2250 – ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ahmad informed us; al-Ḥusayn ibn Ismaʿil informed us; Saʿid ibn Yaḥyā said: My father narrated to me, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“When Allah created Paradise, He sent Gabriel to it and said, ‘Look at it and at what I have readied there for its people.’ Gabriel went, surveyed it and all that Allah had prepared for its people, then returned and said, ‘By Your might! No one who hears of it will fail to enter it.’

So Allah ordered that it be surrounded with hardships, whereupon Gabriel said, ‘By Your might! I now fear that no one will enter it.’

Then He said, ‘Go to the Fire and look at it and at what I have prepared there for its people.’ When Gabriel arrived, parts of it were engulfing other parts. He returned and said, ‘By Your might! No one who hears of it will ever enter it.’

So Allah commanded that it be surrounded with desires. Then He said, ‘Go back to it and look at it and at what I have prepared there for its people.’ Gabriel went back, and behold, it had been surrounded with desires. He returned and said, ‘By Your might! I now fear that no one will escape it.’”