Sample Essay On Paradise In Islam

Sometimes it seems to me that it is hard to find more pious people than Muslims. Of course everybody who is not an atheist has his own religion, but it does not seem like everybody is so passionate about his faith like a Muslim is. The latter always seeks to intertwine in the utmost manner his life with religion letting it come into each and every detail of his daily routine. For me the answer to the question why a Muslim feels so passionately about obeying every word stipulated in Quran probably lies in what a Muslim tries to achieve by following all the rules of Islam, in what reward he is seeking to earn. That would be – getting to the Janna, which is Paradise in Islam.
Ideally this should be the goal of every pious Muslim – striving to get to the Paradise. Logically, one has to find an answer to the question: “What should I do to get there? And, no less important, what should I not do to get there?”
It must be said that at the first glance there are no straightforward and very concrete answers to these questions. For instance, in one of the hadiths books (Sahih al-Bukhari) it is said that “whoever believes in Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) it is incumbent upon Allah that He enters him in Jannah.”(“25 Ways to Enter Jannah”) It may raise discussion about what it exactly means “to believe in Allah” and so on. However, notwithstanding this fact there is still a broad array of other directions, mainly assembled in hadiths which tell Muslims how to get to the Jannah. Literally each of these directions touches upon the style of life, the behavior and the faith itself of a Muslim. Below are some examples taken from hadiths which illustrate the main principles Muslims must be guided by to enter the Jannah.
Whoever believes in Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him), and establishes the prayer and fasts in the month of Ramadan, it is incumbent upon Allah that He enters him in Jannah.

Indeed, truthfulness leads to righteousness and indeed righteousness leads to Jannah.

Whoever meets Allah without ascribing anything to Him will enter Jannah.
Allah will prepare for him who goes to the mosque (every) morning and in the afternoon (for the congregational prayer) an honorable place in Paradise with good hospitality for (what he has done) every morning and afternoon goings.

Whoever takes a path in search of knowledge, Allah will make easy for him the path to Jannah.

Anyone whose soul leaves his body and he is free of three things, will enter Jannah: Arrogance, stealing from the spoils of war, and debt.
Whoever visits an ailing person or a brother of his to seek the Pleasure of Allah, an announcer (angel) calls out: “May you be happy, may your walking be blessed, and may you be awarded a dignified position in Jannah”. (“25 Ways to Enter Jannah”)
As we can see, the cited pieces from hadiths books illustrate that rules a Muslim has to follow to get to the Paradise come down to several principles which encompass faith in God and love to Him as well as displaying both through going to mosque, praying regularly and duly; self-development through acquiring knowledge which means development of talents given by God; being helpful and merciful to anyone in need around a Muslim; trying to avoid not only greed but any other things like arrogance or dishonesty.
An interesting question is how the Janna looks like. Of course, in a manner like almost everything else in religion, there is no concrete and detailed description of what we will see there. In Quran there are only some explanations based on our emotional associations but no concrete details, the reason for which is that in this life here, on earth we cannot describe divine Janna by the words we as humans know. However, there are all in all certain things, though not numerous, which describe Janna a little bit and help us try to imagine what it looks like. For instance, in surah 47, verse 15, it is said that in the Janna there will be rivers of water, of milk and of honey, delicious to those who drink (The Holy Quran).
Another interesting thing is that., Janna (English for “garden”) in Quran has eight names, which, translated in English, mean respectively paradise, a garden on high, a home that will last, garden of eternity, garden of everlasting bliss, gardens of delight, home of peace, home of the righteous (“The Rewards of Paradise”). In each of these names an image of garden is present combined with some emotion or stance of soul. This means that Allah tries to explain to the people what Janna is not with images (as it is assumed impossible to imagine divine things still being a human) but with emotions, with feelings familiar to people. This is the reason why there are so little physical, concrete details – it’s just impossible to use them to describe what is far beyond better and divine than anything human.
Another thing we learn from Quran about Janna is that there will be no pain, sorrow, death or sickness there. Instead, “every kind of beauty and blessing exists in Paradise and will be revealed with a perfection never seen or known before.”(“The Pleasures of Paradise”) Yet again we see that only emotional means are used to describe the Paradise.
Therefore, we can see that the Paradise in Islam is not only an integral part of the faith but also the ultimate stimulus, ultimate incentive for the pious to follow the prescriptions of the Holy Quran. And though it is considered to be virtually impossible to imagine what that ultimate goal is, those pieces of images of the Paradise we get from holy sources are enough to make Muslims believe that getting there is worth any sacrifice, any service to God – anything.

List of Works Cited

The Holy Qur’an. Istanbul: Ilmi Nesriyat, 1996. Print.
“The Rewards of Paradise.” Religious Tolerance. N.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
“The Pleasures of Paradise.” The Religion of Islam. N.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
“Muslims’ Paradise and Christians Heaven.” The Spirit of Islam. 13 Oct. 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
“Do You Want Paradise?” Mission Islam. N.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
“25 Ways to Enter Jannah.” Orbit Islam. N.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.