in them the very bricks—the bricks used for building—are not made of clay and earth, but of pure gold or of silver; hence Allah described those dwellings as “pleasant.”

Among the aspects of their pleasantness is that whoever resides in them never wishes to leave, not even for a moment. In this world, no matter how exquisite your house may be, you will always see another that is finer and say, “If only that were mine.” In Paradise, however, you will neither desire another dwelling nor think of moving elsewhere. Every person will feel that he is the most favored inhabitant of Paradise—so that no one’s heart is pained by seeing someone better off—while each of the people of Hell will imagine that he is suffering the worst torment, even though he may in fact be enduring the lightest of it.

Such, then, are the delightful residences in the Gardens of ʿAdn. The scholars explain that ʿadn means “permanent stay”; from the same root comes maʿdan, a mineral deposit in the earth, because it remains long in its place. Thus these are gardens of everlasting residence, never to disappear for all eternity. We ask Allah to make us and you among their inhabitants.

“That is the supreme triumph.” Triumph is for a person to attain what he desires and to be spared what he fears—the supreme profit beyond which there is no greater profit, the ultimate recompense beyond which there is no recompense—for those who believed in Allah and His Messenger and strove in His cause. I ask Allah—exalted is He—to make me and you among them, not to deprive us of this bounty because of our misdeeds, and to treat us with His pardon. Truly, He has power over all things.