So, you've been welcomed into your new home
in Jannah, by Allah, by the angels
and by all of the creation in Paradise.
What does that new home look like?
Abu Hurairah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu
said that,
"We said to the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
"Ya Rasulillah,
when we see you our hearts are so soft,
and we feel like we're people of the Hereafter.
But then once we leave from you,
we get involved in this dunya
and we get busy with our spouses and our children
and we feel like our hearts are hardened a bit."
And the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
"If you were to remain
on the same condition on which you are with me,
the angels would shake hands with you
and visit you in your homes.
And if you were to not commit sins, Allah
Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
would replace you with others who will commit sins,
and then they'll seek his forgiveness
and he can forgive them."
Meaning you're not supposed to be perfect yet.
That's in Jannah.
And the angels would greet you
in every direction, like they would in Jannah,
if you were to be perfect in this life.
But keep on striving and keep on going
and wait for that moment where you enter
into Jannah and actually live that reality.
(Silence)
And on that note, the companions
they responded to the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
and they said,
"Ya Rasulillah,
tell us about Jannah, and its structure."
And the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
labina tun min fidhdha wa labina tun min dhahab
wa milatuhal miskul arthar
wa hasba uhal lu'lu uwal ya'qut
waturbatuha za'faran
He said, SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam,
that its structure is one brick
of gold, one brick of silver,
its plaster is musk, its gravel is pearl
and ruby and its soil is saffron.
So again, these palaces are from
bricks of gold and silver.
The plaster is musk, the gravel is pearl
and ruby, and the soil is saffron.
The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
man dhakalaha yan 'amu
wala yay as wa yakhlud
wala yamoot laa tablaathiabuhum wala tafnaa shababuhum
He said, "Whoever enters into it will be pleased
and will not grieve, will enjoy eternity without death.
Their clothes will never fade
and their youth will never expire."
Ibn al Qayyim Rahimahullah
he gives you the scene. He says, you enter
into a lofty house and the distance
between the ground and the roof is a hundred cubits.
So it's super high ceilings.
And he said it's built on a waterfall
of pearl and ruby having red, green and yellow paths.
And none of the pathways in Jannah
are the same as the other.
So there's differentiation throughout.
And he said the water flows throughout the homes
and this is the case of all
of the homes of Jannah,
that you have water flowing throughout.
Wa masaakina tayibbatan fi jannatiadh
And beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss.
SubhanAllah
notice that Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la says,
"masakina tayyiba"
He says "mansions,"
so it's not just one mansion, "mansions."
And he said,
"tayyiba."
They're beautiful,
and they're pure, and they don't require any maintenance.
You know, sometimes people worry
that a big house means big trouble.
And by the way, there's no kitchen
in Jannah because
what would you need a kitchen for anyway?
You don't need to wash dishes, you don't need to vacuum,
you don't need to clean anything of these houses.
That's all taken care of.
And Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la says it's not just houses
but it is all sorts of properties.
So Allah mentions 'buyoot', homes.
Allah mentions 'qusoor', which are palaces.
Allah mentions 'guraf', these special apartments,
these special rooms and
Allah mentions 'khiyam', the guest houses
and the pavilions that reside
on the outside of these gardens.
And Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la says,
"Wa itha ra'-ayta thamma ra'ayta
na'eeman wa mulkan kabeera"
Everywhere you look around
you just see indescribable blessing.
And that's reflected on your face.
Taa'rifu fee wujuhihim
nathrata an-naa'eem
You look at the faces of the believers
and you just see that they're so happy,
that they're full
of so much bliss as they look around.
"Wa mulkan kabeera"
And a vast Kingdom.
It's not just one construction,
but all sorts of constructions that belong to you.
So what did these look like?
Where the Prophet
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam,
you know,
talks about this particular palace
that he says he SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam that belonged to
Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu.
He said it was a palace of gold.
Imam Hassan al-Basri Rahimahullahi
comments on this,
because again, they're degrees in Jannah.
He says,
"A palace of pure gold is only for a Prophet,
a siddiq, a martyr, or a just ruler.
And these are, of course, very similar
to the same categories that are shaded
under Allah's throne. Because remember the virtues
of the Day of Judgment carry over
into Jannah now.
So you have a rank of palaces of pure gold, and in Jannah
carats, of course, not in worldly carats.
And that belongs to the highest level of
its occupants.
And Ibn al Qayyim Rahimahullah
said, "There are palaces in Paradise of gold.
And then you have some of silver,
and then some of pearl, and some of ruby,
and some of crystal."
And 'Ubayd ibn Umayr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu says,
"And the lowest person in Paradise will have a home
of one single pearl with its multiple
rooms and gates."
So the highest level is actually, funny enough,
the word in the Qur'an
that sometimes gets translated as apartments.
But it's not what it may seem
to people because apartments can seem lower
in this dunya.
In Jannah, they're actually
describing something higher,
something that belongs only to the Sabiqun,
to the forerunners.
And that's the word,
'ghuraf,'
so the rooms or the apartments.
And these are what the Prophet
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
describes as constructions that are made of crystal.
And they sparkle in the horizon of Jannah.
So they're like these glimmering chalets
in the sky that look like stars
to the rest of Jannah.
And he said,
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam,
the rest of the people of Jannah,
they see the residents of the
ghuraf
as you would see a long gone star in the horizon.
And Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
describes the qualities
of these
ghuraf
and the people that get them.
Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la says that
"Lakini al-Ladhina-ttaqaw rabbahum Lahum Ghurafun
min fawqihā ghurafun mabnīyyatun tajrī
min taĥtihā al-anhār
"That for those who are conscious of their Lord
they have these rooms.
And above those rooms, there are other rooms
and they have been built with rivers
flowing beneath them."
Waa'da Allah.
And this is the promise of Allah
Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
And He does not fail in his promise.
So first,
'taqwa.'
The first quality here is
'taqwa',
people that are God conscious.
"al-ladhina-ttaqaw"
And people
of
taqwa
gave up the sins that spoke to their lower selves.
So now they get the higher rewards of the
ghuraf.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
"illa ma aamana wa 'amila salihan
fa'-ula'-ika lahum jaza'-u-ddi'fi bima 'aamilu
wa hum fil ghurufati aaminoon"
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
that it's those who do good deeds, those who believe
and do good deeds that have multiplied rewards
with us for all that they did.
And they live in safety in these
ghuraf,
these lofty dwellings of Paradise.
So basically now you have those who had lofty deeds
and now they have lofty dwellings with Allah
Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la.
And finally, Allah
Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
says particularly
after mentioning
'ibadu ar-Rahman,
the Servants
of the Most Merciful who tread the earth lightly.
And when they are harshly addressed
they respond with salam.
And Allah
Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
goes on to mention all of these lofty qualities,
the qualities of the people who are most beloved to Him.
And they're not easy qualities to maintain.
And Allah says, after the description of
'ibadu ar-Rahman,
the Servants of the Most Merciful,
"ula'-ika yujzawnal ghurfata bima sabarau"
They will be rewarded
with high apartments because of their patience.
For their patience of harsh addresses from the ignorant
towards them when they responded with salam.
And now Allah
Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
is responding to them
with salaam and the way that they would
forego certain things
in this world.
And now Allah
Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
is giving them dwellings
that they could not have imagined in the Hereafter.
So these dwellings have to do with taking the higher road.
And so now they occupy the higher room
And that's why Asiya
'Alayhi Salaam
gets this high dwelling
"'indaka"
with you
because she bore the abuse. Not just
of someone that was insulting, she bore the abuse
of
Fir'aun,
and she took the high road.
So now she has a room
in the highest rank with Allah
Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la.
Also the Prophet
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
mentioned homes for
for those who leave off arguments, even when they're right.
So they don't engage
in lower manners and they leave off foolish joking.
So they don't engage
in lowliness with their humor to impress anybody.
And they have good character.
So they have high standards
that other people don't necessarily abide by.
And Rasulillah SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
"There are rooms in Paradise, the inner of which is seen
from the outside and the outside, seen from the inside.
And you might be thinking, well, where's the privacy?
Well, you don't have to worry
about privacy because of the expanse and the elevation.
No one can see you in these rooms.
So these transparent homes, and we said,
"Ya Rasulullah,
Who are these for?"
And he said, "Allah
Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
has prepared them
for the one who feeds the poor
and then who fasts consistently
and who prays at night when other people are sleeping."
So you can have multiple homes in Paradise
but you have to commit to multiple deeds
and strive to have golden qualities befitting
of the golden palaces that we so desire.
Ya ayyatuha
an-nafsu al mutma'-inna
irji'i ila rabbiki
radiyatan mardiyya,
fadkhuli fi 'ibadi
wadkhuli jannati
Captioning provided by MUHSEN (www.muhsen.org)