pomegranates. Whenever a friend of Allah wishes for clothing, it descends to him from one of its branches, splits open, and produces seventy suits—one color after another—then folds back and returns to its original state.

Al-Thawrī has already transmitted—through Ḥammād, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr—on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās that he said:

“The palm-trees of Paradise: their trunks are of green emerald, their frond-stalks of red gold, and their leaves are garments for the people of Paradise; from them are cut both their individual pieces and their full suits.”

The Description of the Bedding of the People of Paradise

Allah, Exalted be He, says:
“Reclining on couches whose linings are of brocade, and the fruit of the two gardens hangs low (54). So which of your Lord’s favors will you both deny? (55)” (Sūrah al-Raḥmān, 54-55).

Ibn Masʿūd remarked, “If the linings are of brocade, what do you imagine the outward surfaces must be like!”

And He, Exalted be He, says:
“and raised couches” (Sūrah al-Wāqiʿah, 34).

Imām Aḥmad and al-Tirmidhī have narrated—from Darrāj, by way of Abū al-Haytham, from Abū Saʿīd—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said concerning the words “and raised couches”:

“By Him in Whose hand is my soul, their height is like the distance between heaven and earth, and the distance between heaven and earth is a journey of five hundred years.”

Al-Tirmidhī then commented, “It is gharīb; we know it only through the report of Rishdīn,” meaning from ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith, from Darrāj.

I say: Ḥarmlah also related it from Ibn Wahb.

Al-Tirmidhī further said, “Some of the scholars have explained this ḥadith to mean that the couches are in different degrees, and that the gap between one degree and the next is like that between heaven and earth.”

I say: Supporting this is the report narrated by ʿAbdullāh ibn Wahb, from ʿAmr, from Darrāj, from Abū al-Haytham, from Abū Saʿīd, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said with respect to Allah’s words “and raised couches”:

“The space between any two couches is like that between heaven and earth.” This is nearer to being the preserved wording ⦗1⦘.

Hammād ibn Salamah also reported—from ʿAlī ibn Zayd, from Muṭarrif ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Shikhkhīr, from Kaʿb al-Aḥbār—regarding the verse “and raised couches”: “Their extent is a journey of forty years,” meaning that couches are present and prepared in every place and station, ready should there be need of them.

Allah, Exalted be He, says:
“Therein is a flowing spring (12); therein are raised thrones (13); goblets set in place (14); cushions arrayed (15); and carpets spread about (16)” (Sūrah al-Ghāshiyah, 12-16).

The namāriq—that is, the cushions—are arranged in every spot that suits them, in case someone should need them there; likewise the zarābiyy—splendid, luxurious carpets—are spread here and there throughout the pleasure-gardens of Paradise, as He, the Exalted, says: