LIVING IN GOD’S NEIGHBOURHOOD

Paradise, God’s neighbourhood, is like a universal garden where only those who have made God their supreme concern in the life of this world will find a place in the Hereafter.

Paradise is another name for eternal life in the neighbourhood of God (Quran, 66:11). In the world before death, man lives in the neighbourhood of God at the level of mind and feeling. After death, his living in the world of God will be a reality.

God, without doubt, is the source of all virtues. That is why man can find true peace only in the neighbourhood of God. Anything short of that cannot become a source of real peace for him.

The present world, in actual fact, is a selection ground for the right kind of people. Here, those people who, with respect to their virtues or character, are worthy of being lodged in the neighbourhood of God are being selected. Their thinking, activities, feelings, behaviour, and dealings must all meet the ethical criteria required to become God’s neighbour. Only people such as these will be selected for this honour. This selection will be based on the records of man’s deeds kept by the angels. The good fortune of finding a place in God’s neighbourhood in the eternal life of the Hereafter will be based totally on merit.

God’s neighbourhood is like a universal garden. In this universal garden, only those who find a place that measures up to the divine criterion will find it. Anything short of this will not be sufficient to guarantee a place in this universal garden.

Those selected for Paradise are the ones who have made God their supreme concern in the life of this world. Their thinking and feelings have all been devoted to God. Their mornings, as well as their evenings, have been filled with the remembrance of God. These are the fortunate souls who will be selected to live in the neighbourhood of God.