One great scholar said things are given honor according to their objectives.
And what he meant is somethings are so great that they require no means for someone wanting to earn them or draw near to them, and one of those examples he gave is Paradise.
Paradise is so amazing, so astounding to the mind and to the heart that anyone who thinks about it or listens about it would want to go directly to Paradise without thinking about the means to get there. That’s what the famous Hadith Qudsi by Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, says:
“When Allah, Glory to Him, asked Angel Gabriel to go and look at Paradise. So, he goes and looks at Paradise and comes back to Allah, and Allah asks him what do you think about it?’ He said: anyone who hears about- as soon as he hears about it, they would want to go to Paradise.”
Q & A on Paradise - Entering Paradise: Grace or Good Deeds? - How Old Will We Be in Paradise? |
That’s why in da’wa (calling to God), one of the most important things is to address the hearts of ourselves as well of others; is to remind them of Paradise, the bless which Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta`ala (Glory be to Him), has promised those who worship Him and live according to tenets of the Prophet, peace be upon him, that he taught us.
Paradise, the Arabic word ‘Al-Jannah’, comes from a word that means something hidden. So we have the jinn, demons in English; we call them so as we don’t see them. When someone is crazy we call them majnoon- from the same word Jannah, because their minds basically are going from them.
We also have the word jannah which means garden, because you can very rarely see what’s inside the jannah because of the trees that surround it. So the scholars debated why Al-Jannah is given this name. Some of them said because it’s surrounded by trees, which the Prophet, peace be upon him, said in a good Hadith: “It would take a person seven hundred years to travel from one side to another on a fast horse.”
Others said it was given the name Al-Jannah because we don’t see it, thus the Jannah is from what’s called sam'iyat or ghaibiyat, those things which can only be taught about from the Prophet, peace be upon him, or through the agency of revelation.
Two Important Principles
Let’s talk about a few ways which Insha’Allah can draw us near to Paradise. But before that I’d like to mention two principles in relationship to Paradise.
The first one is the way to Paradise is a practical one, that the way to enter Jannah is a practical means. One of the most important principles of Islam is that God will never burden a soul more than it can handle:
{On no soul does Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns} (Al-Imran 2; 286)
| whatever Allah has forbidden is because it would harm us in this life and in the next life |
And, according to great scholars of Shari’ah, we have that important axiom: ‘The idea that the religion would obligate us to do something that is impossible for us to do is not acceptable’ because Islam, the religion of Allah, this religion of mercy that God sent to us only asks us to do what we are able to do. That’s why the Prophet, peace be upon him, said to his companions: “Order people to do what they can do or handle.”
Therefore the way to Paradise is a practical means, not impractical means or way.
The second important principle is that whatever Allah, Glory to Him, has made halal for us is beneficial to us, in this life and in the next. And whatever Allah has forbidden is because it would harm us in this life and in the next life. That’s why Allah says, about the Prophet, peace be upon him:
{Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (scriptures),- in the Torah and the Gospel;- for he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil; he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure); He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them} (Al-A’raf 7; 157)
That’s why we say whatsoever Allah has legislated it is because it brings good to His servants and prevents them from harm.
How to Get there?
The great month of Ramadan is a great annual chance to be from the people of Paradise. Fasting itself is the first of these things. After that comes standing in the night (night prayer), night prayer in the last 10 days of Ramadan, and prayer on the night of Qadr. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
"Whoever established prayers on the night of Qadr out of sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven; and whoever fasts in the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven." (Al-Bukhari)
The second thing which we can do to earn the Paradise, or to draw near to Paradise, is to seek knowledge; to study and to learn our religion, as the Prophet said:
“Whoever seeks a way towards knowledge, Allah will make Paradise easy for them.”
By knowledge for the masses we don’t mean scholarship, what we mean here is literacy; every Muslim is required to have a basic literacy of their religion.
The third thing is that we should be good to our mothers and fathers.
“Once a man came to the Prophet and said: ‘I want to fight for the cause of Allah”
The Prophet asked him: ‘Is your mother alive?’
He answered: ‘Yes.’
Then the Prophet told him ‘If your mother is alive, then stay with her and look after her, because Paradise is at her feet.’” (Sahih Muslim)
So, you should contact your parents and ask them to forgive you for any mistakes that you’ve made, you should as well forgive your parents if they did something wrong to you...
Watch Imam Suhaib Webb's Talk
Related Links:
Paradise: Safe and SoundThe Pleasures of Paradise
The Hereafter: Two Parties and Two Faces
Islamic Balance Between This Life & The Hereafter
Where The Day of Judgment Begins (Part 1)
