ON THE THRESHOLD OF PARADISE

ON THE THRESHOLD OF PARADISE expanding, while another verse says: “Praise be to God who has fulfilled His promise to us and made us the inheritors of this land, letting us settle in the Garden wherever we want.” (The Quran, 39:74) Verse 21 of the 57th chapter describes Paradise as being “as vast as heaven and earth, which has been made ready for those who believe in God and His messengers.” According to the Islamic tradition, the earth in its beginning was in the charge of the Jinns. Then it was handed over to human beings. Later, a period will ensue when the earth will be completely under the domination of the Angels. At that time tremendous changes will be made to the earth which, in the fullest sense of the expression, will be an ideal and perfect world. This evolutionary period of earth has been referred to thus in the Quran: “The earth will shine with the light of its Lord.” (The Quran, 39:69)