TWO CATEGORIES OF PARADISE

Those who have made God their supreme concern, live in the presence of God at a psychological level. Then their thinking becomes God-oriented in the full sense.

The Quran says of the people of Paradise that they will find themselves “in the seat of truth with an all-powerful sovereign.” (54:55)

This verse and other verses from the Quran indicate that there are two categories of Paradise. One Paradise is near and the other Paradise is far away. The Paradise which is close at hand will be in the neighbourhood of God and it is here that those people will be lodged who have attained a high level of realization. The Paradise which is far away is that which is distant from the neighbourhood of God. The people of Paradise who are of a general category will find a place in this latter Paradise. That is, the true believers of the general category will find a place in the far off Paradise and not in the nearby Paradise.

The Quran has this to say about people who have attained God realization: “those who believe love God most.” (2:165) These realised souls have discovered God as the most superior Being, and acknowledge Him as such in the innermost recesses of their hearts and minds.

They have truly dedicated themselves to God and God has become their supreme concern. Their thinking has become God-oriented in the full sense.

Those who develop this kind of relationship with God begin to live in the presence of God, that is, they begin to live in the vicinity of God in this world itself, apprehending such proximity at a psychological level. In the hereafter they will have the same experience but as a material reality. If they have been experiencing closeness to God in the life of this world itself, in the hereafter they will be blessed with a far greater degree of closeness to Him.