and enter Paradise, for you will have the like of the whole world and ten times as much besides—or, you will have ten times the like of the world.’ He will say, ‘Are You mocking me, or laughing at me, while You are the Sovereign?’ The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, added, ‘I saw the Messenger of Allah laughing so broadly that his molars showed.’ He would then say, ‘That man is the lowest in rank among the people of Paradise.’ Agreed upon.

[Explanation]

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—cites here a collection of hadiths in Riyad al-Salihin that describe the delights awaiting the people of Paradise. One of them states that the first company to enter Paradise will be in the likeness of the full moon on the night it is brightest. This is the earliest company and the most excellent of all. It is authentically reported from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that the first of all communities to enter Paradise will be this Ummah, after which those who follow will shine like the brightest star in the sky—meaning with a brilliance comparable to that of a luminous star—and then those who come after them according to their respective ranks.

The texts also affirm that the people of Paradise will eat and drink, yet they will neither urinate nor defecate nor blow their noses, because their residue is unlike the waste of this world. Rather, it will exit as perspiration—like sweat—more fragrant than musk, and their belches will be more pleasing in scent than musk, for they are in perpetual bliss.

The Prophet further described the one whose station is lowest in Paradise and the one whose station is highest; all of these reports point to the magnificence of this bliss. We ask Allah to make us and you among its people.

As for the people of the Fire—and we seek Allah’s refuge—they stand at the very opposite extreme. Indeed, an eye that longs for Paradise has no right to sleep, and an eye that fears the Fire has no right to