Paradise' Plants
By/ Sheikh Hany Hilmy
03/01/2009
The eighth assignment: The Remembrance - Paradise's plants
We have discussed remembrance and the fact that we must speak and hear in a way that pleases Allah.
If you love Him, you will remember Him because if you love someone, you will keep talking about him/her.
So, if your heart and imagination are filled with Allah, you will keep mentioning His name all the time and you will make people do like you. I always say whoever wants to make dua'a for me, please pray that I be the reason behind people loving Him.
O Allah I ask you for truthfulness and sincerity in my words and my deeds.
The prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: "No one on earth says that none has the right to be worshipped except He, Allah is the Greatest and there is no might nor power except with Allah, except that his sins will be expiated". (Narrated by Ahmad and classified as sahih by Al Albani).
He also said: "Whoever prays upon me once, Allah will pray ten times upon him, erase ten sins and lift him ten steps in paradise". (Narrated by Ahmad and corrected by Al Albani).
May peace and blessings be upon him
So, loving and remembering the prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) is the same as loving and remembering Allah because he is Allah's so close to Allah the Exalted. So keep remembrance of him on your tongue all the times.
As we said remembrance is the seed of the plants of paradise.
The prophet Abraham (peace be upon him), sent a special message to the Muslim nation with the prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) in the night of Isra'a. He said: "O Muhammad, send my greetings to your nation (Ummah) and peace be upon you too. Tell them that paradise has a good soil and fresh water and it is deep and its plants are planted by saying how perfect is Allah, all praises be to Allah, none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, and there is no power nor might except with Allah".
In Ashoura we need to aim for planting a vast oasis, not a small garden!
We need to increase our Lord's remembrance in Ashoura. In another hadith the prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever says how perfect is the Great Allah, and all praises be to Him, a palm tree will be planted for him in Paradise" (narrated by An-Nisaee and corrected by Al Albani).
Watch how the prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) used to raise his companions. He once passed by Abu Hurairah who was cultivating. The prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Oh Abu Hurairah, what are you planting?" He said: "Plants for me." The prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Shall I tell about plants that will be better for you." He said: "Of course, messenger of Allah." He said: "Say how perfect is Allah, all praises be to Allah, none has the right to be worshipped but Him and Allah is the Greatest. For each one you say, you get a tree in paradise"Sunan ibn Majah and classified as sahih by al-Albani
Al Hasan Al Basri used to say: The angels work all the time in planting and building in paradise for Adams' breed and when they stop, they were asked: "Why did you stop?" They said: "We are waiting for the charges".So, send them the remembrances to keep them working. Then, Al Hasan said: By my father and mother, make them work hard and tire them.
One of the righteous saw in a dream that someone was telling him: "We were ordered to finish building your home." Then, he heard a voice saying: "We finished building your home and we called it the pleasing home, so be joyful. We were ordered to furnish and decorate it. We spent seven days doing that. When it was the seventh day, the man died. Someone saw in the dream that the dead man entered the pleasing home and no one should wonder how it looks.. Allah al Kareem (Ever-Generous or the Noble) built it for him, this is how He rewards an obedient servant. Some saw in the dream that he entered paradise and saw his house and wives there. When he wanted to leave, one of his wives in paradise held him and said: "By Allah! Improve your deeds because the better your deed is the more beautiful we get."
