DESERVING OF PARADISE
Paradise is a perfect, evil-free world of the hereafter, reserved for those who recognize God in the unseen, live by His principles, and develop positive personalities.
Looking at the industrialised and planned cities of Japan, I often think of Paradise—the ideal world of the Hereafter. Paradise is a vast, zero-defect, evil-free universe, complete in itself. For thousands of years, man has sought Paradise on Earth due to his natural urges. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the age of consumerism, man thought that he could build a Paradise on Earth, believing that the Industrial Age would culminate in the perfect world—Paradise—that he longed for. However, these hopes were dashed with the arrival of pollution, acid rain, and global warming. Moreover, global warming has made it abundantly clear that man cannot build a Paradise on Earth.
Paradise will only be found in a state of perfection in the Hereafter. In Paradise, man will experience a life of eternal joy, peace, and happiness. There will be no need for physical labour; pleasant intellectual activities will suffice to achieve all desired goals. Man must realize that he stands on the threshold of Paradise. The present Earth is a Paradise-in-the-making, not Paradise itself. So, how can man achieve the Paradise of his dreams?
To find an answer to this question, one must become aware of the Creation Plan of God. God has created man according to His Plan. To become acquainted with this plan, man must thoroughly understand himself. Just as the workings of a machine can only be understood when we study the engineer’s drawings, the same principle applies to understanding man. Besides the engineer’s mind, there is no other way to clarify what the machine is meant for. The case is the same for men. Only by understanding the Creation Plan of the Creator can we know the purpose of man’s life.
Man’s existence is such a unique phenomenon that no comparable example can be found throughout the vastness of the cosmos. Man is rightly called the ‘best of all creations,’ which means the best and most meaningful ‘being’ among all created things. Such a ‘meaningful being’ cannot have been created without a purpose. The Creator of man has created him according to a unique plan. The Quran, the only preserved religious scripture, sheds light on this plan:
“He created death and life so that He might test you, and find out which of you is best in conduct.” (67:2)
According to this verse of the Quran, man was created as an eternal being, and ‘death and life’ represent both the pre-death and post-death periods of human life. Thus, death and life encompass the entire eternal lifespan of human beings. The Creator of man has created him according to a unique plan. His intention is for man to undergo a period of trial in this present, imperfect world, and then, based on his deeds, he will earn the right to inhabit the perfect and eternal world, which is another name for Paradise.
According to His will, God created a perfect world called Paradise—a world that fulfils all our human desires, free of all limitations and disadvantages, free of fear and pain, and free of all imperfections. It is an eternal world with neither death nor old age, an ideal world where we can achieve fulfilment.
Less-than-perfect beings cannot inhabit a perfect Paradise. Therefore, God created perfection-seeking creatures—human beings. He intended for us to spend a period of trial here on Earth. After this, we will earn the right to inhabit the perfect and eternal world according to our deeds.
The essence of God’s creation plan is to grant a person complete freedom—not as a gift, but as a test. This test enables God to judge who misuses their freedom and who uses it wisely. This is the divine scheme for humanity. In the pre-death period of life, individuals have the opportunity to qualify themselves for Paradise so that in the post-death period, they may be settled as deserving candidates in this perfect world.
This world, therefore, has all the components necessary for a test. It contains perfection-seeking beings in a less-than-perfect world who have been given complete freedom to choose their actions. Thus, we have a choice—we can misuse our freedom to do evil or use our freedom wisely, submit to God, and qualify for Paradise. Those who misuse their God-given freedom are warned in the Quran:
“This is the Truth from your Lord. Let him who will believe in it and him who will deny it.” (18:29)
The Creator of the world has created this world as one half of a pair—the present world, in which we live after birth, is the first half; the next eternal world, where we live after death, is the other half. The Creator of man has further designed him as an eternal creature and divided his life into two periods: the pre-death period, which is life in this world, and the post-death period, or life after death. The limited period before death is meant to be a test for man, while the eternal period after his death will be a time of reward or punishment based on his performance in this life’s test.
According to this Creation Plan of God, human beings are placed in situations where they face hardships from time to time throughout their lives as part of their test. Difficulty and sadness are integral parts of the Creator’s plan. No man has the power to extricate himself from this life of trial and tribulation. This arrangement serves as a reminder that the present world has not been made as a place of luxury and comfort but as a period of trial to determine whether he is eligible for eternal life in Paradise. This is the scheme of existence for this world devised by its Creator. The Creator aims to select those who are fit to inhabit the world of Paradise.
In this world of trials, to be eligible for Paradise, every man or woman must possess two qualifications: the acknowledgement of the truth of the one God and the commitment to leading a principled life to develop a positive personality. Those who pass this test will be granted a place in Paradise, where all their desires will be fulfilled. Those who fail will endure eternal deprivation.
In this world, man finds himself free. However, this freedom is not his by right; it is a test. Man must acknowledge the truth of the One God and surrender to Him—not by compulsion, but by his own choice. This voluntary surrender to the One God is, without doubt, the greatest sacrifice a person can make. Acknowledging the truth of the One God is an act of humility, not only before God but before others as well. Yet, it is this very virtue that will elevate man to the highest position and lead him to the very gates of Paradise.
The second critical requirement is to lead a principled life. Generally, a person’s character is shaped by emotions such as anger, revenge, jealousy, hatred, greed, selfishness, and dishonesty. These negative feelings often dominate one’s personality. However, a person must become disciplined in these matters. He should not shape his character based on external influences but rather by his own decisions rooted in higher principles to develop a divine character. To purify oneself from every negative emotion, one should develop a lofty, positive character. Only one who has developed a completely positive personality will be held deserving of living in the neighbourhood of God in Paradise.
