like the sharpened tips of cattle-horns,(1) after which Allah will permit them to raise their heads. Allah will then cast the Ṣirāṭ across the breadth of Hell: as fine as a strand of hair—or as a hair-plait—and as keen as the edge of a sword. Upon it are hooks, grappling-irons, and thorns like the thorns of the sa‘dān shrub, while before it there is a slippery, treacherous footbridge. People will cross it as swiftly as the blink of an eye, the flash of lightning, the sweep of the wind, the speed of racing horses, the fleetest of mounts, or the strongest of men. One will come through safe and sound, another safe but scratched, and yet another will be flung headlong on his face into Hell.(2)

When the people of Paradise reach its precincts they will still be held back outside it. They will say, “Who will intercede for us with our Lord so that we may enter Paradise?” and they will add, “Who is more entitled to that than your father Adam, whom Allah created with His own Hand, into whom He breathed of His spirit, and whom He addressed directly?” So they will go to Adam and ask him. He will recall a sin and say, “I am not fit for that; rather, you should go to Noah, for he was the first of Allah’s messengers.” They will go to Noah and request the same, but he will remember a sin and say, “I am not fit; go to Abraham.” They will go to Abraham and ask him, but he will recall a sin and say, “I am not your man; go to Moses.” They will go to Moses, who will remember a sin and say, “I am not fit; go to the Spirit of Allah and His Word, Jesus son of Mary.” They will go to Jesus and ask him, and he will say, “I am not fit; go to Muhammad ﷺ.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “They will come to me, and with my Lord I shall have three intercessions He has promised me. I will proceed to the gate of Paradise, take hold of its ring, and ask for it to be opened. It will be opened for me; I will be greeted and welcomed. When I enter Paradise and behold my Lord—exalted is He—I will fall to the ground in prostration. Allah will then grant me words of praise and glorification such as He has granted no one else among His creation. Then He will say, ‘Raise your head, O Muhammad; intercede and your intercession will be accepted; ask and you will be given.’ When I raise my head, He—although He knows best—will ask, ‘What is your desire?’ I will say, ‘My Lord, You promised me intercession; allow me to intercede for the people of Paradise that they may enter it.’ Allah—exalted is He—will reply, ‘I have granted your intercession and permitted them to enter Paradise.’

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would then say, ‘By Him Who sent me with the truth, you in this world are not more familiar with your wives and your dwellings than the people of Paradise will be with theirs. Each man will enter upon seventy-two wives: seventy whom Allah creates anew and two human women from the daughters of Adam, who are superior to the others because they worshipped Allah in the world. He will enter upon the first of them in a chamber of ruby, upon a couch of gold adorned with pearls and covered with seventy layers of fine and thick silk. He will place his hand between her shoulders and will see it through the front of her chest, beneath her clothes, her skin, and her flesh. He will look upon the marrow of her shin-bone as one of you looks at a thread inside a hollow ruby. His liver will be a mirror for her and her liver a mirror for him. While he is with her neither he nor she will grow tired; every time he approaches her he will find her a virgin—his potency never wanes, her opening never complains—yet there is no semen and no fatigue. While he is in that state a caller will announce: ‘We know that you will neither weary nor be wearied, but you have other wives as well.’ He will then go out and visit them one by one; each time he comes…"