the Fire anyone in whom there is any trace of good.

He said: Then Allah will declare, “The angels have interceded, the prophets have interceded, and the believers have interceded; now there remains the Most Merciful of those who show mercy.”

He will then seize a handful—or, he said, two handfuls—from the Fire: people who never did any good for Allah at all; they have been burned until they are nothing but charcoal.

They will be carried to a water called al-Hayah (Life). It will be poured over them, and they will sprout the way a seed germinates in the silt left by a torrent—you have seen it beside a rock or beside a tree: the part exposed to the sun is green, while the part in the shade is white.

They will emerge glistening from their bodies like pearls, with a seal around their necks—Allah’s freed servants.

It will be said to them, “Enter Paradise; whatever you wish for or set your eyes upon is yours—and its like besides.” The people of Paradise will remark, “These are the freed ones of the All-Merciful; He admitted them to Paradise without any deed they performed or any good they sent ahead.”

They will say, “Our Lord, You have granted us what You have not granted anyone else in all creation.”

He will reply, “Yet you have with Me something even better than that.”

They will ask, “Our Lord, and what could be better than that?”

He will say, “My good pleasure with you; I shall never be displeased with you.”