blessing from Allah. Among people without deen, difference in age
often leads to discord and lack of communication. People often form
groups of persons of the same age in order to feel more relaxed among
themselves. Of course, this ought not to apply to Muslims. No matter
what age they may be, Muslims should understand one another very well
and form friendships with people of any age, older or younger than
themselves. The fact thatMuslims in the Garden are created the same
age as one another is another wonderful blessing from Allah. The
Messenger of Allah said that the age of the people of the Garden will
never change throughout eternity:
Whoever of the People of the Garden die, whether while young or old,
will be turned into young people of thirty years of age in the Garden,
never growing older than that. And thus will be the inmates of the
Fire… (Narrated by Abu Sa'id, Sunan Ibn Majah; at-Tirmidhi)
Another verse of the Qur'an points out that in the Garden the
believers'wives will be the same age as them:
We have brought maidens into being and made them purest virgins,
devoted, passionate, of like age. (Surat al-Waqi'a: 35-37)
...They will have Gardens with rivers flowing under them, remaining in
them timelessly, for ever and ever. Allah is pleased with them and
they are pleased with Him. That is the Great Victory. (Surat
al-Ma'ida: 119)
Everything in the universe reflects Allah's infinite power and eternal
wisdom. He has created everything in this world as a test and events
in it ordinarily occur according to the laws of cause and effect that
human reason can grasp. So, when someone sees a fruit, he or she has
no doubt that it came from a seed that grew into a tree, bush orplant
which in turn yielded the fruit. According to the custom of Allah in
His creation, this is the cause of the fruit in this world. However,
it must be remembered that, if Allah wished, He could create the whole
universe independent ofcauses. Allah can create what He wants whenever
He wants without depending on any logical pattern and without the need
for any substance to create from. People should not be deceived by the
fact that in this world everything appears to depend on certain causes
and natural laws. As the Creator of all causes, Allah is completely
free of them. In the Garden creation will be freed from its need for
causes, and so afruit picked from a tree will immediately be replaced
by another, without any loss or decrease. Allah creates both causes
and effects. For example, when we look at the shade under a tree, we
know it is caused by the angle of the sun's rays. Light and shade are
effects of the sun, but Allah makes the sun the cause of light and
shade. This is revealed in the Qur'an:
Do you not see how your Lord stretches out shadows? If He had wished
He could have made them stationary. Then We appoint the sun to be the
pointer to them. Then We draw them back to Ourselves in gradual steps.
(Surat al-Furqan: 45-46)
It is as a result of the artistry of Allah that everything in this
world is created in a seeming cause-effect relationship. He can create
anything in a moment and in the form that He wants, or turn it into
any shape He desires. Allah created theuniverse from nothing, and, at
any time He desires He can dissolve the laws – the causes and effects
– that we struggle to grasp. In the Garden, faithful Muslims may ask
for anything they think will please them and, as soon as they ask for
it, they will have it, if Allah wills. Both they themselves and their
surroundings will be in the shape and form that they desire;
everything they desire will be granted and theywill live amid the
blessings that will give them the most delight and joy. This will not
be in order to supply any need, make up for a deficiency or repair a
flaw; it will be a wonderful blessing fromAllah simply for the delight
of the people of the Garden, and Allah knows best.
... You will have there all that your selves could wish for. You will
have there everything you demand.
(Surah Fussilat: 31)
Here is an example of this from the hadith:
A man asked the Prophet , "Messenger of Allah, are there any horses in
the Garden?" He replied: "If Allah makes you enter the Garden, if you
wish to ride in it on a horse made of red ruby that will fly you
wherever you wish you will do so." At this, another man asked,
"Messenger of Allah, are there any camels in the Garden?" but he did
not reply as he had to the first man. He said "If Allah makes you
enter the Garden you will find everything your self desires and that
is pleasing to your eye." (At-Tirmidhi; Al-Hafiz ibn ad-Dayba ash-
Shaybani, Taysir al-usul ila Jami al-usul, p. 431/14)
The everything your self desires and that is pleasing to your eye
mentioned in the hadith is not limited by this world's limitations or
our imaginations. In the Qur'an, Allah calls our attention to the
richness of His blessings: "… they will have there all that their
hearts desire and their eyes find delight in…" (Surat az-Zukhruf:
71)Other verses that tell us about this are the following:
… You will have there all that your selves could wish for. You will
have there everything you demand. (Surah Fussilat: 31)
… They will remain theretimelessly, for ever, among everything their
selves desire. (Surat al-Anbiya': 102)
There are many things we desire to do in this world but cannot do,
because of lack of time or because there is a riskinvolved. For
example, many people like dangerous sports such asdriving fast cars or
motorcycles, spending hours deep-sea diving orskiing on high
mountainslopes or sky-diving from great heights, but these are all
sports that put a person's life at risk.
Others want to play a musical instrument skilfully or wish they hada
special talent for painting. Besides talent, such things require
expertise and long periods of training. In the Garden, a person
canhave anything he wants and so he can even have the possibility to
do these things whenever he wants without any effort and without the
need for any talent, and Allah knows best.
Allah, exalted is He, in the Qur'an, and the Messenger of Allah tell
usthat everything the heart desires is possible if Allah wills.
Therefore, a person can enjoy unimaginable things in the next life
that are impossible to attain in this world. For example, it is not
possible in this world to fly on a horse but we are told in the hadith
that this is possible in the Garden. In one hadith the Messenger of
Allah says that people can fly if they want to:
If you are intended for the Garden and say "I would like to ride a
horse of red ruby," you will do so. If you say youwish to fly, you
will fly. (Ahmad Diya ad-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, Ramuz al- Ahadith,
vol. 1, p. 149/5)
In another hadith, the Prophet spoke about theabundance of the
blessings in the Garden:
The Messenger of Allah said that Allah, the Exalted and Glorious,
said: "I have prepared for My slaves which no eye has seen, no ear
hasheard and has never occurred to a human heart …" (Narrated by Abu
Hurayra, Sahih Muslim, vol. 4)
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