Abu Musa [al-Ashʿari] relates—on the authority of his father—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Indeed, for the believer in Paradise there is a pavilion fashioned from a single hollow pearl whose height is sixty miles. Inside it the believer will have families; he will go around to visit them, yet none of them will see the others.”
In another version recorded by al-Bukhari the distance is given as “thirty miles,” but the sounder wording is “sixty miles.” (1)
Abu Bakr ibn Abi al-Dunya said: Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar (2) narrated to us, Mansur narrated to us, Yusuf ibn al-Sabbah narrated to us, from Abu Salih, from Ibn ʿAbbas, regarding the verse,
“Hooris, secluded in pavilions” (al-Rahman 55:72).
He said: “The pavilion is a hollow pearl, a farsakh (approximately three miles) in height and a farsakh in width. It has one thousand doors of gold, and around it is an outer enclosure whose circuit is fifty farsakhs. Through every door an angel enters bearing a gift from his Lord—exalted is He. This is the meaning of His words:
‘And the angels will enter upon them from every gate’ (al-Raʿd 13:23).” (3)
Ibn al-Mubarak said: Hammam narrated to us, [from Qatadah], from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: “The pavilion is a hollow pearl, a farsakh by a farsakh, and it has four thousand door-leaves of gold.” (4)
Qatadah narrated from Khulayḍ al-ʿAsri, from Abu al-Dardaʾ, that he said: “The pavilion is a single pearl with seventy doors, all of them of lustrous pearl.” (5)
[Mention of the Soil of Paradise]
It is authentically established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, through al-Zuhri, from Anas ibn Malik, from Abu Dharr—in the account of the Miʿraj—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“I was admitted into Paradise, and there were lofty domes of pearl, and its soil was pure musk.” (7)
Imam Ahmad said: Rawh narrated to us, Hammad narrated to us, al-Jurayri narrated to us, from Abu Nadrah, from Abu Saʿid, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked Ibn Saʿid about the soil of Paradise. He replied, “Fine, white, pure musk,” whereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “He has spoken the truth.” This is how Imam Ahmad reported it. Muslim likewise transmitted it, through the route of Abu Salamah from Abu Nadrah, with a similar wording, and Muslim also narrated it through another chain