The joys which God’s true servants will experience in Paradise will be a materialization of the joys they experienced in their worship in the world. In this world God does not come out into the open; the joy that comes from realization of His existence and faith in Him is, accordingly, an abstract one. But in the next world God will manifest Himself in all His glory; the joy that will come from beholding Him will become apparent for all to see.
It is this realization that is the true aim of the Islamic life. All the actions of Islam are just a means towards conscious discovery of God; they are only ways of establishing contact with the Creator. There is more to our relationship with God than us performing some good deeds and God in heaven being pleased with us in return. It is not a superficial and hypothetical relationship of this nature; it is a deep and direct one. The actions of God’s servant are, in their outward form, obedience to His commandments; but in reality they are a means of conveyance to a place of communion with the Lord. There, one calls upon Him in secret; one implores and beseeches Him for help; one attaches oneself to Him with arduous devotion; one really feels as if one has cast oneself at God’s feet. Discovery of God in this manner is the supreme reality of religion, and all its commandments and injunctions are aimed at achieving this discovery. Whoever discovers God in this world will discover Him in the next world also; but whoever fails to discover God in this world will also fail to discover Him in the next world.
This wealth is God’s provision to His believing servants (Quran, 20:131). Outwardly, one’s fulfillment of God’s commandments is in one’s own power; one can do so or not as one feels inclined. But the inner states that one experiences when doing the will of God are not in one’s own power; one cannot create them. Where, then, do they come from? They are the provision of God without which one’s believing personality cannot survive. When the Prophet Zakaria saw this provision in the person of Virgin Mary, enabling her to know God and do His will, he exclaimed: “Where is this from?” “It is from God,” she answered (Quran, 3:37).
One’s actions are the result of one’s own effort, and these states are God’s reward for good deeds. God does not keep His supreme blessings in reserve; he grants them to us here and now. They descend upon us as soon as we show ourselves to be worthy of them. The sublime spiritual experiences which one feels when God accepts some action are an introduction to the heaven that God has promised those who believe in Him, and do good deeds. They are a fragrance of the garden of paradise which one scents in this world.
Though they cause one to tremble, they are the greatest joy that one can feel. No worldly enjoyment can be compared to them. This in itself is intuitive proof of the fact that these states are a reflection of that supreme divine gift known as paradise. That is why the Quran says that the paradise which believers will enter in the next world will be for them a “known provision” (Quran, 37:41). It will not be strange to them; it will be something familiar with which they had become acquainted in the world. “God will admit them to the paradise He has made known to them,” or, as the Prophet put it: “The people of paradise will know their dwellings even better than anyone of you knows his dwelling in the world.”
More engrossed in the Quran than anything else
Whenever Umar sent officials on their duties, he would make them promise that they would not ride on horseback, would not eat white bread, would not wear fine clothes, and would not close their door to the needy. If they disputed any of these points, they were liable to be punished. When he had taken this promise, he would despatch them. He would say to any official he was relieving of his duties: “I did not authorize you to take Muslims’ blood; nor did I give you license to persecute them, attack their honour and appropriate their property. I appointed you to establish prayer and distribute wealth and revenues among them. You were sent to do justice.” Umar also used to tell his officials to remain engrossed in the Quran as much as possible, and be sparing in relating traditions of the Prophet (in case a statement should be attributed to the Prophet which he had not made). “And I am with you,” he would assure them.
