The people who will inherit paradise are the souls who have discovered God, and whose greatest concern is the Almighty. They worship only one God and devote their lives to improving their intellectual and spiritual abilities to a high degree. They have shunned the life of falsehood and adhered steadfastly to the way of truth, staying away from hypocrisy and remaining resolutely on the path of sincerity. They have adopted the path of honesty throughout their lives, and have on their own imposed the divine discipline upon their words and deeds. They reserve their feelings of love and fear exclusively for God. Their life and death are for truth. They do not live their lives for anything less than the higher cause. Their activities are ‘hereafter’-oriented rather than world-oriented. They succeed in steering clear of all negative feelings such as hatred, jealousy, prejudice, selfishness, and other such shallow thinking, and raise themselves to the highest moral level. They associate themselves with people for the sake of truth and distance themselves likewise for the sake of truth. They give and take for God alone. Their lips open for the truth alone. They follow the way of forgiveness and not of revenge in this world and do not embroil themselves in the attractions of the world, but fix their gaze on the Hereafter in all situations.
A paradisiacal person, that is, one fit to inhabit paradise, is such an ardent seeker of paradise that he begins to feel as if he is living in paradise while remaining physically in this world. If he has found paradise in terms of such a feeling, in the next world he will physically become a resident of paradise.
God’s angels will welcome those men and women, who reach the Hereafter with all the above qualities. The angels will come forward and say: “Congratulations, O Blessed Souls! Enter God’s heaven by divine decree. Here, there is no death and no parting from this joyous world. The eternal life has been given to you for all eternity.” The Qur’an says:
O Soul at peace! Come to your Lord well pleased, and He will also be well pleased with you. So enter among My chosen servants. And enter My Garden. (89:27-30)
Source: The Road to Paradise
