Have You Ever Tasted Jannah?

[SAFAH]

Bismillah.

 

Have You Ever Tasted Jannah?

 

 

by Muhammad Alshareef

 

In Saheeh Muslim, Ibn Masood narrates from RasulAllah sal Allaahu

alayhi wa sallam the warming story of the last man to escape Hellfire:

 

 

His crawl away from Hellfire is filled with his face sliping

into the dirt, a tremoring walk, and a fire that licks him until he

finally escapes.

 

 

When he is past it, he looks back, horrified, and announces

with the loudest voice, “All praise is due to Allah Who saved me from

you.” Then he says, most proud, “Verily I have been rewarded with

something that no one from the beginning to the end of creation has

been blessed with.”

 

 

At that moment, a tree catches his eye – a tree that was

commanded to be raised for him. He quickly raises his hands, “O Allah!

Allow me to draw near to that tree so that I can cool off under its

shade and drink from its water.”

 

 

Then Allah ta’aala calls him, “O son of Adam! I fear that if I grant you what you ask, you shall ask for more.”

 

 

“Nay, O Allah!” pleads the man and he testifies that he shall ask no more.

 

 

As the man basks in the glory of the tree, another tree is

raised, one more bounteous and lush than the first. The man pleads, “O

Allah! Allow me to draw near to that tree so that I can cool off under

its shade and drink from its water.

 

Allah then says, “Did you not promise me that you would ask no more?

Perhaps if I give it to you, you shall ask for yet even more.”

 

 

The man testifies that he will not, and is permitted that tree.

 

 

Just then a tree is raised near the doors of Jannah, one bigger and lusher than all the rest and the man’s heart sinks.

 

 

“O Allah, that tree, that tree. I’ll ask for nothing else.”

 

 

“Did you not promise you would ask for nothing more?”

 

 

“After that tree, yaa Allah, nothing more!”

 

 

He is permitted to draw nearer to the tree and there, as he

nears the doors of Jannah, he hears the sounds of its inhabitants and

he leaps, “O Allah! Enter me into Jannah!”

 

 

“O son of Adam!” Allah announces, “What shall satisfy you and finish your pleading?”

 

 

Then Allah offers, “Will it please you if I give you all the treasures and bounty of the entire world and then double it!”

 

 

The man’s smile shuts off and his eyes lock up. “My Lord, You’re the Lord of the universe…Are You mocking me?”

 

 

… Ibn Masood started laughing. He said to his students, “Ask me

why I’m laughing. I’m laughing because RasulAllah laughed when he told

us this. And he also asked us, ‘Do you know what makes me laugh? I’m

laughing for Allah’s laughter when the man said, ‘You are the lord of

the universe…are you mocking me?’”

 

 

Allah then tells him, “I am not mocking you, rather I am capable of doing whatever I so wish.” Allahu Akbar!

 

 

Turn to almost every page of the Qur’an and you’ll find mention

of Jannah. Jannah…have you ever seen it? Have you ever smelt it? Have

you ever touched it? Have you ever tasted it?

 

 

RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam taught us that in

Jannah there is that “which no eye has witnessed, no ear has heard, and

that which has never been imagined by any human.” Recite the verse if

you wish:

 

And no soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort of the eye

(satisfaction) as reward for what they used to do (As-Sajdah 32/17).

 

 

Many Muslims tasted the eman of Jannah, and Bilal radi Allahu

anhu was one of them. His slave master, Umayyah, would drag Bilal out

to the grilling desert at noontime – the fiercest moment of the day.

Umayyah would press Bilal to the scalding ground and place a boulder on

top of his chest to increase the torture. As his back would melt away

Bilal would say nothing but, “Ahad! Ahad! – One! Only One.”

 

 

Later in his life, when companions would see Bilal’s scarred

back, tears would well in their eyes and they would ask him how he

survived the punishment. Listen to his answer:

 

 

“The pain of punishment mixed with the sweetness of eman. I

tasted both and the sweetness of eman overcame everything until I felt

no more pain.”

 

 

Today, let us sample Jannah, as offered to us in the Qur’an and Sunnah.

 

 

The Gates of Jannah

 

 

Imagine yourself present on the day when the gates of Jannah

will be opened with all of the splendor that lies beyond it. Allah

tells us in the Qur’an about when the muttaqoon are escorted to the

gates of Jannah by the most handsome of Angels:

 

“And those who feared their Lord will be led to the Garden in crowds,

until – behold – they arrive there. Its gates will be opened and its

keepers will say, “Peace be upon you! You have done well, so enter

(Jannah) and live in it eternally.”

 

RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam spoke to the Sahaabaa about the

gates of Jannah. He mentioned the gate of prayers, the gate of jihaad,

the gate of siyaam, and the gate of charity.

 

Abu Bakr asked with the desire that took him to where he reached in eman, “Will anyone be called from all gates?”

 

 

RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said, “Yes, and I hope that you will be one of them.”

 

 

The Shade in Jannah

 

 

Imagine yourself in Jannah’s cooling shade – water springs surrounding you, and fruits dipping in hands reach. Allah tells us:

 

 

Indeed, the muttaqoon will be amid shades and springs / And fruits from

whatever they desire / Eat and drink to your hearts content for what

you used to do (in the dunya) / Such we certainly reward the doers of

good (Al-Mursalaat 77/41-44).

 

The Ambience in Jannah

 

 

Imagine yourself in Jannah. Jannah doesn’t have any gossip; no, “Did

you hear about brother so and so,” or “Did see what sister so and so is

wearing.” Your face is shining with joy and you’re so glad that you

woke up for Fajr all those days, glad you paid your zakah, glad you

wore hijab all those summer days. This is what the atmosphere is like

in Jannah:

 

 

Faces that day will be joyful (radiant) / Satisfied with the

effort they put (in the dunya) / In an elevated garden / Where they

shall hear no unsuitable speech (Al-Ghaashiyah 88/8-11).

 

Jannah: The Greatest Gift

 

 

In Masjid An-Nabawee I had been reciting the Qur’an to Shaykh Muhammad

Ahmad Ma’bad for over a year. Finally when the time of the Khatm

Al-Quran came, I brought a recorder to the halaqah and told him that I

wanted to record the Khatm and the du’a for my mother who was in

Canada.

 

 

When he made du’a he prayed for my parents saying, “O Allah!

Bless Muhammad’s parents with crowns of noor (light) on the Day of

Repayment!”

 

 

A month later in Canada, when I was handing out gifts, I

pulled out this tape for my mother. She took it and listened to the

entire thing. When my mother heard this du’a, she sat crying. She told

me, “This is the greatest gift I could have gotten.”

 

 

Truly, Jannah is the greatest gift one can get. As Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala says:

 

 

“Indeed Jannah is the greatest attainment!”

 

 

PART II

 

 

Regarding the inhabitants of Jannah:

 

 

“You can tell in their faces the radiance of the blessing.”

 

 

The inhabitants of Jannah shall be in:

 

 

“Gardens and rivers.”

 

 

The inhabitants of Jannah are:

 

 

“Most pleased with what Allah gave them from His bounty.”

 

 

Dear brothers and sisters, Jannah is the fruit of a seed

planted in this dunya; it is the retirement package that you save up in

all your years of work.

 

 

There once lived a pious man who was enslaved to a wicked

master. The righteous slave wanted to teach his master a lesson that he

would not forget; a lesson that would make him change his ways.

 

 

The master told him one day to plant wheat. The slave took the

opportunity and went and collected seeds of barley and planted them

instead. As the season drew near, the master was enraged to see that

after all this work and time, the slave had planted the wrong seed. In

his thrashing rage, he scolded the slave saying, “Why did you do this?”

 

 

The righteous slave said, “I had hoped that the barley seeds would come out as wheat.”

 

 

The master said, “How can you plant barley seeds and expect it to come out as wheat?”

 

 

The slave stopped and said quietly, “How can you disobey Allah

and expect for His bounteous mercy? How can you openly challenge his

deen and hope for Jannah.”

 

 

The master was stunned and silent. He understood. “You have

taught me something today that I had never realized. You are free for

the sake of Allah.”

 

 

A poet once wrote:

 

 

There is no home for a man after death

 

 

Except that which he used to build before he died.

 

 

If he built it with bricks of good deeds,

 

 

Then the architecture shall come out beautiful.

 

 

And if he built it with evil,

 

 

Its architect will fall into ruin.

 

 

Dear brothers and sisters, do you know what the greatest

blessing for the inhabitants of Jannah is? Don’t let any laziness in

Salah block you from being here. Don’t let anything anything stand

between you and this blessing. RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam

told us:

 

“When the inhabitants of Jannah enter Jannah, Allah will ask them all,

‘Is there anything more that I can give you?’ They will say, ‘Have you

not illuminated our faces? Have you not entered us into Jannah? Have

you not saved us from Hellfire?’

 

“Then Allah will uncover the veil (and all shall see Allah). After that

moment there would be nothing more beloved to them than seeing their

Lord" (Bukhari and Muslim).

 

 

Let’s go home today driving towards Jannah!