Page 152 - Allah is Known through Reason

its fury and its raging sigh. And when they are cast, bound together into
a constricted place therein, they will plead for destruction there and then!
"This day plead not for a single destruction: plead for destruction oft-
repeated!" (Surat al-Furqan, 12-14)

THE TRUE HOME PROMISED
TO THE BELIEVERS: PARADISE
Now no person knows what delights of the eye are kept hidden (in
reserve) for them–as a reward for their (good) deeds. (Surat as-Sajda: 17)

Paradise is the place promised to believers for their belief in Allah and
for their devotion to Him. Paradise, as described in many verses, is a place
enveloped in many kinds of blessings and it is a residence of eternal bliss.
Allah awards the believers with paradise as compensation for their deeds
in the world.
Paradise is a place where the "Merciful" (the mercy of Whom is exclu-
sively for the believers, the Most Merciful, Who awards those who proper-
ly use His blessings with more superior and eternal blessings) attribute of
Allah is revealed. Paradise, therefore, is a home of delight that harbours
every thing that a person's soul may desire and even more as described in
the verses.
In some people's minds, the word "paradise" conjures up rather lim-
ited notions, for they suppose paradise to be a place of merely natural
beauty, such as a delightful meadow. There is, however, a great difference
between this limited notion and the paradise described in the Qur'an.
In the Qur'an, paradise is described as a place containing everything
a person may desire:
There will be there all that the souls could desire, all that their eyes could
delight in: and you shall abide therein. (Surat az-Zukhruf, 71)

In another verse we are told that in paradise there is even more than
what man could want:
There will be for them therein all that they wish, and more besides in Our
presence. (Surah Qaf, 35)
In other words, contrary to general belief, paradise has numerous

152 Allah is Known Through Reason