Introduction

 All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him; we seek for His help, forgiveness and guidance. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of our own souls and misdeeds. None can mislead whomsoever Allah guides, and none can guide whomsoever Allah causes to go astray.

I testify that there is no deity worthy of being worshiped except Allah. He is One and He has no partner. I equally testify that Muhammad is the slave of Allah and His Messenger.

Allah says:

´´O you who believe! Fear Allah (by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. (Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always), and die not except in a state of Islaam (as Muslims (with complete submission to Allah). (Aal ´Imraan 3:102)

´´O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife Hawwa (Eva) and fom them both He created many men and women; and fear allah through Whom you demand (you mutual rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Surely. Allah is Ever an All-Watcher over you.´´ (An-Nisaa´a 4:1)

´´O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allah and fear Him, and speak (always) the truth. He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). he has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. he will be saved from the Hell-fire and will be admitted to Paradise).´´ (Al-Ahzaab 33:70,71)

To proceed, indeed, the best speech is the Book of Allah and the best guidacen is that of Muhammad, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him. The worst of all affirs are new things introduced into the religion and every introduced thing is bid´ah [innovation]; and every bid´ah is error.

Writing about Paradise is of great importance in niew of its significance in the belief of a Muslim. This belief makes him eligible for enhoyment of the bliss and the happiness of the Hereafter. t is not a belief that is limited to the life of this finite and ephemeral world only as compared to the everlasting Hereafter. Rather, it is a great creed that links the life of man in this world to that of the Hereafter so that his version will not be restricted to this world alone but extends to the Hereafter.

Belief in Paradise is one of the fundamentals of faith. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, was asked about faith and he answered,

´´Faith is to believe in Allah, in His Angels, in His Book, in His Messengers and in the Last Day; and to believe in predecree, its good and bad.´´ (Recorded by Muslim)

Belief in the Last Day entails believing in the Unseen that includes Paradise. Though we have not seen it with our eyes or felt it with our hands, we must have absolute, complete and certain belief in it. Our proof for this is the Qur´an and the sunnah.

The Qur´an is the Book revealed by the One Who created Paradise and its bliss. He is also the One Who created its dwellers, guided them on the path to it, prepared it for them and made it known to them.

The sunnah is the report attributed to the one who has entered Paradise, walked on its soil and reached the Lot tree in Paradise. Allah says:

´´Will you then dispute with him [Muhammad (blessings and peace of allah be upon him)] about what he saw (during the Mi´raaj: )Ascent of the Prophet over the seven heavens). And indeed he [Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)] saw him (Jibreel(Gabriel)) at a second descent (i.e. another time) near sidrat-ul-Muntaha (a lote-tree of the utmost boundary over the seventh heaven beyond which none can pass). near it is the Paradise of abode.´´ (An-Najm 53: 12-15)

The Glorious Qur´an has described Paradise in the most perfect way: The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, has also done the same in the clearest manner that such description has left an amazing impact in the hearts of the earliest Muslims from amongst the Companions - may Allah be pleased with them. This impact transformed their life from that of the age of ignorance to a great life filled with perfect faith and true concivtion in the everlasting life of the Hereafter in the blissful Paradise. There are many instances of this from the sunnah.

The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, walked all over the land to deliver the message of his Lord. He did so alonge and was been driven away from one place after another in the course of that. He would be accused of sorcery, magic or lying. the people of Taif stoned him that his noble face bled and was forced to return to Makkah.

It was during these diffcult situations that Allah sent him helpers from Madinah who swore allegiance to him and expressed their rediness to defend and sacrifice their lives for him and his religion in the face of enmity from all human races. What then is their reward for this great sacrifice? Can it be compensated with huge amount of money or worldly statuses?

The answer is: No, Their reward is rather the garden of Paradise which is, today, not seen or felt.

Imaam Ahmad - may Allah have mercy upon him - recorded on the authority of Jabir bin ´Abdullah - may Allah be pleased with him and his father - who narrated: ´´The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peae of Allah be upon him, spent ten years in Makkah (calling people to Islam) and following them into their places of gathering such as Ukaz, Majannah and during Hajj seasons in Mina. He would say to them,

´Who is ready to give me refuge? Who is ready to help me so that I van deliver the message of my Lord and have Paradise as reward for such help?!

(The situation was so diffcult for Allah´s Messenger, blessings and peace of allah be upon him,) that a man would set out from Yemen or Mudar and his people would come to him and tell him, ´Beware of that Qurayshi man (meaning Muhamma, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him,) lest he tempts you!´ The Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, would walk among the Qurayshi men and they would point their fingers at him (with the aim of warning people against him) until Allah sent us to him from Yathrib and we provided him with refuge and believed in him.

A man from among us would come to him and declare his acceptance of Islam. The Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, would recite the Qur´an to him and the man would then return to his family and all of them would embrace Islam through him until there was no household of Ansaar that did have members who were Muslims, practicing their Islam publicly.

Then we (the Ansaae) got together and said to ourselves, ´When are we going to stop the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace of Allah upon him, from being chased around in the mountains of Makkah and from being frightened?´ So, seventy men from among us went to meet him during Hajj season. We agreed to meet him at the valley of ´Aqabah. At the appointed time, we went to join him one by one or in a group of two men at a time until we were all gathered around him. We told him, ´Messenger of Allah, we want to swear allegiance to you.´ He said,

´Pledge allegiance to me that you shall listen to me and obey me in pleasure and displeasure; that you will spent (your wealth in Allah´s cause) in adversity and properity; that you shall promote the cirtue and prevent the vice; that you shall convey Allah´s word without fearing the censuring of a censurer; and that you shall help and protect me against that which you protect your own selves, your wives and your children and you will have Paradise as reward for that.´

We stood up and swore allegiance to him. As´ad ibn Zurarah - who was one of the youngest of those who were present - held the Prophet´s hand and said, ´Wait a minute, O people of Yathrib!(1) Indeed, we have not undertaken a journey here had we not known that he is the Messenger of Allah. Taking him out today means disagreeing with the Arabs and this could lead to the killing of eminent personalities among you. Therefore, you should decide whether to bear that with patience while you get your reward for that from Allah or you become a voward people fearing for your own necks only. You should explain which choice you are making for such would be an excuse for you before Allah.´ The Ansaar said in response, ´O Sa´d by Allah, we are never going to abandon this allegiance and we are never going to withdraw it!´

It was then that we stood up and swore allegiance and the Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, made stipulations, promising us Paradise in exchange for fulfilment of those stipulations.´´ (1)

That is hiw the impact of the Muslims´ Belief in Paradise manifests in the life of this world. After this allegiance - which is regarded as the greatest allegiance in human history - had been concluded and after some ten odd years, an Islamic state grew up, and the authority of that state stretched from the east to the wast and from the north to the south, and two supperpowers of those age, the Roman and Persian empires bowed  to it.

Among the impacts of belief in Paradise is that it makes a Muslim sacrifice his life and wealth to please Allah. You find him competing with his father and his son in sacrificing is life in the cause of Allah.

An example of this is the case of Sa´d bin Khithamah - may Allah be pleased with him. when the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, was mobilizing Muslims for the Battle of Badr. The people were hurriedly signing up. Khaithamah told his son Sa´d ´´Let me go out and join the army and you stay with the women of the family.´

The son refused and said, ´´Had it been for other things beside the Paradise. I would give you preference over myself.´´

To put this disagreement to rest, hey both drew a lot and the son won. So he was the one who joined the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, in the Battle of Badr. (2)

Another example was that of the elderly ´Amr bin al-Jamuh. (3)

He was very old and lame. when the people were being mobilized for the Battle of Uhud, his sons wanted to prevent him from signing up because he was among the excused due to lameness. But he refused saying, ´´By Allah, I want to walk with my lame legs in Paradise.´´ He was martyred in that battle. May Allah be pleased with and please him. (1)

Here is the family of Yasir. (2)

They were made to taste severest persecution and suffer the bitterest punishment simply for declaring their faith in their true Creator. They bore all these sufferings in patience though the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, did not promise them any of the materials of this world; he only promised them Paradise. The Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, would pass by them while they were being persecuted and tormented and - being unable to render them any physical succor - would say to them,

´´Be patient, O the houshold of Yasir for Paradise is your promised abode!´´ (1)

This promise of Paradise was a curing balsam for them and its sweetness overwhelmed the pain o persecution.

Paradise had a great impact in nuturig the Muslim armies upon steadfastness, patience and resilience in most diffcult moments. In the Battle of Uhud, a rumor was being spread that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, had been killed. Anas bin Nadr )2), may allah be pleased with him, passed by a group of the Companions and asked them, ´´Why are you sitting down?´´ they answered, ´´The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, had been killed! ´´ He retorted, ´´Then what is the purpore of your remaining alive?!

Get up and die upon what the Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, died upon!´´ (3)

He also said, ´´O Allah, Iam seeking excuse from you for what these people (meaning his Companions) had done and I am denouncing what these people (meaning the polytheists) who he said, ´´Sa´d ibn Mu´adh, I swear by the Lord of Nadr, I van smeel the fragrance of Paradise beyond Uhud Mountain!´´ Sa´d completed the story, ´´I was unable to accomplish what Anas had accomplished.´´

Anas bin Malik(1), may Allah be pleased with him, said about his uncle, ´´We later found him dead and we found on ihs bodu eighty od marks of sword, spear or arrow; and the polytheists had also mutilated him so much so that it was only his sister who could identify him through his fingers.´´ (2)

It was anas´ belief in Paradise - during this most diffcult situation - that kept him firm and steadfast that he was able to smell it while he was still in this world.

There are many other examples on Muslims´ great belief in Paradise and the impact of that belief on their life.

You can see the fighters in the way of Allah equipping themselves with the little they could and then advancing towards the enemy, selling their lives cheap in the cause of Allah and fighting the enemies of their religion. In the eyes of these noble men, forces of this world mean nothing. They have no fear for aircraft carriers, attack ships, rocket launchers, and weapons of destruction or armored thanks! What is it that makes these things insignificant in their estimation?!

It is Allah´s statement.

´´And whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. They life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing).´´ (Aal ´Imraan 3:185)

This blissful Paradise is only attained through Allah´s mercy and facor. abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, said,

´´The good deeds of any person will not make him enter Paradise.´´ (i.e. none can enter Paradise through his good deeds.) They (the Prophet´s Companions) said, ´Not even you, O Allah´s Messenger?´ He said,

´´Not even myself, unless Allah bestows His facor and mercy on me.´´ (Recorded by Al-Bukhari)

It is amanifestation of Allah´s mercy upon His servant to make him succeed in doing righteous deeds and to guide him to pious acts. A servant´s good deed is not enough to make him enter Paradise if Allah has not bestowed His blessing on him. His deeds, even if done according to the way that Allah loves and is pleased with, are not equal to the blessings that Allah bestows on him in this world. In fact, if his deeds and Allah´s blessings that he enjoys in this world are to be compared, the entire good deeds would be comparable to only a tiny fraction of these blessings; and no amount of gratitude from his part would compensate for the rest of the blessings. If, in this situation, Allah chose to punish the servant, such a punishment would be in place and not be regarded as injustice; and if He chose to bless him, such blessing would far outweigh his good deeds. (1) The Messenger of Allah, said,

´´If Allah were to punish the inhabitants of His heavens and earth, He would do so without His being accused of any injustice to them; and if He were to bless them, His blessing would be far greater than their own deeds.´´ (Recorded by Ibn Majah)