to a shaded garden, filled with every bloom of spring (1). In the very middle of that garden stood an exceedingly tall man—his head was almost lost to sight in the sky—and around him were more children than I had ever seen. I asked, “What is this, and who are these?” They replied, “Move on, move on,” so we moved on until we reached a tremendous tree, the greatest and most beautiful I have ever beheld.
They said, “Climb it,” so we climbed until we came to a city built of bricks (2) of gold and bricks of silver. We reached the gate of the city, asked that it be opened, and it was opened for us; we entered. There we were met by men, half of whose appearance was as handsome as you could imagine, while the other half was as hideous as you could imagine. They were told, “Go and immerse yourselves in that river.” It was a river flowing across the city, its water pure and dazzlingly white. They went and plunged into it; when they returned to us the ugliness had left them and they were in the finest form.
They said to me, “This is the Garden of Eternity (Jannat ʿAdn) (3), and that is your dwelling-place.” My eyes rose upward and I saw a palace like a white, towering cloud. They said, “That is your home.” I said, “May Allah bless you both; allow me to enter it.” They replied, “Not now, but you shall enter it.”
I said, “I have witnessed amazing things tonight—what is it that I have seen?” They answered, “We will now tell you.
• The first man you saw whose head was being smashed with a stone is one who receives the Qur’an and then casts it aside and who sleeps through the prescribed prayer.
• The man whose mouth, nostril, and eye were being torn back to the nape of his neck is the one who leaves his house in the morning and tells a lie that spreads to the horizons (4).
• The naked men and women you saw in something like a furnace are the adulterers, both men and women.
• The man you saw swimming in the river and being force-fed stones is the one who consumes usury (ribā).
• The repulsive man by the fire, constantly feeding it and walking around it, is Mālik, the keeper of Hell.
• And the tall man in the garden is Abraham, peace be upon him.