Section: Affirming the Real, Created Existence of Paradise and Hellfire, in Refutation of those who deny it.

Allah, the Exalted, says:
“Race toward forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden whose breadth is that of the heavens and the earth, prepared for the God-fearing—those who spend in prosperity and adversity, who restrain their anger and pardon people; and Allah loves those who excel.” (Āl ʿImrān 133-134)

He also says:
“Compete for forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden whose width is like that of the heaven and the earth, prepared for those who have believed in Allah and His messengers. Such is the bounty of Allah; He grants it to whom He wills, and Allah is the possessor of tremendous bounty.” (Al-Ḥadīd 21)

And He says:
“Guard yourselves against the Fire that has been prepared for the disbelievers.” (Āl ʿImrān 131)

Concerning the House of Pharaoh, He says:
“The Fire—to which they are exposed morning and evening; and on the Day the Hour is established it will be said, ‘Admit the House of Pharaoh into the most severe punishment.’” (Ghāfir 17)

He further says:
“No soul knows what comfort of eyes is kept hidden for them, as recompense for what they used to do.” (Al-Ḥadīd 17)

In the Two Ṣaḥīḥs it is related from Abū Hurayrah—may Allah be pleased with him—that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Allah, Most High, says: ‘I have prepared for My righteous servants that which no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, and has never occurred to a human heart, as a stored treasure1—indeed, in addition to everything of which I have already informed you.’” He then recited: “No soul knows what comfort of eyes is kept hidden for them, as recompense for what they used to do.” (Al-Ḥadīd 17)2

Again in the Two Ṣaḥīḥs, on the authority of Mālik, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“When any one of you dies, his seat is shown to him morning and evening. If he is among the people of Paradise, then he is of the people of Paradise; and if he is among the people of the Fire, then he is of the people of the Fire. It is said to him, ‘This is your seat until Allah resurrects you to it on the Day of Resurrection.’”3

In Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, from Ibn Masʿūd—may Allah be pleased with him:
“The souls of the martyrs are in the crops of green birds; they roam freely in Paradise wherever they wish, then take refuge in lamps suspended from the Throne…”—the ḥadith.4

And in the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad we have narrated: Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī related to us, from Mālik, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik, from his father, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“The spirit of the believer is only a bird that feeds upon the trees of Paradise until Allah—Exalted is He—returns it to its body on the day He resurrects him.”5