WHAT IS PARADISE?

Paradise is the name of the ideal world where man attains his complete fulfilment. Those pure souls will qualify for Paradise who, in their life in this world, come up to the standard of citizenship of Paradise in the Hereafter.

Paradise is the name of the ideal world, the desire for which is lodged in the hearts of all human beings. It is Paradise where the personality of man shall achieve fulfilment in the fullest sense. Man desires this Paradise with every fibre of his being, and Paradise awaits him in its entirety.

Paradise is a world where man attains his complete fulfilment, where he thinks the way he wants to think, where he sees what he desires to see, where he listens to the sounds that give pleasure to his ears in the real sense, where he touches those things which give him the highest degree of pleasure; where he has the company of those people who make his life highly meaningful, where the winds are life-giving zephyrs for him, where he eats such food as he eternally craved for and he sips such drinks as are only beautiful figments of his imagination today.

Those pure souls will qualify for Paradise who, in their life in this world, come up to the standard of citizenship of Paradise—a perfect world of eternal comfort and pleasure, a world which holds far greater meaning than this one. Perhaps it is this Divine Plan which Jesus Christ was referring to: “This is how you should pray: Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:9)

Which are the pure souls who will qualify for the citizenship of Paradise in the hereafter? Answering this, the Quran states:

“The hearts of the people of Paradise will be filled with the glory of God.” (39:75)

For one to be deserving of Paradise, one must discover the glory of God in the present world and acknowledge it from deep within one’s heart. Glorifying God means discovering God through thinking and reflection as the Lord of the Universe while He is unseen. This discovery must be intellectually so deep that it should bring about a revolutionary change in his personality. In this way, he becomes a divine (rabbani) person. (Quran, 3:79)

The society of Paradise will be a collection of the best individuals from the whole of human history. Every member of this society will possess the fine qualities of positive thinking, peaceful behaviour, sublime character, truthfulness, sincerity and amiable personality, idealist in thought and perfectionist in behaviour.

Those who have developed this kind of personality in the present world are competent members of such a society. Only those persons will find entry into Paradise who have qualified themselves in the present world, as mentioned in the Quran, thus: 

 “[In the Hereafter] man shall have only that for which he strives.” (53:39)

Paradise is not anyone’s birthright, nor will one receive entry into it through recommendation or wishful thinking. Only such a person who qualifies for it will find entry into Paradise. Entry into Paradise is totally a matter of selection, and this selection will be made by none other than God Almighty in the world Hereafter.