Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated—through Abu Usamah (1), al-Jurayri, and Abu Nadrah—from Abu Saʿid that Ibn Ṣāʾid asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the soil of Paradise. He replied:
“A brilliant white darmakah; it is pure musk.” (2)
Imam Ahmad said: ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; Sufyan narrated to us, from Mujālid, from al-Shaʿbi, from Jabir ibn ʿAbd Allah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to the Jews,
“I am going to ask them about the soil of Paradise—it is a brilliant white darmakah.” He asked them, and they said, “It is bread, O Abul-Qasim.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied,
“Bread is made from darmak.” (3)
It has already been mentioned in the reports of Abu Hurayrah, Ibn ʿUmar, and others on the construction of Paradise that its mortar is musk, its pebbles pearl and ruby, and its soil saffron. (4)
In linguistic usage, milāṭ denotes the clay placed between two stones, between the smooth faces (5) of the masonry— the fine mortar with which a wall is plastered. Perhaps some parts of it are musk and others saffron, in alternating tracts. Despite all this grandeur and vastness, [it is all so fashioned, and Allah, exalted is He, knows best].
[And] it has previously been cited in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhari, on the authority of Anas, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“A bow-length of one of you, or even the space his foot occupies [in Paradise], is better than the whole world and all it contains.” (6)
Ahmad said: ʿAbd al-Razzaq narrated to us; Maʿmar narrated to us; Hammam narrated to us, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“A mere strap’s length of one of your whips in Paradise is better than everything between heaven and earth.” Its chain of transmission meets the criteria of the two Shaykhs. (7)
Ibn Wahb said: ʿAmr ibn al-Harith narrated to us that Sulayman ibn Humayd told him that ʿAmir ibn Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas—Sulayman said, “I know of no one except that he”—narrated to me, from his father, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said:
“If even what is borne by a fingernail from Paradise were to be disclosed to the world, everything between heaven and earth would be adorned by it.” (8)