19 Examples of the Food in the Garden: - (Paradaise) -

Eat and drink with relish for what you did. (Surat al-Murselat: 31)
Dates:
There is a story about dates in the hadith:
Someone asked, "O Prophet! Are there datesin the Garden? Because Ilove
dates." And the Prophet replied: "Yes, there are dates… the dates of
the Garden have golden branches. They have golden shoots. They have
leavesas beautiful as the finestclothing anyone has ever seen. There
are golden bunches of dates.Even the stalks of these bunches of dates
are of gold. At the base of each golden date are sticky scales. They
have fruits like giant jars, softer than foam, sweeter thanhoney."
(Mukhtasar Tadhkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 315/522)
We notice here that every detail of the Garden is compared with the
most attractive things that we know and understand, and
thedescriptions of their appearances and delicious taste show what
blessings they are. For example, beneath the branches of the date
trees in the Garden, the leaves look like beautifulsilk fabric.
Another hadith tells about the size of the dates:
The branches of the date trees in the Gardenare green emerald. Their
shoots are reddishgold. Their leaves are clothing to be worn by the
People of the Garden. One part are undergarments, one part are lined
over-garments. The fruits of the date of the Garden are like great
jars and jugs. There are no seeds within them. (Mukhtasar Tadhkirah
al-Qurtubi, p. 314)
In the above hadith the dates are likened to jewels and it is said
that,by Allah's will, their appearance and their taste will be
perfect.
Figs:
According to one hadith,our Prophet said the following about figs:
If I had to mention a fruit that descended from the Garden I wouldsay
this is it… (Mukhtasar Tadhkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 313)
Figs are also mentioned in the Qur'an (Surat at-Tin: 1). Figs have one
of the highest mineral contents of all fruits and have a special place
as a food that is high in energy.
Watermelons:
In one of his hadith, our Prophet says the following about melons:
Benefit from the watermelon and respectit, because its juice is from
the Garden and its taste is from the Garden… the watermelon is [oneof
the fruits] of the Garden. (Mukhtasar Tadhkirah al- Qurtubi, p. 313)
Bananas:
In a verse in which the Garden is described, Allah speaks of bananas
in this way:
Amid thornless lote-treesand banana-trees [with fruits], one above
another and extended shade and water flowing constantly and abundant
fruit, neither intercepted nor forbidden. (Surat al- Waqi'a: 28-33)
With their aroma, delicious taste and numerous benefits, bananas are a
favourite fruit of many people. But, as with all other blessings, the
bananas inthe Garden are much more wonderful, delicious and aromatic
than in this world.
Meat:
Besides fruit, meat is also mentioned in the Qur'an and the hadith.
Inone verse of the Qur'an, Allah tells us that meat is a blessing of
the Garden:
We will supply them with any kind of fruit and meat that they desire.
(Surat at-Tur: 22)
The Messenger says the following about meat:
… The most delicious of the food accompanying the bread of the People
of the Garden is meat. Praise be to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.
[Tezkireti'l Kurtubi, s. 363/654]
In the Qur'an and the hadith, flesh of fowl is the kind of meat that
is particularly mentioned.
Bird meat is mentioned in verse 21 of Surat al-Waqi'aBird meat is
mentioned in verse 21 ofSurat al-Waqi'a "any bird meat they desire"as
wellas in hadith:
If on seeing a bird, one desires to eat its meat, it will be brought
immediately, tastily fried. (Buyuk Hadis Kulliyati (Great Ahadith
Collection), Cem'ul- Fevaid min Cami'il-usul and Mecma'iz-zevaid,
Imam Muhammad ibn Muhammad
ibn Sulayman ar-Rudani, vol. 5, p. 414/10123)
Among the kinds of meatmentioned in the Qur'an,quail has special
significance because it was the food with whichAllah miraculously fed
the Children of Isra'il in the desert.
One of the greatest delights in this world is human beauty. If a
person lives in a wonderful house, eats the finest food and goeson
holiday to the most wonderful places, the pleasure he takes from these
things will be limited if he is alone. All these only have meaningif
they are shared with others. Allah has breathed spirit into the human
being and he is of value because of his worship of Allah, obedience
and character. If perfect physical beauty accompanies these qualities,
the blessing becomes complete, and is something that everyone can
appreciate.
Here is a hadith in whichhuman beauty in the Garden is described:
The maidens of the Garden are like ruby and coral. One looks at one
maiden's face and sees himself even more clearly than he would ina
mirror, and the smallest jewel therein will illuminate the east and
the west. (Ahmad Diya ad-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, Ramuz al-Ahadith,
vol. 2, p. 337/7)
The Messenger of Allah compared the beauty of the maidens of the
Garden to rubies and beautiful natural things like coral. The beauty
of their smooth skin and the brightness of their faces are described
as being clearer than whena person looks at himselfin the mirror.
In this world, the firmness of the skin lasts a very short time. The
smooth beauty of young skin ages and becomes worn out and it gains
wrinkles from the problems associated with age. Therefore, such beauty
in this world is transient. However, Allah promises those slaves who
please Him perfect and endless beauty in the Garden. The Messenger of
Allah said that beauty and youth will continue in the Garden:
The inhabitants of the Garden will be hairless on their bodies,
beardless and blackeyed; their youth will not end, nor will their
clothes become old. (Narrated by Abu Hurayra, at-Tirmidhi)
The inmates of the Garden will be beardlessand hairless. Their colour
will be white andtheir eyes anointed withkohl. They will be youths of
thirty-three years of age. (Imam Ghazzali, Ihya Ulum ad-Din, vol. 4)
Whoever enters the Garden will be in bliss and suffer no distress; his
clothes will not wearout nor will his youth end. (Narrated by Abu
Hurayra, Sahih Muslim)
But as for those who have iman and do right actions, We will admit
them into Gardens with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them
timelessly, for ever and evet. Allah's promise is true. Whose speech
could be truer than Allah's? (Surat an-Nisa': 122)
He also says in the hadith that the eyes of the People of the
Gardenwill be dark as if lined with kohl. Kohl makes the colour and
shape of the eye stand out. In thisworld, people try to attain this
beauty by artificial means but it can never be perfect; in the
afterlife, it will be a natural attribute of believers.
We also notice that both Allah in the Qur'an and the Messenger in his
hadith speak about the sweet nature of women in the Garden. In another
verse of the Qur'an Allah tells us of the people in the Gardenand the
beauty of their environment and of the maidens there:
In them are sweet, lovelymaidens. (Surat ar- Rahman: 70)
In another hadith, the beauty of the people in the Garden is described thus:
… Each maiden has seventy sets of clothing, all of different colours.
Likewise, each is given seventy different scents... Each maiden has
seventy thousand female servants and seventy thousand male servants to
serve and attend to her needs. Each servant is accompanied by golden
trays with different foods, in which believerswill find new flavours
not found in the one before… (Mukhtasar Tadhkirah al- Qurtubi, p.
333/591)
In many hadith the Prophet described the beauty of the faces of the
People of the Gardenand even said that this beauty will increase:
In the Garden there isa market to which they will come every Friday.
The north wind will blow and will scatter fragrance on their faces and
on their clothes andadd to their goodness and beauty, and then they
will go back to their wives who will also have increased in goodness
and beauty, and their wives will say to them: "By Allah, you have
increased in goodness and beauty after leaving us," and they will say:
"By Allah, you have also increased in goodness and beauty after us."
(Narrated by Anas ibn Malik, Sahih Muslim)
Another hadith mentionsthe bright faces of the women in the Garden:
If one of the women of the Garden peeped into this world, she would
illuminate and fillwith fragrance everything between [heaven and
earth]. Her veil is better than the earth and everything in it. (Imam
Ghazzali, Ihya Ulum ad-Din, vol. 4; Sahih al-Bukhari)
When asked what the beauty described in the hadith was like, the
famous scholar, Bediuzzaman, answered:
Its meaning is truly beautiful and its beauty is most lovely. It is
like this: in this world, whichis ugly, inanimate, lifeless, and for
the mostpart just a husk, beauty and loveliness only appear beautiful
to the eye, and so long as familiarity is not an obstacle, that is
sufficient. Whereas in the Garden, which is beautiful, living,
brilliant, and entirely essence without husk and kernel without
shell,like the eye, all man's senses and subtle faculties will want to
receive their different pleasures and various delights from the houris
[maidens of the Garden],… and from the women of this world, who will
be like houris and even more beautiful… That is to say,just as the
houris are clothed in seventy of thevarieties of the adornments of the
Garden, and not just onesort, none of which conceal the others; so
they display beauty and loveliness perhaps seventy times greater than
their own bodies and beings, all of different sorts and varieties.
(Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Risale-i Nur Collection, The Words, The
Twenty-Eighth Word)