Rather, the gate runs the full length of the wall, curving round the outskirts of the settlement until it meets the next gate, so that nothing previously stated is contradicted. (And Allah knows best.)

Al-Qurṭubī has mentioned—and maintained—that Paradise possesses thirteen gates, yet he offered no decisive proof for this beyond his remark that what suggests the number exceeds eight is the ḥadīth of ʿUmar:

‘Whoever performs ablution and then says, “I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah …,”’

and at its end:

‘The eight gates of Paradise will be opened for him; he may enter through whichever of them he wishes.’

It was recorded by al-Tirmidhī and others (1).

He said: al-Ājurrī narrated in his book “al-Naṣīḥah,” from Abū Hurayrah, in a marfūʿ report:

‘In Paradise there is a gate called the Gate of Duḥā. A herald will call out: “Where are those who used to persevere in the Duḥā prayer? This is your gate, so enter through it!”’ (2)

He further said: al-Tirmidhī al-Ḥakīm (3) Abū ʿAbd Allah stated that among the gates of Paradise are the Gate of Muḥammad ﷺ—which is the Gate of Repentance—the Gate of Prayer, the Gate of Fasting, the Gate of Zakāh, the Gate of Charity, the Gate of Ḥajj, the Gate of ʿUmrah, the Gate of Jihād, and the Gate of Upholding Kinship Ties. Others added the Gate of Those Who Suppress Anger, the Gate of the Content, and the Right-Hand Gate through which those who will face no reckoning enter. Al-Qurṭubī also counted the gate whose width equals the distance a proficient rider covers in three days, as reported by al-Tirmidhī (4), making it a thirteenth gate—Allah knows best.

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafah said: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥusayn, from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, from Muʿādh ibn Jabal, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared:

‘The key to Paradise is the testimony that there is no god but Allah.’ (5)

In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī it is related that Wahb ibn Munabbih was asked, ‘Is not la ilaha illa Allah the key to Paradise?’ He replied, ‘Indeed—but if you bring a key with ridges it will open for you; otherwise it will not open for you.’ (6) In other words, together with tawḥīd (affirmation of divine oneness) there must be righteous deeds—performing acts of obedience and avoiding the forbidden. Allah knows best.

It was mentioned earlier in the ḥadīth of ʿAlī: ‘Those who feared their Lord will be herded to Paradise in groups; when they reach the first of its gates they will find near it a tree…,’ and he went on to relate the rest of the report (7).