Jannah
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Jannah (جنّة) is the Islamic name for paradise. It is derived from the Hebrew term Gan Eden or 'Garden of Eden'. The Arabic form Jannah is a shortened version meaning simply 'Garden'. According to Islamic eschatology, after death, one will reside in the grave until the appointed resurrection on Yawm al-Qiyāmah. Muslims believe that the treatment of the individual in the life of the grave will be according to his or her deeds in the worldly life. Jannah is often compared to Christian concepts of Heaven.
The Qur’an contains many references to an afterlife in Eden for those who do good deeds. Heaven itself is commonly described in the Qur’an in verse 35 of Surat al-Ra‘d: "The parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised! Beneath it flow rivers. Perpetual is the fruits thereof and the shade therein. Such is the End of the Righteous; and the end of the unbelievers is the Fire." Since Islam rejects the concept of original sin, Muslims believe that all human beings are born pure and will naturally turn to God, but it is their environment which influences them to choose ungodly ways of life. In Islam, therefore, a child who dies automatically goes to heaven, regardless of the religion of his or her parents. The highest level of heaven is Firdaws (فردوس), which is where the prophets, the martyrs and the most truthful and pious people will dwell.
Jannah is maintained by the angel Ridwan.
In contrast to Jannah, the words Jahannam and Nār are used to refer to the concept of hell.
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[edit] Qur'anic Names of Heavens
- Firdaws — The Highest Gardens of the Heaven (al-Kahf:107, al-Mu'minūn:11)
- Dār al-maqāmah — The Home (Fātir:35)
- Dār al-salām — Home of Peace (Yūnus:25)
- Dār al-ḥayawān — The Home in the Hereafter (al-‘Anqabūt:64)
- al-Jannah — This is the most commonly used term in the Qur’an and Hadith. (al-Baqarah:35, Āl ‘Imrān:133 & 142, al-Mā’idah:72)
- Jannat al-‘adn — Gardens of Everlasting Bliss (al-Tawbah:72, al-Ra’d:23)
- Jannat al-khuld — The Eternal Gardens (al-Furqān:15)
- Jannat al-ma’wá — Garden of Abode (al-Najm:15)
- Jannat al-na‘īm — The Gardens of Delight (al-Mā'idah:65, Yūnus:9, al-Hajj:56)
- Maq‘ad al-ṣidq — Assembly of Truth (al-Qamar:55)
- al-Maqām al-amīn — The House of Security (al-Dukhān:51)
[edit] Descriptions of Heavens
- Accessibility: "When God Almighty created the heaven and the hell, He asked [the angel] Gabriel to go and take a look at what He has prepared for believers in the Heaven. Gabriel went and had a look at what was there in the Heaven, and then he came back and expressed himself thus: 'By your dignity! Whoever will hear of this Heaven will certainly strive for it.' Then it was said that the road to the heaven is littered with hardships, and Gabriel was asked to take another look at the Heaven. He came back and said, 'By your dignity I am afraid that nobody will be able to enter it.'" (al-Tirmidhi)
- Gates: "The Prophet of God (peace be upon him) said: Whoever performed a perfect ablution and recited the Shahada then all the eight doors of the heaven are thrust open for him — he may enter from whichever door he likes." (Sahih Muslim)
- Distances: "By Him in whose hands my soul is, the distance between the two gate posts of paradise is like the distance between Mecca and Himyar or between Mecca and Basra." (al-Bukhari)
- God's throne: "When you pray ask for Firdaws, for it is in the middle of heaven and is higher in grade than the heaven and above Firdaws is God’s throne, moreover the canals of heaven flow from Firdaws." (al-Bukhari)
- Soil: "And then I was showed in the heaven, I saw there were camps made of pearls and the soil was of musk." (al-Bukhari)
- Vegetation: "Indeed, there is a tree in heaven so big that if a person keeps riding on a brisk madhamar [a specially bred horse] for a hundred years even then he would not reach the end of that tree." (al-Bukhari)
- Splendour: "Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet of God (peace be upon him) said: There is no tree in the heaven that does not have a trunk of gold." (Muslim)
- Sleep: "Sleep is the sister of death and the dwellers of the heaven will not sleep." (Silsalat al-ahadith)
- Beauty: "Indeed, there is a bazaar in the heaven where the dwellers of the Heaven will come on every Friday. The northerly wind will spray scent on them and this will enhance their beauty. And when they will return to their homes, their households will say 'By God, your beauty is enhanced.' 'So has yours,' they will return the compliment." (Muslim)
The hadith also strongly support a belief in an element of sexual companionship. Collected by Imam at-Tirmidhi in "Sunan" (Volume IV, Chapters on "The Features of Heaven as described by the Messenger of Allah", Chapter 21: "About the Smallest Reward for the People of Heaven", hadith 2687) and also quoted by Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir (Qur'anic Commentary) of Surah Rahman (55), ayah (verse) 72:
| “ | "It was mentioned by Daraj Ibn Abi Hatim, that Abu al-Haytham 'Adullah Ibn Wahb narrated from Abu Sa'id al-Khudhri, who heard the Prophet Muhammad saying, 'The smallest reward for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are eighty thousand servants and seventy two houri, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine and ruby, as wide as the distance from al-Jabiyyah to San'a. | „ |
[edit] Conditions of going to Heaven
According to the Qur’an, the basic criteria for salvation in afterlife is the belief in one God, Last Judgment, good deeds, and in ALL the messengers of Allah as well as believing that prophet Muhammad is the last messenger of god. [1] As the Qur'an states:
| “ | Surely those who believe (Muslims) and those who are Jews and the Sabians and the Christians whoever believes in Allah (God) and the last day and does good-- they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve. | „ |
Another verse that is nearly identical is 2:62.
Still another verse says that going to heaven depends on one's good deeds:
| “ | And whoever does good deeds whether male or female and he (or she) is a believer-- these shall enter the garden, and they shall not be dealt with a jot unjustly. | „ |
if the people of the book deny Muhammad (S), they will never enter jannah, becuause he has been sent. Other conditions of going to heaven according to the Qur'an:
| “ | Those who spend (benevolently) in ease as well as in straitness, and those who restrain (their) anger and pardon men; and Allah loves the doers of good (to others).
And those who when they commit an indecency or do injustice to their souls remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their faults-- and who forgives the faults but Allah, and (who) do not knowingly persist in what they have done. (As for) these-- their reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them, and excellent is the reward of the laborers. |
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| “ | And certainly Allah made a covenant with the children of Israel, and We raised up among them twelve chieftains; and Allah said: Surely I am with you; if you keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and believe in My apostles and assist them and offer to Allah a goodly gift, I will most certainly cover your evil deeds, and I will most certainly cause you to enter into gardens beneath which rivers flow, but whoever disbelieves from among you after that, he indeed shall lose the right way. | „ |
The Qur’an also asserts that those who reject the Messengers of God with their best knowledge are damned in afterlife[1] and if they reject in front of the Messenger of God, then they also face dreadful fate in this world and in afterlife (see Itmam al-hujjah). Conversely, a person who discovers monotheism not having been reached by a messenger is called Hanif.
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[edit] See also
- 99 Names of God
- Riyāḍ al-Jannah (Garden of Heaven) is a part of al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Mosque of the Prophet)
- Heaven
- Elysium
- Nirvana
| Concepts of Heaven | |
|---|---|
| Christian | Kingdom of God | Garden of Eden · Paradise | New Jerusalem | Pearly gates |
| Jewish | Gan Eden | Olam Haba |
| Islamic | Jannah | Houri | Sidrat al-Muntaha |
| Mormon | Celestial Kingdom | Spirit world |
| Ancient Greek | Elysium | Empyrean | Hesperides |
| Celtic | Annwn | Tír na nÓg | Mag Mell |
| Norse | Valhalla | Asgard |
| Indo-European | Paradise | Svarga | Aaru | The Summerland | Myth of Er | Fortunate Isles |
| Related concepts | Nirvana | Millennialism | Utopianism | Golden Age | Arcadia | The guf | Well of souls |
