In answer to the video "Walking Away From Islam"
This is one of the Quranic axioms regarding the concept Heavenly rewards, including mating; the carnal, physical dimension and the spiritual will be linked in a most perfect way. No aspect of the human being will be left unfulfilled.
All aspects of life which the righteous denied or limited for him/herself out of fear of God and obedience to His comandements will be experienced in the hereafter with an unimaginable intensity, from a physical and spiritual aspect and without the negative, worldly side.
The successful in the Hereafter will be granted all their wishes and beyond, but the Quran sometimes chooses to specify some of those rewards in order to parallel the worldly sacrifices of the pious with the corresponding compensation of the next world.
Whether in the Quran or the HB, humans will be resurrected bodily to experience their blissful reward. It would be a useless concept even from a biblical perspective, should the reward of the hereafter only be of a spiritual nature. This means humans will never cease being humans in the world to come. If that is the case then no human, besides those influenced by the writings of the Greeks and who view the body as the enemy of the spirit (pauline christians) will deny the legitimate pleasures of the flesh, including sex.
For example those whose most prominent aspect of their spirituality was dreading the day of resurrection, will be free from any distress and worry when they are raised, while those who piously gave up from their resources for the sake of the needy will find abundant luxury from their Sustainer.
Those who suffered rejection and ostracism, hardships and even sometimes life threatening sacrifices due their uprightness and desire to be near unto God in this life, will be drawn near to their Lord in the Hereafter in full security and glory. They will in addition be raised as the greatest kings, dressed and served accordingly. The Quran in 18:28 as well as other places mentions the social ostracism and taunting the mainly poor followers of the prophet had to endure from the elite. Besides outright mocking his humble assemblies, they boasted of their worldly achievements as indicators of them being divinely approved 19:73,77. This attitude, present in mankind since immemorial times and prevalent even in our days, is personified in the Quran with Qaarun, and others too 28:79-83. They are heedless of the fact that countless people each mightier that the other were brought low and severely chastized in this life 30:7-10. These social elites would sometimes ask the prophet to send his humble assemblies away if he desired they sit with him to learn about the message.
Consequently the Quran vindicates those that were looked down upon, describing how in the Hereafter honor will only be theirs, adorned with the attires of the greatest rulers and raised on thrones above lush gardens 18:31,22:23,35:33,76:20-1 receiving gifts surpassing what they wish for due to them compromising in this world their own desires for the sake of the needy 50:35.
They will be made to inherit the land; a metonym often used to illustrate their just honoring. God's bounties were made available to all in this world as a matter of testing our conduct and morals, not as a means of honoring us, but in the Hereafter where that testing is over and only the successful will enjoy themselves and will be elevated, every benefit imaginable will only belong to the righteous believers 7:32,21:105,39:73-4,43:35.
In a realm of continuous inner and outward peace, sense of spiritual fulfillement due to nearness to God, as well as first hand experience of all higher realities that have now finally been unveiled, the meritorious will rightfully enjoy all material benefits, without envy or discrimination, nor ever compromising their spirituality.
Another example of heavenly compensation for worldly sacrifices is that of wine, one of life's pleasures which the believer denied himself in obedience to God. He will find it in paradise without any of its negative aspects, along with many other pleasurable drinks 56:18-19. In fact all enjoyments of paradise, in whatever quantity but only of the best quality, will be free from harm, disease or discomfort as is encountered in this world, unrestricted by any natural or unnatural factor and not requiring any toil to be obtained or appreciated 13:35,15:48,44:55,56:32-33.
From the righteous male viewpoint, the woman with whom he will be coupled, though incredibly beautiful, will have an equally beautiful character, morals and spirituality. Sexual desires and thoughts are, for males, the most important urges they must learn to channel within the religious legal limits in this world. The Quran's injunctions on that matter repeatedly come in the context of success in the hereafter. Sexuality within the permissible limits is such an important notion, that it is repeatedly tied to the most basic requirements of the religion, like the daily prayers 23:1-6.
Consequently to the righteous' self-control in this life, lowering his gaze, refusing to transgress and yield to temptation 24:30, he will be satisfied in the most fulfilling way in paradise. This includes not only physical satisfaction with the opposite gender, but emotional as well. This is an objective right and natural demand of justice. He will be coupled with a mate whose moral uprightness will be corresponding to his. Humans wont cease being humans in paradise. Their physical and spiritual enhancement will lead to equally enhanced physical and spiritual enjoyments.
As to the righteous women, although females do have of course sexual urges which they need to control in this life and keep within the legal limits 24:31, these desires are not as overwhelmingly present and challenging to their daily, worldly, spirituality as they are with males. It just is a biological, mental and spiritual reality, so much so that the background of many criminal cases involving men are sexually motivated, whether consciously or subconsciously. The Quran therefore does not speak of this aspect of the heavenly reward of righteous females although it never is denied.
The Quran enforces, time and again the fact that all paradise dwellers, males or females, will find a just and corresponding reward, all that their hearts desire, and much more that cannot be described since entirely outside any human experience. There shall be no excess nor shortfall between the shares of the women and those of the men, in quantity or quality
3:195"I will not waste the work of a worker among you, whether male or female, the one of you being from the other".
This verse as a side note was revealed prior to the one in sura ahzaab which allegedly came to reassure the person that came to the prophet asking him about the heavenly reward of women 33:35. It is very common in commentaries and ahadith to associate a verse with a real situation and make it seem that the revelation of the verse came in answer to it. Although verses did many times come in specific circumstances, at other times it is the assumption of the reporter, and is in fact an occasion of recitation rather than revelation. It is even clearer in this case, as the traditions report a similar occasion where someone approached the prophet with the same question about the reward of women, he then stood at the pulpit and recited 33:35. There are even earlier Meccan verses stressing the indiscriminate reward of heaven, including 40:40,43:70 or
16:97"Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do".
Not every new convert was directly aware of all the intricacies of the Quran, hence their questioning of the prophet despite the presence of these verses. What is interesting is that not one Quranic verse uses the female gender in connection to the punishments of Hell, yet it is understood that, far from being favoritism towards women, the use of the male gender is only by way of representation of the whole of humanity. The axiom of gender equality in heavenly reward is well established, and whenever some of these rewards are gender specific, it is because it is addressing a male audience, not because the said reward is denied to women.
That being said, the idea of a woman having multiple husbands is not something sought after by women in general. So while it is appealing, as well as morally, religiously allowed for a man in this world to have multiple wives, it is not the case for women. The idea is distorted and sinful. It would be rejected by the vast majority of women even if given the freedom to choose. Hence the description of women in heaven as
55:56"women limiting [their] glances, untouched before them by man or jinni".
Morally reprehensible, sinful and unappealing things will not become acceptable in heaven. The multiplicity of husbands to a woman in paradise is thus excluded. This does not negate complete emotional, spiritual, physical satisfaction with her unique husband in heaven.
The Quran therefore does not speak of every kind of heavenly rewards, but rather gives a preview, a glimpse of the main areas that will naturally, as a demand of justice, intensely be experienced by the righteous who in this life preserved him/herself from transgression. These main areas being; honor, materialism, and sex.
The Arabs during the rise of Islam lived their life preoccupied with these 3 main things, having little to no regard to spirituality in the process. Little has changed since then, especially in our times. The message of the Quran as it addressed those Arabs, and humanity at large through them, is that these pursuits are perfectly legitimate, but that they should not be sought according to one's whims. God did not create man in a material world, with physical and mental senses while expecting him to refuse himself the appeal of these senses. Rather God, Who is the provider of these enjoyments and the Maker of our senses, wants mankind to seek those pleasures in God-consciousness. If one is able to live his/her life in the pursuit of these things while remaining within God's limits, then, regardless if one is successful or not in achieving them in this world, one will surely experience them in an exponential, unfathomable manner in the hereafter.
Although Heaven is undoubtedly the place where all the desires of the righteous are granted, contrary to the dwellers of hell to whom
34:54"a barrier shall be placed between them and that which they desire",
and the only kind of toil they will experience will be one that gives pleasure 16:31,36:55-7 it is also the place where the righteous' earthly traits of nobility and satisfaction through spirituality will be even more prominent; they firstly humbly acknowledge that the abundant reward is because of Allah's grace, not simply on account of their deeds 35:35. They will love it most to sing hymns of praise to Allah and glorify His name just as they did in this world. They will wish eachother peace 10:10 in a place where there will be no room for vain, idle or mean talk, only peaceful intentions 19:62. So upright and spiritually aware the dweller of heaven is, that the Quran pictures a persecuted believer exclaiming, upon his entry in heaven, his wish that his nation could know God's mercy and forgiveness to him, instead of expressing his satisfaction for having ended up "victorious" or simply stating his overwhelming excitement at his own reward. The dwellers of heaven will thus be free from any ill feelings towards anyone, whether their brethren of paradise or the people who made them suffer while on earth. They will be content and appeased in the best way
89:27"O soul that are at rest, Return to your Lord, well pleased with Him, well pleasing Him. So enter among My servants, and enter into My garden".
This state of spiritual purity will make any ill or evil intention useless to them. They will never entertain the idea of desiring something inappropriate towards anyone, anything, or their God. What they will like is what will be pleasing to their appeased souls and this pleasure will always be linked to the pleasure of God.
Just as there are higher places above higher places, in this Garden that is as large as the heavens and earth 3:133,57:21 there will be Gardens beyond Gardens 55:46,62 (two beyond two just like the "two" gardens of Sheba does not mean that there were only two gardens in the whole country, but that the entire land was like a garden and wherever a man stood, he could see a garden on his right and a garden on his left 34:15-7) thus conveying once more the idea of infinity in connection with the concept of paradise, and the fact it is beyond perception
85:11"they shall have gardens beneath which rivers flow".
In contrast, hell is a place of tightness and pressure, of layers of fire above and below its dwellers who in addition are chained together 25:13,39:16,7:41,29:55. Chaining is mentioned in the Quran opposite the tyrannical nations that oppressed and chained the weak
88:25-6"On that day, none will punish as He punishes, and none will bind with chains as He binds".
Despite its vastness, pictured as asking for more and more to be hurled into it, it keeps its dwellers constricted in a narrow space within it, in the manner of a large wall where there are many points of place for a great deal of nails, but every nail is in pressure.
An interesting linguistic nuance used in the Quran to illustrate the vastness and abundance experienced in Paradise is that at the time of stating the bounties of the people of Heaven, it does not precede the statement with the particle min/of, which denotes a portion of something. But it uses the particle in the next sentence when describing Hell's chastisement 34:4-5. This is in line with God's repeated just and merciful reckoning, inflicting a precise, limited and corresponding punishment while rewarding with boundless mercy.
But in spite of this boundless vastness, a person can buy paradise with finite actions like the often reiterated principle of "selling" this worldly life for God's sake. Once they reach heaven, the righteous will understand how its sustenance for example has similarities with what they knew on earth but is really different 2:25 so when the Quran speaks of certain earthly fruits being in heaven 55:68 it is to give us an idea through something we can relate to, of what lies in store. This reveals, once again, the principle that this universe, all of it, is in fact a "teaser" of the hereafter, giving humans a glimpse of things pleasant or not, which will be experienced in the world to come.
Just as the righteous who sacrificed many aspects of worldly pleasures to live within the limits God has prescribed, and will be correspondingly compensated in the Hereafter, the reverse is the case of those who in this life lived in the greedy pursuit of riches, using and abusing from all material benefits without any higher perspective in mind.
As they freely ate and drank the unlawfully acquired or the religiously forbidden food and drinks, they will find themselves eating fire and other harmful, unwholesome food and drinks in the Hereafter 4:10,47:15,18:29,14:16,38:57,55:44,88:5. The Quran compares them in this worldly life to cattle, enjoying food and drink while in the process devoid of the higher realities in mind. For this reason, the equivalent of these worldly foods, drinks, and means of comfort will be found but with a mirror opposite effect 56:41-72,77:29-32. The believers on the other hand enjoyed each pleasure of this life, including one of the most prominent being food and drink, in God-consciousness, which includes in consideration of the needy and within the limits set by God, as well as gratefulness. They are thus awarded that human delight with the best food and drink in abundance and unrestrictedly
47:12-15"Indeed, Allah will admit those who have believed and done righteous deeds to gardens beneath which rivers flow, but those who disbelieve enjoy themselves and eat as grazing livestock eat, and the Fire will be a residence for them. Is the description of Paradise, which the righteous are promised, wherein are rivers of water unaltered, rivers of milk the taste of which never changes, rivers of wine delicious to those who drink, and rivers of purified honey, in which they will have from all [kinds of] fruits and forgiveness from their Lord, like [that of] those who abide eternally in the Fire and are given to drink scalding water that will sever their intestines?".
As they misused their garments, which are otherwise supposed to provide spiritual and physical protection, to corrupt the minds, or as symbols of their tyrannical authority, they will find themselves covered with clothing of liquid pitch 14:50.
Similarly, those that unlawfully and ungratefully took advantage of the abundance of sustenance and security will find themselves confronted to hunger and fear to such an extent that it would be as if these 2 conditions are covering them like garments 16:112. Those that only considered worldly pursuits in heedlessness of the Hereafter, neglecting their spiritual relationship with God, will find themselves despised and rejected, distanced from God's mercy 17:18,23:66,83:15,20:126,11:99. Those that prevented people from hearkening God's words and distorted divine truths will not hear God's pleasant words in the next world 2:174.
There are many other descriptions the Quran gives of how the worldly response that humans give to God's bounties, which are nothing but testing devices, manifest in the world to come.
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