In the following sections, we will analyze how the Qur'an looks at
Paradise and, based upon these descriptions,"try to imagine this
perfect place. But before we do this, let'slook at a few important
points. In today's societies,many people have erroneous ideas and
impressions in their conscious and subconscious minds. As such
obstacles cause them to formulate a mistaken view, we must describe
some basic Islamic concepts whose meanings have departed from their
original understanding.
With this in mind, we first have to distinguish between "blessing"
and"dissipation."
In the following pages, wewill see that the Qur'an describes Paradise
as an extremely luxurious and magnificent place, and that life therein
is as comfortable and attractiveas it can be.
However, to many people today, such a life is not so much "Islamic" as
it is a natural outcome of being alienated from Allah and religious
moral teaching.
So, because of this erroneous understanding that dominates society,
very many people think that a comfortable, luxurious, and ostentatious
life, and all that goes along with it, are "un-Islamic." They see such
things as expensive clothes, rich food, entertainment, dinner parties,
magnificently appointed houses, d�cor, and valuable art works as
belonging to ignorant people cut off from their religion. They usually
call alife filled with these things"dissolute," and criticize those
who give this society its name as "living undisciplined lives of
dissolution." The word"dissolution" (safahat) comes from the Arabic
safih, and can be translated as "a lack of discipline, overindulgence,
a weakness of mind that comes from living an irresponsible life of
wealthand comfort."
Here, we encounter a falseunderstanding that must be corrected. The
life of Paradise that Allah has been pleased to choose forHis
servants, as well as a life that contains every kind of luxury,
comfort, and ostentation, is also the most beautiful and noble way of
life, one that conforms as closely as possible to religious
moralteaching.
A false definition of dissolution opens the way to misunderstanding.
Dissolution, or rebellion against Allah through a lack of discipline
and overindulgence, is a condition of the human mind. People are not
dissolute because of their clothes, ostentatious houses, aesthetic
environments, or material wealth. Rather, the problem is in their
minds.
The natural result of this situation is this: If people have a
Qur'anic morality and a strong faith, they can live among the richest
opulence imaginable without ever becoming dissolute. On the contrary,
because they view everything they encounteraccording to the Qur'anic
criteria and moral teaching, they see all of the beauty surrounding
them as a blessing. In other words, they realize that all of these
things are gifts from Allah. So, if Muslims know that Allah has given
all of the surrounding riches, beauty, opulence, and magnificence,
naturally they thank our Lord for what He has provided. This is, after
all, why all blessings have been created.
If we applied this general way of thinking to our present society, we
would have to say that those who live a dissolute life and turn away
from Allah's commands have gone astray, because they do not see that
all of their possibilities are blessings from Him. If they saw these
things as blessings, this understanding would lead them to give thanks
to Allah. And then, they would use these blessings as Allah intended
them to be used: avoiding waste and using them in a way pleasing to
Him.
So, wealth can be defined in two ways. Some rich people are believers
who consider all of their possessions to be blessings from Allah,
whileother rich people go astray by considering all oftheir
possessions as their own, forget Allah, and fall into dissolution.
However, the model that Allah has proposed for all of His servants is
wealth, as mentioned in the first model above. Wealth and poverty are
tests for believers. Although some believers may be tested bypoverty,
Allah commands:"We desired to show kindness to those who were
oppressed in the land, and to make them leaders and inheritors" (Surat
al-Qasas, 5). This might happen in the world, but it certainly will
happen in the afterlife.
Therefore, it would be very wrong for Muslims to find fault with
grand, luxurious, and opulent lives. Muslims must not shun such people
and regard them with disdain, because, after all, all material things
in this life (e.g., fine clothes, deliciousfood, magnificent homes and
works of art) were created for Muslims, as we read in Surat al-A'raf,
32:
Say: :->
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