfill for you."
We will say: "And what is it?
Has He not brightened our faces,
And weighed our scales,
And moved us away from the Fire?"
While we are in that state,
A light will shine forth for which Paradise will glow,
And we will raise our heads,
And there is the Compeller, glory be to His majesty,
And the holiness of His names,
Having appeared to us from above.
And He will say: "O people of Paradise,
Peace be upon you."
We will return this greeting
With something better than our own words:
"O Allah, You are Peace,
And from You is peace,
Blessed are You, O Possessor of Majesty and Honor."
Then our Lord, Blessed and Exalted be He, will manifest to us,
Laughing at us,
And He will say: "O people of Paradise,
Where are My servants who obeyed Me?
For this is the Day of Increase."
We will gather on one word:
"We are pleased, our Lord,
So be pleased with us."
He will say: "O people of Paradise,
If I were not pleased with you,
I would not have let you dwell in My Paradise.
This is the Day of Increase,
So ask of Me."
Not one thing, but:
"Show us Your Face, that we may look upon You."
Then our Lord, glory be to His majesty, will lift the veils,
And manifest to us,
And there will cover us of His light
That, had Allah not decreed
That we should not burn, we would have burned.
And there will not remain in that gathering
Anyone among us but that He will address him,
To the point that He will say:
"O so-and-so, do you remember
The day you did such-and-such?"
Reminding him of some of his transgressions
In the world.
The servant will say: "O my Lord,
"Did You not forgive me?" He will reply, "Indeed,
by My forgiveness you have attained your station."
This is the day
wherein they shall have whatever they desire,
and with Us is more,
and they shall see Him,
glorified is He, from above them,
a clear vision, just as one sees the two celestial bodies.
This is the "more"
that has been mentioned in Surah Yunus,
in the Tafsir of the one who brought the Qur'an,
and it is the "more" as well.
Abu Bakr is the Truthful One (al-Siddiq),
the possessor of certainty,
to Allah belongs that understanding;
He grants it to whom
He deems worthy, from among those who excel in goodness.
Amidst their life,
their joy, and their bliss,
in delight and celebration,
suddenly there will be a radiant light.
They will raise their heads toward it,
and they will see the light of the Lord,
which is hidden from no human being.
And there is their Lord, Exalted is He,
above them, having come to greet them
with benevolence.
He will say, "Peace be upon you."
They will see Him clearly, Exalted is He,
the Lord, the Possessor of Majesty.
A caller from the Garden of Eternal Life will signal,
"O people of the Garden,
you have a promise from the Most Merciful,
and He is the One who fulfills it for you with a guarantee."
They will say, "Have our faces not been whitened?
Have our deeds not been weighed
in the balance?
And have You not admitted us into the Gardens,
when You saved us from the entrance of the Fire?"
He will say, "I have a promise with Me,
the time has come for Me to grant it to you,
out of My mercy and tenderness."
Then they will see Him, after the lifting of His veil,
clearly, as narrated by Muslim with clarity.
By Allah, were it not for the vision of the Most Merciful
in the Gardens, there would be no delight
for those of true knowledge.
The highest bliss is the vision of His Face,
and the most severe thing in the punishment
is His veil, glorified is He, from the inhabitants
of the Fire.
When He withdraws from them,
they return to their pleasures
of every kind.
For they have bliss upon seeing Him,
and how excellent are both matters.
By Allah, there is nothing in this world
more delightful than the servant's longing for the Most Merciful.
And likewise, the vision of His Face,
glorified is He, is the most perfect
of all human delights.
Do you not know that He, glorified is He,
truly speaks to His party in the Gardens?
He will say, Majestic is His Majesty,
"Are you satisfied?"
They will say, "We are possessors of contentment.
How could we not be satisfied,
when You have given us
what no human has ever attained?"
"Is there anything beyond this
that would be better than it?"
We ask Him, the Bestower of Bounties.
He will say, "Better than it is My contentment."
The Most Merciful will remind each of them of what
had transpired from him in past times,
from Him to him;
there is no intermediary.
That is not a rebuke from the Most Merciful,
but rather, the one who has attained it recognizes it
as coming from His grace, forgiveness, and benevolence.
O Allah, we
ask You for Paradise,
such as the highest Firdaws,
without reckoning or punishment.
O Allah, Amen.
And the journey has a remainder;
it is Paradise.