Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (17/514)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

they will say to them, “Your Lord—Exalted is He—sends you His greeting of peace and invites you to visit Him, that He may look upon you and you may look upon Him; that you may salute Him and He will salute you; that He may speak to you and you will speak to Him; and that He may grant you yet more of His bounty. Truly He is Possessor of boundless mercy and immense favor.”

Each man will then mount his beast, and they will set out in a single, perfectly ordered rank: nothing in that line moves ahead of anything else, not even the ear of one she-camel outstripping the ear of the one beside her. They will not pass a single tree of Paradise without the tree offering them its fruit and stepping aside from their path, loath to break their formation or separate a man from his companion.

When they are brought before the All-Compelling, sublime is He, He will unveil His Noble Countenance to them and disclose Himself in His mighty majesty. He will greet them with peace, and they will answer, “Our Lord, You are Peace and from You is peace; to You belong majesty and honor.” Their Lord—Exalted is He—will reply, “I am Peace and from Me is peace; to Me belong majesty and honor. Welcome, My servants who kept My injunctions, observed My right, feared Me in the unseen, and were ever apprehensive of Me in every state.”

They will say, “By Your might, Your majesty, and the loftiness of Your station, we have not given You Your full due, nor have we rendered to You all that is Your right. Grant us permission to prostrate before You.”

He will say, “I have lifted from you the burden of worship and granted rest to your bodies—for how long you wearied your limbs for My sake and tired your faces for Me! Now you have arrived at My relief, My mercy, My honor. So ask of Me whatever you wish and make of Me the loftiest of your aspirations. Today I shall not recompense you according to the measure of your deeds, but according to the measure of My mercy, My grace, My honor, and My beneficence [the loftiness of My station and the greatness of My majesty].”

They will go on asking and wishing, receiving gifts and bestowals, until even the one who was modest in his hopes will wish for the like of the whole world from the day Allah created it until the day He causes it to pass away. Their Lord will then say, “You have fallen short in your aspirations and settled for less than what is due to you. I have therefore guaranteed for you all that you wished for and asked, joined to you your offspring, and increased you many times over what your aspirations failed to reach.”

This report is mursal,¹ weak and exceedingly odd, and it contains wording that is objectionable. At best it should be deemed the speech of one of the Successors or of some of the early predecessors; one of its transmitters became confused and treated it as a Prophetic hadith, whereas it is not so—Allah knows best.

[Who will be the first to enter Paradise]

It will be the Messenger of Allah ﷺ before all the prophets, and then his community before all other communities. This is established in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim—in the hadith narrated by al-Mukhtār ibn Fulful—from Anas, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I will be the first to knock at the gate of Paradise.”²

Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim also records from him that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I will come to the gate of Paradise and ask for it to be opened. The keeper will say, ‘Who are you?’ I will reply, ‘Muhammad.’ He will say, ‘I have been commanded not to open it for anyone before you.’”³

(1) Narrated by Ibn Abi al-Dunya in Sifat al-Jannah (p. 54) and by Abu Nu‘aym in Hilyat al-Awliya’, under “Sifat al-Jannah” (p. 411). (2) Muslim, no. 196 (331). (3) Muslim, no. 197 (333).

قالوا لهم: إنّ ربَّكم – Exalté soit-Il – يُقْرِئُكم السَّلام، ويَسْتَزيركم لِيَنْظُرَ إليكم وتَنْظُرُوا إليْهِ، وتُحيُّونهُ ويُحَيِّيكم، ويُكَلّمَكُمْ وتُكَلّمُونهُ، ويَزيدكم منْ فَضْلهِ، إنّهُ ذُو رَحْمةٍ وَاسعَةٍ، وفَضْلٍ عَظيم. فيَتَحَوَّلُ كلُّ رجُلٍ منْهُمْ على رَاحِلِتهِ، ثمَّ انْطَلَقُوا صفًا وَاحدًا مُعْتَدلًا، لا يَفُوت منْهُ شيءٌ شَيئًا، ولا يفُوتُ أذُنُ ناقةٍ [أُذُنَ] صَاحِبَتِها، ولا يَمُرُّونَ بِشَجَرَةٍ منْ أشْجَارِ الجنّةِ إلّا أتْحَفَتْهُمْ من ثمرها، ورحلَتْ لهمْ عنْ طَرِيقِهمْ كَرَاهيَةَ أنْ تَثلَم صَفَّهُمْ، أوْ تفرِّقَ بَيْنَ الرَّجُلِ وَرَفِيقهِ، فلمَّا رُفعُوا إلى الجبَّارِ تعالى، أسفر لهم عن وجْهِهِ الكريمِ، وتجلَّى لهم في عَظَمَتِهِ العظيمُ، فحيَّاهم بالسلام فقالوا: رَبّنا أنتَ السَّلامُ، ومِنْكَ السَّلامُ، ولكَ حقُّ الجلالِ وَالإكرامِ، فقال لهم ربُّهمْ – Exalté soit-Il – : إنِّي أنا السَّلامُ، ومِنِّي السَّلامُ، ولي حقُّ الجلالِ والإكرامِ، مَرْحبًا بِعِبادي الَّذين حَفِظُوا وَصِيتي، ورعَوْا حَقّي، وخَافُوني بالْغَيْبِ، وكانوا منِّي على كل حَالٍ مُشْفِقين، قالوا: وعِزَّتِكَ وجَلالِك وَعُلُوِّ مَكانِكَ ما قدَرْنَاكَ حَقَّ قَدْرِكَ، وما أدَّيْنا إليْكَ كلَّ حَقّكَ، فأْذَنْ لنا بالسُّجُودِ لك، فقال لهم ربُّهُمْ: إنِّي قد وَضَعْتُ عنْكم مُؤْنَةَ العِبَادَةِ، وأرَحْتُ لكم أبْدَانَكم، فطَالَما أنصبتم لي الأبْدَانَ، وأَعْنَيْتُم لي الوُجُوه، فالآن أفَضيْتُمْ إلى رَوْحِي وَرحْمَتي وكَرامَتي، فَسَلُوني ما شِئْتُمْ، وتَمَنَّوْا عليّ أعظمَ أمَانِيِّكم، فإني لَنْ أجْزِيَكم اليوْمَ بقَدْرِ أعمالِكم، ولكنْ بقَدرِ رحمتي، وفضلي، وكرامتي، وطَوْلي، [وعُلُوِّ مكاني، وعَظَمةِ شأني] ، فما يَزَالُونَ في المسَألة والأماني، والعَطايا، والمواهبِ، حتَّى إنَّ الْمُقَصِّر في أُمْنِيتِهِ لَيَتَمنَّى مِثْل جميعِ الدُّنيا مُنْذُ خلقها الله تعالى إلى يومَ أفْناها، فقال لهم ربُّهمْ: لقدْ قَصَّرْتُمْ في أمانيكم، ورَضِيتُمْ بدُونِ ما يَحِقُّ لكم، فقد أوْجَبْتُ لكم ما تَمَنيْتُمْ وسَألْتُمْ، وألْحَقْتُ بكم ذُرِّيتكم، وِزِدْتُكم أضعاف ما قَصَّرَتْ عَنْهُ أمَانيكم ". وهذا مُرسَلٌ ضعيفٌ، غريبٌ جدًا، وفيه ألفاظ منكرة (١) وأحسنُ أحوالِهِ أن يكونَ منْ كلام بعض التابعين، أو منْ كلام بَعْضِ السَّلَفِ، فَوَهمَ بعضُ رُواتِه، فجَعلهُ مَرْفوعًا، وليْسَ كذلك، والله أعلم. [ذكر أول من يدخل الجنة] وهو رسول الله ﷺ قبل الأنبياء كلِّهم ثم أمته قبل الأمم. كما ثَبَتَ ذلك في "صَحيح مُسْلِم " [منْ حَديثِ المختارِ بن فُلْفُلٍ] عنْ أنَسٍ، قال رسولُ الله ﷺ : " أنَا أوَّلُ منْ يَقْرَعُ بابَ الْجَنَّةِ " (٢) . وعندهُ أيضًا عنه: أنَّ رسولُ الله ﷺ قال: "إني آتي بَاب الْجنَّةِ فأسْتَفْتِحُ، فيقُولُ الخَازِنُ: منْ أنتَ؟ فأقولُ: أنا مُحمَّدٌ، فيقُولُ: بكَ أُمِرْتُ ألّا أفْتَحَ لأحَدٍ قبْلك" (٣) .

(١) رواه ابن أبي الدنيا في "صفة الجنة" (٥٤) وأبو نعيم في الحلية في "صفة الجنة" أيضًا (٤١١). (٢) رواه مسلم رقم (١٩٦) (٣٣١). (٣) رواه مسلم رقم (١٩٧) (٣٣٣).