THE ROAD TO PARADISE

jealousy, prejudice, selfishness and other such shallow thinking, and raise themselves to the highest moral level. They associate themselves with people for the sake of truth and distance themselves likewise for the sake of truth. They give and take for God alone. Their lips open for the truth alone. They follow the way of forgiveness and not of revenge in this world and do not embroil themselves in the attractions of the world, but fix their gaze on the Hereafter in all situations. A paradisiacal person, that is, one fit to inhabit Paradise, is such an ardent seeker of Paradise that he begins to feel as if he is living in Paradise while remaining physically in this world. If he has found Paradise in terms of such a feeling, in the next world he will physically become a resident of Paradise. When this paradisiacal personality develops in human beings, their intellectual plane reaches such heights that everything becomes immaterial. They do not find any fulfillment in the material things of the world. Owing to their heightened consciousness, they realize that the present world is not the place that they have been created for. Their hearts cry out to God: “O God! Bestow on us, the Paradise of the Hereafter. Give us a place in the world of Your neighbourhood.” God’s angels will welcome those men and women, who reach the Hereafter with all the above qualities. The angels will come forward and say: “Congratulations, O Blessed Souls! Enter God’s heaven by divine decree. Here, there is no death and no parting from this joyous world. The eternal life has been given to you for all eternity.” The Quran says: O Soul at peace! Come to your Lord well pleased, and He will also be well pleased with you. So enter among My chosen servants. And enter My Garden. (89: 27-30) For one who has no concept of Paradise, total satisfaction in this present world will turn out to be a lifelong quest, that will end in failure. People expend all their energy in its pursuit, but they fail to construct this dream world for themselves. According to the Quran, after death everyone will discover that ‘tomorrow’. Those who have prepared for it will meet with all kinds of success there, while those who have not made the necessary preparations will be doomed. In the world of the Hereafter, all evil people will be separated from the good. They will be denied all the good things of that life. o