A BUD THAT WILL BLOOM IN HEAVEN
If you willingly surrender before the Truth, and respond positively in the face of trials and tribulations you prove yourself deserving of Paradise.
Quran says: ‘He will admit them into the Garden He has already made known to them.’ (47:6)
Elsewhere, it says about the people of Paradise: “Whenever they are given fruit to eat, they will say, ‘This is what we were provided with before,’ because they were given similar things.” (2:25)
A tradition of the Prophet of Islam relates that Heaven and Hell result from the actions of people returned to them. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2577)
From the above, we learn that entry into heaven begins in this very world itself. A heavenly person obtains his heaven in this world itself. It is as if a replica of heaven exists in this world and that only he will enter Heaven in the Hereafter who had attained this replica of Heaven while living in this world. This worldly replica of heaven is, as it were, a cash award granted to someone before the real reward, as a preliminary indication or symbol of the heavenly reward after death.
Who are these heavenly people? They are those who experience the psychological states that make them eligible for heaven in the Hereafter. In the words of the Quran, “True believers are those whose hearts tremble with awe at the mention of God, and whose faith grows stronger as they listen to His revelations.” (The Quran, 8:2)
They are acutely aware of being accountable to God. Expelling all feelings of envy, malice and revenge from their hearts, they experience divine forgiveness. In their tears of repentance, they have seen the mercy of a beneficent Master who forgives His servants for their mistakes. They forgive others so their Lord will forgive them. They willingly surrender themselves before the Truth.
People of Paradise are like flowers of the garden of heaven. In this world, they are, as it were, buds that will bloom in heaven in the world to come. Everyone’s Heaven and Hell is hidden in the different types of conditions one faces in life. In the face of such situations, if you react negatively, you prove yourself eligible for eternal deprivation. If you respond positively, you establish yourself as qualified for Heaven.
