the hands of the friend of Allah. One of them will say, “O friend of Allah, I grazed in the meadows beneath the Throne and drank from the springs of al-Tasnīm; so eat of me.” It keeps boasting before him until he feels inclined to eat one of them; then the bird drops in front of him, displaying plumage of many colors, and he eats of it whatever he wishes. When he is sated, the bones of that bird reassemble and it flies off to pasture in Paradise wherever it pleases.

ʿUmar said, “O Messenger of Allah, that creature is truly blessed!” He replied, “The one who eats it will be even more blessed than it.” This is a solitary (gharīb) report from Abū al-Dardāʾ (may Allah be pleased with him), and Allah knows best.

Mention of the food of the people of Paradise, and of their eating and drinking therein—we ask Allah for His bounty.

Allah the Exalted says:
“Eat and drink with satisfaction for what you sent ahead in bygone days.” (al-Ḥāqqah 69:24)

He also says:
“They will not hear therein any idle talk, only ‘Peace,’ and they will have their provision therein morning and evening.” (Maryam 19:62)

He says:
“Its food is everlasting and so is its shade.” (al-Raʿd 13:35)

He says:
“and fruit of whatever they choose, (20) and the flesh of birds of whatever they desire.” (al-Wāqiʿah 56:20–21)

He says:
“Platters of gold and cups will be passed round them, and there will be therein whatever souls desire (1) and eyes delight in, and you will abide therein eternally.” (al-Zukhruf 43:71)

He says:
“Indeed, the righteous will drink from a cup whose mixture is camphor, (5) a spring from which the servants of Allah will drink, causing it to gush forth abundantly.” (al-Insān 76:5–6)

He says:
“And vessels of silver will be passed round them, and goblets that are [as] crystal, (15) crystal made of silver, exactly measured.” (al-Insān 76:15–16)

That is, they have the clarity of glass even though they are made of silver—something without equal in this world. They are apportioned exactly to suit the drink of the friend of Allah, neither more nor less; this points to honor and special care.

He, Exalted, also says:
“Whenever they are provided with a fruit there as provision, they will say, ‘This is what we were provided with before,’ yet it is only made to resemble it. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally.” (al-Baqarah 2:25)

Meaning: whenever the attendants bring them any fruit of Paradise or anything else, they imagine it to be what they were brought before because of its outward resemblance, though in reality it is different. Thus the forms are alike while the essences, tastes, and fragrances differ.

Imam Aḥmad said: Ḥasan narrated to us; Sukayn (2) ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to us; al-Ashʿath the blind narrated to us, from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, from Abū Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“The lowest-ranking inhabitant of Paradise will have seven levels; he will be on the sixth, with the seventh above him. He will have three hundred servants, and every morning and evening three hundred dishes will be set before him”—and I do not think he said anything except—“of gold. Each dish will contain a delicacy unlike that in any other, and he will enjoy the first just as he enjoys the last. And of beverages there will be three hundred goblets; each goblet will hold a drink unlike that in the next, and he will enjoy the first of it just as [he enjoys] the last.”