The People of Paradise

According to a tradition of Prophet Muhammad in Sahih al-Bukhari, “The people of Hell will be mostly the arrogant and the people of Paradise will be from the weak.”

There is a long tradition recorded by Sahih Al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, from which we learn that: “The people of Hell will be mostly the arrogant and the people of Paradise will be from the weak.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No.4850)

What has been said in the Hadith, is not something mysterious, but explains certain experiences in human history. It is a fact that God created many strong personalities, that is, such people as had great capabilities in both mind and physical prowess. Due to the exigencies of their being tested, they were, in addition, given full freedom. Lamentably, they misused their freedom and became arrogant and insolent. They, thus, became deserving of Hell. On the contrary, there were others who were born with weak personalities. They, too, had full freedom due to the exigencies of their being tested. But due to their weakness, they remained modest and to compensate for their weakness, they remembered God more and more.

This was because, practically, there was no other choice for them. In this way, due to their weakness, such qualities developed in them as enabled them to gain entry into Paradise. However, in this, exceptions were also possible. For instance, although Umar Farooq was born with a strong personality, his faith made him an extremely modest person. Moreover, it is possible that some may be extremely weak physically, but as to their minds, God may make them strong personalities to the ultimate extent, so that in spite of having weak personalities, attainment of high realization may be possible for them.