“And the slaves of the Most Beneficent (Allah) are those who walk on the earth in humility and sedateness, and when the foolish address them (with bad words) they reply back with mild words of gentleness. And those who spend the night before their Lord, prostrate and standing. And those who say: “Our Lord! Avert from us the torment of Hell. Verily! Its torment is ever an inseparable, permanent punishment.”Evil indeed it (Hell) is as an abode and as a place to dwell. And those, who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor niggardly, but hold a medium (way) between those (extremes). And those who invoke not any other Ilah (god) along with Allah, nor kill such life as Allah has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse and whoever does this shall receive the punishment. The torment will be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein in disgrace; except those who repent and believe (in Islamic Monotheism), and do righteous deeds, for those, Allah will change their sins into good deeds, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. And whosoever repents and does righteous good deeds, then verily, he repents towards Allah with true repentance. And those who do not witness falsehood, and if they pass by some evil play or evil talk, they pass by it with dignity. And those who, when they are reminded of the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of their Lord, fall not deaf and blind thereat. And those who say: “Our Lord! Bestow on us from our wives and our offspring who will be the comfort of our eyes, and make us leaders for the Muttaqun.” (Al-Furqan 25:63-74)
“The slaves of Allah (swt) who control their anger; and also those who pray in the middle of the night; and also those who make Dua to be saved from the fire of Jahannum; and also those who are financially responsible; and also and also….”
Slaves of Allah (swt), masters in Jannah!
They will be compensated with very high, lofty mansions. They will be given palaces because of the Sabr they had. Because of the patience they had.
What is Allah (swt) telling us? All of these qualities require what? Sabr.
What does Sabr mean?
Sabr does not only mean patience; it means constancy. Let me tell you what constancy is because Ramadan is coming. Some people become very good Muslims in the month of Ramadan, but they don’t have the Sabr to continue after Ramadan. You can have these good qualities. You can control your anger, but you say that I controlled it for like two months, I ran out of gas. Then, I went back to normal again. No. no! Sabr means when you take these qualities for life. If you are able to make that a lifestyle choice, then you get Jannah.
And, they are going to be greeted by angels in Jannah. They are walking in there, and they are going to be greeted:
“Assalam-o-Alaikum! You are here! So happy to see you, this is your palace. Congratulations! It has all of these entrances. By the way, there is a waterfall on the back, go check it out.”
All of this, and they are giving you a full tour of the palaces. You are being greeted. Angels are your tour guide in Jannah.
And, when you go to an expensive place- you know, sometimes, hotels look like palaces. You go and spend how many nights in the hotel? One. Two. It is expensive. And, then you realize- I am going to leave, but I should take some pictures before I go. Or, you go to some beautiful island, some beautiful resort for vacation- how long do you stay there? Just a little bit.
You are being given this beautiful tour. Allah (swt) says, “Khali-dee-naa Fee-haa” they are going to stay here. This is not temporary. It is your home now. This is where you are going to live. This is such an awesome place to be temporarily and long-term. Now the question comes, how come Allah (swt) mentions Jannah temporarily? Why did he mention “Must-aqarr”? Because if you make it to one level of Jannah, it might be that Allah (swt) is giving you the option, it might be that He might upgrade you to the executive suite. Next level of Jannah!
So, this home that you have in Jannah- as awesome as it is- might be temporary. Because, Allah (swt) is going to upgrade you; it might be that when you are upgraded, Allah (swt) is about to upgrade you again. And, so this is an open Ayat for Muslims. It may be that as Jannah has seven levels, you make it to level one. May be you made it to the basement of level one. Then, Allah (swt) is offering you over time, Must-aqarr, more above and above. I will keep giving you better, Subhan’Allah! It is awesome.
In one of the descriptions of Jannah in the Quran, we find:
“Maa-kitheen-aa Fee-h’i Aba’da’a” (Surah Kahf, 18:3)
Maa’kith, in Arabic Language, means someone who is waiting for something and they are excited. Musa (as) told his family: “Wait here! I am going to go and see that fire! Um-ku-su’o, you stay here.”
When they are staying, are they waiting excitedly? Like I can’t wait till he comes back, or they may be like: “Yeah! Might as well stay here”. No! They are nervous, they are excited, and they are waiting for the next thing. Allah (swt) says in the Quran, “We will constantly be waiting in Jannah with excitement.” You know what that means?
Allah (swt) will give you fruit and you will eat it like: “Aah that was amazing!” And then, you are excited because the next delivery is coming. Then, Allah (swt) will show you a palace, and you will be so happy; but then you are excited because the next palace is about to be shown. You are constantly going to be upgraded, and this is going to happen forever. You can’t go beyond iPhone 5 guys; you have to wait, and you have to make Dua for six. You got Samsung whatever that is it. You have to wait till the upgrade. But, everything in Jannah will be upgraded, permanently, permanently, you keep moving upwards.
That is: “hasunat musta-qar-ranw-wa muqaamaa – Good is the settlement and residence [25:76].”
I shared these verses with you because I want to encourage you and your families to be Ibad-ur-Rahman. Allah (swt) did not tell us that you have to do all of this. He said at least do one of these. Give me one of these, so I have a reason to call you Ibad-ur-Rahman. Give Allah (swt) a reason to call you Ibad-ur-Rahman. Give Allah (swt) a reason, you know. He is so loving and kind that instead of setting higher requirements, he lowers the requirements. Okay, you can’t do that one, how about this one, how about this one. Subhan’Allah.
May Allah (swt) truly make us Ibad-ur-Rahman; and may Allah (swt) put Barakah in this community. Ameen!
Transcribed for hiba by Anoshia Riaz
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