The descriptions of the celestial regions and the enjoyments promised to the faithful are still more minutely given in the traditional sayings of the Prophet; see the Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. xiii.
Abū Mūsā relates that “the Apostle of God said, Verily there is a tent for every Muslim in Paradise, it is made of one pearl, its interior empty, its breadth 60 kos, and in every corner of it will be his wives: and they shall not see one another. The Muslim shall love them alternately,” &c.
Abū Saʿīd relates that “the Apostle of God said, ‘He who is least amongst the people of Paradise, shall have eighty thousand slaves, and seventy-two women, and has a tent pitched for him of pearls, rubies, and emeralds.… Those who die in the world, young or old, are made of thirty years of age, and not more, when they enter Paradise.’ ”
Abū Saʿīd also relates that “the Apostle of God said, ‘Verily a man in Paradise reclines upon seventy cushions, before he turns on his other side. Then a woman of Paradise comes to him and pats him on the shoulder, and the man sees his face in her cheek, which is brighter than a looking-glass, and verily her most inferior pearl brightens the east and west. Then the woman makes a salām to him, which he returns; and the man says, “Who are you?” and she replies, “I am of the number promised of God for the virtuous.” And verily she will have seventy garments, and the man’s eyes will be fixed on them, till he will see the marrow of the bones of her legs through the calves of them, and she will have crowns on her head, the meanest pearl of which would give light between the east and west.’ ”
One of the attractions of Paradise is the river Kaus̤ar. [[KAUSAR].] According to Anas, “the Apostle of God said, it is a river which God has given me in Paradise, its water is whiter than milk, and sweeter than honey, and on its waters are birds whose necks are like the necks of camel.”
The following is an instance of the way in which the Prophet endeavoured to suit his paradise to the tastes of the people:—
Abū Aiyūb says, “An Arab came to the Prophet and said, ‘O Apostle of God! I am fond of horses; are there any in Paradise?’ The Prophet replied, ‘If you are taken into Paradise, you will get a ruby horse, with two wings, and you will mount him, and he will carry you wherever you wish.’ ”
Abū Hurairah said, “Verily the Apostle of God said, when an Arab was sitting near him, that a man of the people of Paradise will ask permission of his Lord to cultivate land, and God will say, ‘Have you not everything you could wish for? What will you cultivate?’ The man will say, ‘Yes, everything is present, but I am fond of cultivating.’ Then he will be permitted to cultivate, and he will sow, and, quicker than the twinkling of an eye, it will grow, become ripe, and be reaped, and it will stand in sheaves like mountains.”
The apologists for Islām, Carlyle for example, have suggested that the sensual delights of Muḥammad’s paradise may, after all, be taken in a figurative sense, as the Revelation of St. John or the Song of Solomon. It is quite true that such an interpretation is hinted at in the Ak͟hlāq-i-Jalālī (Thompson’s translation, p. 102), and Mr. Lane in his Egyptians (vol. i. p. 84) says that a Muslim of some learning considered the descriptions of Paradise figurative, but such is not the view held by Muḥammadan doctors, whether Sunnī, Shīʿah, or Wahhābī. They are all agreed as to the literal interpretation of the sensual enjoyments of the Muslim paradise, and very many are the books written giving minute particulars of the joys in store for the faithful.
Islām, true to its anti-Christian character, preaches a sensual abode of bliss, in opposition to the express teaching of our Lord in [Matt. xxii. 30]: “They neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”