The Sunday Guardian | June 30, 2024

We learn from the Quran that there is the reward of Paradise in the Hereafter for those who lead a life of faith. There is a Quranic verse which says: “No soul knows what joy is kept hidden in store for them as a reward for their labours.” (32:17) In this verse the words ‘hidden in store for them’ are very meaningful. From this we learn that Paradise is not something to be built or created in the future, rather it exists today itself. Just as our planet earth is a world present in actual fact, similarly Paradise is a world which is present in actual fact.

We learn about our earth that it is a planet of the solar system which is observable by the telescope. But Paradise is not observable in this way. We cannot see Paradise through any telescope. But certain scientific discoveries have given us the opportunity to make a guess. Scientific research says that a great part of space is in the form of dark matter. That is, it exists in space but we cannot see it with our own eyes. Now, to believe in Paradise, we may infer that perhaps the world of Paradise is hidden at some point in space in this dark matter.

The Quran tells us that in this world everything is created in pairs (51:49). This also gives us a clue that our earth is also one of a pair. From this we may infer that the other world is the completion of the present world. In this present world, no one’s desires are fulfilled. No one attains the fulfillment of his desires. This state of affairs is a pointer to the fact that this other world is perhaps the world which has been called in the Quran the eternal Paradise.

Source: Discovering the Quran