5. Jannātu ʾl-Maʾwā (Sūratu ʾs-Sajdah, [xxxii. 19]), The Gardens of Refuge.
6. Jannātu ʾn-Naʿīm (Sūratu ʾl-Māʾidah, [v. 70]), The Gardens of Delight.
7. ʿIllīyūn (Sūratu ʾt-Tat̤fīf, [lxxxiii. 18]).
8. Jannātu ʾl-Firdaus (Sūratu ʾl-Kahf, [xviii. 107]), The Gardens of Paradise.
These eight stages are spoken of as eight doors in the Mishkāt, book ii. ch. i.
The sensual delights of Muḥammad’s Paradise are proverbial, and they must have exercised a considerable influence upon the minds of the people to whom he made known his mission. There are frequent allusions to them in the Qurʾān. The following are specimen passages:—
Sūratu ʾl-Insān [(lxxvi.), 12–22]:—“God hath rewarded their constancy, with Paradise, and silken robes, reclining therein on bridal couches; nought shall they know of sun or piercing cold: its shades shall close over them, and low shall its fruits hang down: and vessels of silver and goblets like flagons shall be borne round among them: flagons of silver whose measure themselves shall mete. And there shall they be given to drink of the cup tempered with zanjabīl (ginger) from the fount therein whose name is Salsabīl (i.e. the softly flowing). Blooming youths go round among them. When thou lookest at them, thou wouldst deem them scattered pearls; and when thou seest this, thou wilt see delights and a vast kingdom; their clothing green silk robes and rich brocade: with silver bracelets shall they be adorned; and drink of a pure beverage shall their Lord give them. This shall be your recompense.”
Sūratu ʾl-Wāqiʿah [(lvi.), 12–39]: “In gardens of delight, a crowd of the former and a few of the later generations; on inwrought couches reclining on them face to face, blooming youths go round about them with goblets and ewers and a cup of flowing wine; their brows ache not from it, nor fails the sense: and with such fruits as shall please them best, and with flesh of such birds as they shall long for; and theirs shall be the Houris (Arabic ḥūr), with large dark eyes, like pearls hidden in their shells, in recompense for their labours past. No vain discourse shall they hear therein, nor charge of sin, but only cry ‘Peace! Peace!’… Unfailing, unforbidden, and on lofty couches and of a rare creation have we made the Houris, and we have made them ever virgins, dear to their spouses and of equal age, for the people of the right hand, a crowd of the former, and a crowd of the later generations.”
Sūratu ʾr-Raḥmān [(lv.), 54–56]: “On couches with linings of brocade shall they recline, and the fruit of the two gardens shall be within their easy reach.… Therein shall be the damsels with retiring glances, whom neither man nor jinn hath touched before them.”
Sūratu ʾl-Muḥammad [(xlvii.), 16, 17]: “Therein are rivers of water which corrupt not: rivers of milk, whose taste changeth not: and rivers of wine, delicious to those who quaff it; and rivers of clarified honey: and therein are all kinds of fruit for them from their Lord.”