Sh Sheikh Salah Al-Budair – 05 Rabiul Thani 1434
His Eminence Sheikh Salah Al-Budair, may Allah preserve him, delivered the Friday sermon entitled “Delights of Paradise”, in which he spoke of Paradise and some of its features. He explained that Allah has created Paradise with His own Hand and has made it an eternal home for His obedient believers and His best selected ones. He urged all Muslims not to neglect this eternal grace, nor to favour this worldly life over the more lasting Hereafter.
Praise be to Allah, Who grants refuge to whoever seeks refuge with His kindness and courteousness. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, Who has no partners and Who cures those who have despaired of worldly cures; and I bear witness that our Prophet and master, Muhammad, is His servant and Messenger, who said, “All of my nation will enter Paradise except those who refuse.” When asked, “O Messenger of Allah, who will refuse?” He said, “Whoever obeys me will enter Paradise and whoever disobeys me has refused.” May Allah bestow His permanent peace and everlasting blessings upon him and upon his household and companions until the Day of Judgment.
O Muslims, Fear Allah; for fear of Allah is the best of all gains and obedience to Him is the highest bond. Allah says, "O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam." [Al-Imran: 102]
O Muslims, Allah has created Paradise to be a home for His obedient believers and an abode for His best selected ones. He made it replete with His mercy, generosity and pleasure. He made it desirable, invited people to it, and called it the "Home of Peace". It is a home with permanent, never-ending delights, in which there is always more good; a home which is earnestly waiting for its seekers and adorned for those aspiring to it; a home whose attributes are attested by evidence from the Noble Quran and the Sunnah. How happy its dwellers will be! And what great gain its inheritors will have!
Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam said, “Allah has said, ‘I have prepared for my righteous servants what no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, and no man has ever imagined” (Agreed upon).
Paradise is a home that shines with magnificence. It has huge buildings and beautiful courtyards. Its bricks are made of gold and silver, one after another. Its mortar is musk of a strong fragrance, its pebbles are pearls and rubies, and its ground is of saffron. Whoever enters Paradise will be filled with joy and will never feel miserable; he will live there forever and will never die; his clothes will never wear out and his youth will never fade.
Our master and Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam will be the first to knock at the gate of Paradise. The gatekeeper will then say, “I have been ordered not to open the gate for anyone before you”. May Allah confer His peace and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad.
The first group to enter Paradise will have a glow like that of the full moon, and the next will be like the brightest shining star. They will not urinate or defecate or blow their noses or spit; their combs will be of gold; their sweat will be musk; and the fuel of their incense burners will be aloes wood. They will live in full harmony with one another, without any differences or hatred amongst them; they will all be in the image of their father, Adam, sixty cubits tall and seven cubits wide, and they will be glorifying Allah in the morning and in the evening.
The people of Paradise will enter Paradise with no beard or hair on their bodies, white, with curly hair and kohl-rimmed eyes, and all aged thirty-three years. You can recognize in their faces the brightness of delight. An announcer will call: “(You have a promise from Allah that) you will live therein and you will never die; you will stay healthy therein and you will never fall ill; you will stay young and you will never become old; you will be under a constant bliss and you will never feel miserable”, and they will have all kinds of fruit. If a man from the people of Paradise were to appear with his bracelet, it would obliterate the light of the sun, as the sun obliterates the light of the stars.
Should you ask Allah for something, ask Him for Paradise, which lies in the middle and highest part of the Garden of Eden. Above it is the Throne of Allah, the Most-Gracious. From Paradise flow all the rivers of the Garden of Eden, the greatest, sweetest, and most beautiful of which is the River Al Kawthar, which was created in honour of our Prophet and Master Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam. Domes of hollow pearls stretch along its banks. Its soil is musky and aromatic. Its pebbles are pearls; its water is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey. Its jugs are as numerous as the stars. Birds with necks like the necks of camels will be drinking from its water.
The Prophet’s Cistern will be in the place of gathering. Its length and width are equal, and the distance between its sides is a month’s walk, as is the distance between Madinah and Sanaa. It is fed by two pipes from Paradise. Those who drink from it are the believers, and whoever drinks from it will never feel thirsty after that. As for those who made changes, alterations, and innovations in their faith, they will be driven away from it.
The lowest rank of those in Paradise is that of a man who will come in after all the people of Paradise have entered it. He will be told, “Enter Paradise.” And he will say, “Oh my Lord, How? The people have already taken their places and got their grants.” He will be asked: “Will you be pleased if there be to you the possessions of one of the kings of the world?” He will say, “Yes, my Lord, I will.” Then Allah will say, “You will have that and a similar amount besides, and a similar amount besides, and a similar amount besides, and a similar amount besides.” At the fifth the man will say, “I am pleased, O my Lord.” Allah will say, “You will have that and ten times as much. You will have whatever your heart desires and whatever delights your eyes.” The man will say, “I am content with that.”
Of those who have the highest status, Allah says: “Those are the ones I have chosen. I have established their honour with My own Hand and I have set a seal over it; they will be blessed with bounties which no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, and no man has ever imagined”.
In Paradise, there is a tree under whose shade a rider travels for one hundred years without reaching its end. In Paradise, the believer will be granted a tent made from a single hollowed-out pearl which is sixty miles high in the sky where he will have a number of families, whom he will visit in turn, yet none of whom will see the others.
If a woman from the people of Paradise were to look upon the earth, she would illuminate all that is between Paradise and the earth and fill it with her fragrance; the veil on her head is better than all the pleasures of this world. Moreover, no one is single in Paradise.
Indeed Allah, might and majesty be to Him, says to the People of Paradise: “O people of Paradise.” They say: “We respond to Your call, O our Lord, and we are obedient to Your orders, and all good is in Your hands!” He says: “Are you satisfied?” They say: “Why should we not be satisfied, O Lord, whilst You have granted us things never given to any of your creation before?” So He says: “Shall I not give you what is far better than that?” They say, “And what else could be better than that?” He says: “I bestow My Pleasure on you and will never be angry with you after that.” How magnificent this bliss is, and how glorious this honour!
Yet the greatest bliss of all is to see the Glorious face of Allah. Jarir Ibn Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “We were with the Prophet on a full moon night. He looked at the moon and said, ‘You people will see your Lord as you see this full moon, and you will have no trouble in seeing Him” (Agreed upon).
Nothing will prevent the people in the Garden of Eden from seeing their Lord except the curtain of Majesty over His Face. A Caller will shout: “O people of Paradise. Allah has made you a promise that He wants to fulfill.” They say: “What is it? Did He not give weight to our deeds? Did he not lighten our faces, admit us to Paradise and remove us away from the Fire?” Allah then removes the curtain and they can see Him. Never will there be anything more beloved to them than looking at Him.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar (Allah is Greater). He blessed them and was beneficent to them; He fulfilled their wish and gave them more.
May Allah make you and me among the people of happiness, and may He grant us the best reward and even more.
I say what you have heard and I ask forgiveness of Allah for myself, for you, and for all Muslims for every sin we have committed. Ask Allah for forgiveness; He is the Ever Most Forgiving to those who turn to Him again and again in obedience and repentance.
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