How to Understand Paradise

Once, I met a man, who excitedly told me that he had received a promotion. “I’ll get a higher salary now! I’ll be able to live in a bigger house! I’ll be given a bigger car now! Earlier, I was given a rail-pass, to travel by train. Now, I’ll get tickets to travel by air!” he exclaimed.

Hearing this man, I thought to myself, “This is just what’s going to happen in the Hereafter. Heaven can be described in the terminology of this world. Entry into Heaven is like receiving a promotion. People whose record in this imperfect world is good will be promoted and admitted into the perfect world of the Hereafter—that is, Heaven.”

This situation demands that we live in this world with great caution and alertness. We should gauge everything from the point of view of whether it will help or hinder us in gaining admission into Paradise. If your mind becomes alert in this way, you will become your own inspector. You will continuously guard and inspect your thoughts, your words, your behaviour—your every action. You will act in line with this advice of the Caliph Umar: “Weigh your actions before they are weighed.”