Page 60 - Those Who Exhaust All Their Pleasures In This Life

58 THOSE WHO EXHAUST ALL THEIR PLEASURES IN THIS LIFE

personalities, moral understanding, and attitudes develop
toward perfection. There is never any boredom or frustra-
tion in true love, and good looks, material means, and
prestige become irrelevant. The only important thing is the
beloved’s moral character. But unbelievers, who judge
everything by material standards, suffer material loss when
that foundation collapses.
We can see that unbelievers have a broken faith in their
hearts. For this reason, they live in a loveless world and
cannot derive pleasure from the things that give the most
joy to the human spirit. More importantly, since these peo-
ple cannot know true love or how to love and be loved,
they will not experience this blessing in Paradise, which is
a place filled with the love of Allah. There, people will know
how to love and experience the eternal joy of being loved.
In the Qur’an, Allah tells us of the blessings that await
believers in Paradise as a reward for their good moral char-
acter. One of these will be a passionate love shared by two
partners. In the following verses, Allah describes what
Paradise is like:
. . . on sumptuous woven couches, reclining on them
face to face. There will circulate among them, ageless
youths, carrying goblets and decanters and a cup from
a flowing spring – it does not give them any headache,
nor does it leave them stupefied. And any fruit they
specify and any bird-meat they desire. And dark-eyed
maidens like hidden pearls. As recompense for what
they did. They will hear no prattling in it, nor any word
of wrong. All that is said is: “Peace! Peace!” And the