Islam As It Is
The Hereafter
~ 80 ~
person of very great merit. But the person who can
absorb unpleasant experiences and then pass them
on to others in the form of pleasant experiences is of
even greater merit. It is people with such patience,
fortitude and consideration for others who are truly
fit to take up residence in Paradise- a place of the
greatest purity and refinement, where even filth
impinges on the senses in the form of fragrance. The
best candidate for entry to such a world is one who
has shown his capacity to accomplish this same
process of conversion in the world of mankind.
Here, the manifestation of filth in the form of
fragrance takes place on an abstract level, within the
mind. In Paradise, at God’s behest, it will assume a
physical form. In other words, human action on a
moral plane in this world will take concrete shape
in the next world.
Every situation which confronts a man in this world
invites one of two kinds of responses. It is on the
basis of this response that one will be pronounced
fit for Heaven or far Hell.
A true word is spoken. One acknowledges it,
another denies it. An issue arises, eliciting justice
