A Bud That Will
Bloom in Heaven
A true believer is a flower of the garden of Heaven. In this world, he is, as it were, a bud that will burst into bloom in Heaven in the world to come.
The Quran says: “He will admit them into the Garden He has already made known to them.” (47:6)
Elsewhere, it says about the people of Paradise: “Whenever they are given fruit to eat, they will say, ‘This is what we were provided with before,’ because they were given similar things. And there will be pure spouses for them, and they will abide there forever.” (2:25)
A Hadith relates that Heaven and Hell result from people’s actions returned to them. (Hilyat al Auliya’, Vol 5, p. 125)
From the above, we learn that entry into Heaven begins in this very world itself. A heavenly person obtains his Heaven in this world itself. It is as if a replica of Heaven exists in this world, and only he will enter Heaven in the Hereafter who have attained this replica of Heaven while in this world. This worldly replica of Heaven is, as it were, a cash award granted to someone before the real reward, as a preliminary indication or symbol of the heavenly reward after death.
Who are these heavenly people? In this world, they are those who experience the psychological states that make them eligible for Heaven in the Hereafter. Their hearts have been shattered into bits in the awareness of being in God’s proximity and in the awareness that God is inspecting all their deeds. Expelling all feelings of envy, malice, and revenge from their hearts, they have experienced divine forgiveness. They have seen the mercy of a beneficent Master who forgives His servants who acknowledge their mistakes in their tears of repentance. They release people under their control so their Lord can set them free on that day when they will be in an infinitely more helpless condition. They willingly surrender themselves before the Truth in the same way others will fall flat on seeing God on the Day of Judgment.
A true believer is a flower of the garden of Heaven. In this world, he is, as it were, a bud that will burst into bloom in Heaven in the world to come. He faces various trials and tribulations in this world, just as others will experience the same in the Hereafter. The different conditions one faces in life are hidden in the form of Heaven and Hell. In the face of such conditions, if you react devilishly, you prove yourself eligible for Hell. If you respond in an angelic manner, you prove yourself eligible for Heaven.
