A Person of Paradise

*A Person of Paradise”

A man came to the Messenger (saw) within the Polity of Medina and asked if he performed all of his fardh prayers would he be entered into Heaven. 

The Messenger (saw) simply replied yes. 

The man then said that I will do the fardh and not less than it, nor any more than that, and promptly left. 

As he walked away the Messenger (saw) said of him, to the companions that were present, that that man was a man of Jannah (Heaven). 

The scholars have explained this by saying that what the Messenger (saw) meant by this was that the man would be a man of Jannah if he fulfilled what he had said he would fulfil. 

But this is a stretch of imagination, by them, for one who was sent to make things clear. 

So let us revisit this without the encumbrances of our scholars. 

The statement of the Messenger (saw) that he was a man of Jannah was a statement of fact. Because he delivered it as a fact. 

Now he must have told his companions this fact in order to teach them some fundamental lesson. 

When you appreciate that then you cannot think that the lesson he wished to impart was one of ifs and buts. 

Please allow a moment to go over my argument above before proceeding further. 

So if the Messenger (saw) was not making reference to a conditional appreciation of the man’s claim, he must have been referring to something else. 

The only other thing that would have been apparent to him and his companions was not the future likelihood of his fulfilling the ask, but of some innate quality that the man had, that guaranteed him paradise. *1

So we are forced to consider his quality. 

The options that are given by the limited exchange are few, and that is what makes this such an important deliberation, and then lesson. 

1- his resolve. 

For just as Musa (as) said I am the first of believers, but then when he asked the Most Gracious if he was the most knowledgeable was shown Khidr (as). 

Just as the believers made the pact under the tree before Hudabiyyah. 

God delights when you resolve. 

It is as if the Most Gracious delights in your show, or want, for strength or to be the best that you can be. 

For off course all men are weak, but the pious when their weakness becomes apparent return back to the Most Gracious in absolute humility. 

Recall the Quranic lessons of David (as) and the litigants, Solomon’s (as) armies and the ant. 

Let’s proceed further because the real lesson is still two steps away.  

2- that he did not want to increase the religion beyond the limits set by it. 

It is a characteristic of the religious that they like to overstep the bounds set by the religion itself. But the truly pious, they know that the religion is complete and is thus, so as to appeal to everyone. 

This has always been the case and is one of the reasons that Ibrahim (as) asked that the Most Gracious make him not a trial for the people, and that therefore he has no Nation.*2

And in the lifetime of the Messenger (saw) remember the three, one who wanted to pray all night, the other who wanted to fast each day, the last who wanted to eschew from women. *3

This man’s quality is that he knew that the religion is for all of the people, and that to make it more than it is, is to make it harder for the people. 

Now for the last step. 

When we consider the two cases above, they are not dissimilar. 

For in both cases the men are saying things that it will be impossible, or hard, for them to keep to. But in the first case the man does not go beyond the limits. 

So when we deliberate further it is that the first man resolutely sets himself to not go further. And this marks him as a man of paradise. For he puts his trust in the Most Gracious to complete what he starts. Indeed the Mercy of the Most Gracious is so powerful, and he whom He covers with it … for them that is fully sufficient. 

But for those that think that it is their prayer, or their fasting, or their eschewing from living fully in the life of the community that God puts you in, will cause them to enter paradise. These they are far from it. 

For Closeness to God is an opportunity that God Himself presents to you, and those that it is presented to do not let their endeavours in that matter make it more difficult for another. *4

For belief is precious. 

And the beginning of it is submission to the religion of God. 

So do not overcomplicate the religion thinking that it makes you more special. 

The way of ascent is through sacrifice, and your guidebook throughout the journey back to the Most Gracious is nothing other than the Quran. 

Let it speak to you, and respond to its ask*5. For it is indeed the speech of the Most Merciful, Lord of all the Worlds. 

And then let God complete you in full submission. Then you will never grieve. 

Knowledge is sought through contemplation and study. 

May the Most Gracious enable for me to be a door for you to become closer to Him. Aameen. 

*1 For it is an undoubted truth that all men at some time in their life fail, and that is why we make it up afterwards and then do istighfar.

And it is the istighfar that brings us closer. 

*2 Allah t’ala honoured him by calling him the father of the Nation of Muhammed (saw) in the last verse of S Hajj. 

*3 Narrated Anas bin Malik (ra). 

“A group of three men came to the houses of the wives of the Prophet (ﷺ) asking how the Prophet (ﷺ) worshipped (Allah), and when they were informed about that, they considered their worship insufficient and said, "Where are we from the Prophet (ﷺ) as his past and future sins have been forgiven." Then one of them said, "I will offer the prayer throughout the night forever." The other said, "I will fast throughout the year and will not break my fast." The third said, "I will keep away from the women and will not marry forever." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came to them and said, "Are you the same people who said so-and-so? By Allah, I am more submissive to Allah and more afraid of Him than you; yet I fast and break my fast, I do sleep and I also marry women. So he who does not follow my tradition in religion, is not from me (not one of my followers).”

*4

That is why the Messenger (saw) said:

“Verily, this religion is firmly solid, so come into it gently.” 

Surprisingly also narrated by Anas bin Malik (ra). 

*5 

This means internalise it, and interpret it and grapple with it. Make it personal to yourself. For that is it’s real bounty. 

Just Three Cultures

Just three cultures produced the greatest innovations, and the greatest advancements, that we have seen to the human condition. 

And because out of many, those three must have some commonality about them. 

For the Greeks democracy was only for the free male, non servile classes, whilst those who did not fit that descriptive were born to serve and were never free. 

And you will never find any history about that underclass that propped up the Greek City-States. *1

The Industrial Revolution followed on from the age of conquest, and empire, that saw the British Monarch granting exclusive licences to essentially exploit anything and everything that could be had elsewhere. As a self-reenforcing system this meant that your wealth was dependent both operationally and “legally” on your support for the Monarch. 

This is saw great wealth accumulated by a certain class of people. 

Both of the above two cultures produced classes of people who had the leisure time to think deeply about the World and our place within it, and then to experiment. 

After all that endeavour costs time, effort and money. And of itself does not produce any wealth. 

Indeed industry is born of innovation, but innovation is rarely had when you focus on healthy cash flows. *2

The anomaly then is the Islamic culture, that is completely at odds with exploitative behaviour. So much so that the Most Gracious and His Messenger make war upon those who guarantee themselves a profit, and forego any commensurate risk. *3

What is it then about Muslim culture that saw them have so much leisure time and opportunity to innovate, deliberate and think so deeply about all things. 

For sure the Quran has been, and can continue to be, a phenomenal spur towards the advancement of Mankind, wholesale. And The Most Gracious has Himself promised to collect it, to protect it and to explain it. 

However something else must also be at play within early Muslim culture that caused it to excel and innovate in Science, Technology, and related areas. 

Adam Smith in his seminal work “The Wealth of Nations” argued that free trade makes everyone wealthier precisely because it makes everything all the more affordable. *4

The fundamental building block of Muslim society is the family, but the primary endeavour of each individual that occupies him five times a day is the SALAAT. It is this necessity to come together as a collective and to pray that made us, and can make us again, all wealthier. And this is not in regards of Akhira. 

If you are unsure about this then read and contemplate the last few verses of S Jumaa’. 

When the Most Gracious says that He is the best of providers, what He is actually saying is that by heeding His words He will literally make us all wealthier. 

And is not the best way of doing such a thing by making all things all the more affordable?

Recall then the companion of the Messenger (saw) who whilst sojourned, isolating himself in the Mosque with the Most Gracious, during the last ten Itikaaf days and night of blessed Ramadan. 

He heard of a brothers need and ran hastily from his preoccupation worshiping our Creator in order to fulfil that need. 

He did so because he recalled the Messenger’s (saw) words that to fulfil the needs of a brother is better than Itikaaf. 

When you have a society of people that each care deeply for one another, then the Most Gracious makes you all by return wealthier. 

The coming together five times a day not only allows for us to fulfil each others’ needs but also is the basis for collaborative and generative work. 

And it is this wealth that allowed our forbears to innovate, and think deeply about our cosmos and our place within it.

Creating within us brilliant thinkers whose light of knowledge still illuminates our way and the way of our Messenger (saw). That we too can again create a society that excels in all things. 

*KNOWLEDGE is sought through study and contemplation. Not lectures, nor this above*

*1 if no history were ever written about them, then that implies that they never once revolted, being so oppressed that they could not. 

*2 look at the story for the invention of the locomotive. 

*3 see v277-280 Al-Baqara. 

The essential defining characteristic of Ribaa’ is that it is accumulating wealth in a risk free manner. 

The third pillar of Islam, Zakat is so constructed that it is against the accumulation of wealth. 

*4 that when free trade occurs, then each Nation is free to excel in that which it does best, and then bring those things to a common marketplace.