Question: It says in Hadiths: Some of the people of Paradise are given lands as extensive as the world, and thousands of palaces and hundreds of thousands of houris are bestowed on them. What need has a single person of all these things, why should it be necessary? How can this be and what does it mean?
The Answer: If man was only a lifeless being, or was only a vegetable creature consisting of a stomach, or consisted only of a limited, heavy, temporary, simple corporeality or animal body, he could not own many palaces and houris, or be fit for them.
But man is such a comprehensive miracle of power that even in this transitory world and brief life, if he is given the rule of the whole world with its wealth and pleasures, his ambition is not satisfied – in respect of the need of some of his subtle faculties, which do not develop here.
It is therefore reasonable, right, and true that a person possessing an infinite capacity who knocks on the door of an infinite mercy with the hand of infinite desires and the tongue of infinite needs will receive in an eternal abode of bliss the divine bounties described in Hadiths. We shall observe this elevated truth through the telescope of a comparison. It is as follows:
Although, like this valley garden, all the gardens and vineyards of Barla have different owners, all the birds and sparrows and honey‑bees in Barla, who have only a handful of grain for food, may say: “All the gardens and orchards of Barla are my pleasant resorts where I fly around and enjoy myself.” Each may take possession of Barla and include it in its property. Others sharing it does not invalidate his ownership.
Similarly, a man who is a true human being may say: “My Creator made this world a house for me. The sun is my lamp and the stars, my electric lights. The face of the earth is my resting‑place spread with flowered carpets.” And he offers thanks to Allah. The other creatures sharing it does not negate his statement. On the contrary, the creatures adorn his house like decorations.
And so, if, by virtue of his humanity, man – and even a bird – in this narrow fleeting world, claims a sort of power of disposal over such a vast sphere and receives such a vast bounty, how can it be deemed unlikely that he will be given ownership of a property stretching over a five‑hundred-year distance in a broad and eternal abode of bliss?
Moreover, just as in this dense, dark and narrow world the sun is present in the same way at the same time in numerous mirrors, so too, as is proved in the Sixteenth Word, a luminous being may be present in many places in the same way at the same time. For example, Gabriel (Upon whom be peace) simultaneously being on a thousand stars, and at the divine throne, and in the presence of the Prophet (UWBP), and in the divine presence; and the Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) meeting with most of the righteous of his community at the resurrection of the dead at the same time and appearing in this world in innumerable places simultaneously; and a strange group of the saints known as abdāl, appearing at the same time in many places; and ordinary people sometimes carrying out in a dream as much as a year’s work in one minute and observing this; and everyone being in contact with and concerned with numerous places at the same time in their hearts, spirits, and imaginations – all these are well‑known and may be witnessed.
Most certainly, therefore, in luminous, unrestricted, broad, and eternal Paradise, the people of Paradise, whose bodies have the strength and lightness of the spirit and the swiftness of imagination, being in hundreds of thousands of places at the same time, and conversing with hundreds of thousands of houris, and receiving pleasure in hundreds of thousands of ways, is fitting for that eternal Paradise, that infinite mercy, and as told by the Bringer of Sure News (UWBP), is reality and the truth. Nevertheless, these vast truths cannot be weighed on the scales of our tiny minds.This tiny mind cannot comprehend such sublime matters,For these scales cannot bear such a weight.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All‑Knowing, All-Wise.
O our Sustainer! Do not call us to task if we forget or fall into error.
Allah! Grant blessings to Your Beloved, who by being Your Beloved and through his prayers, flung open the doors of Paradise, and because of the benedictions for him of its members, You confirmed its opening for his community, and bless him and grant him peace. Allah! Appoint us to Paradise among the righteous, through the intercession of Your Beloved, the Chosen One. Amen.