not like this worldly realm, whose fruits appear only in certain seasons, whose trees shed their leaves in one part of the year and lose their produce at another, clothing themselves with foliage at one time and standing bare at another. In Paradise, by contrast, the fruit and the shade are everlasting and unbroken, easy to reach and close at hand, as He says, “and never out of reach.” That is, they will never withhold themselves from anyone who desires them in whatever manner he wishes; no screen or barrier stands between. Whoever wants them will find them present, effortless, and near: even if a piece of fruit were high in the topmost branch, the believer would merely wish for it and it would bow down toward him so that he might take it, drawing itself humbly before him.

Abu Isḥāq reported from al-Barāʾ regarding the verse, “and their clusters will hang low” (76:14): “They will be brought so near that the believer may pick them while lying down.”

Allah the Exalted says: “Give glad tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they shall have Gardens beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a fruit therefrom, they will say, ‘This is what we were provided with before,’ and they will be given it in resemblance. And they shall have therein purified spouses, and there they shall abide forever.” (2:25)

He also says: “Indeed, the God-fearing shall be amid shade and springs (41) and fruits such as they desire (42). ‘Eat and drink in delight for what you used to do.’ (43) Thus do We recompense those who excel.” (77:41-44)

And He says: “They will call therein for every kind of fruit, secure.” (44:55)

Earlier we cited hadiths stating that the soil of Paradise is musk and saffron and that every tree there has a trunk of gold. If the soil is of that nature and the roots firmly set therein are of gold, what, then, of the delectable, ripe, elegant fruits that spring up between them—fruits containing no stone—and of which, in this world, we have nothing but the names? In this life the lote tree bears only the modest nabq fruit and is covered with thorns, while the talḥ tree is valued merely for its shade; yet in Paradise both will abound in fruits of surpassing quantity and beauty, so much so that a single fruit will split into seventy kinds of tastes and colors, each distinct from the other. What, then, should we expect of the fruits of those trees whose produce in this world is already delightful in taste, fragrant in smell, and easy to pick—apples, apricots, peaches, dates, grapes, and the like? And what of the various sweet-smelling herbs and blossoms? In short, it contains what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has never crossed the heart of any human being. We ask Allah for His grace.

In the two Ṣaḥīḥs, in the narration of Mālik from Zayd ibn Aslam, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the eclipse prayer, they said: “O Messenger of Allah, we saw you reach out for something while you were standing in your place, then we saw you recoil (1).” He said:

“I beheld—or I was shown—Paradise, and I reached out for a cluster of grapes from it; had I taken it, you would have eaten from it for as long as the world endured.” (2)

In the Musnad there is also the narration of ʿAbd Allah ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl, from Jābir, who said: “Indeed, Paradise was displayed before me…"