heaven

Today�s topic starts with a question? I wonder what it is that the prophet instilled in the companions to make them act in the way they did, which we don�t have now, so that we can follow in the footsteps of the companions. One of the companions, Sohayb, when he was emigrating from Quraysh, set off taking all his belongings with him. He was stopped by the people of Quraysh who insisted that he leave all his wealth if he was to leave as he had gained them from his life in Quraysh, and so he did and gave it all up, and left laughing! What did the prophet plant in these people to make them act like that, to even give up his camal and the clothes on his back?

What did he plant in them? He planted the love of heaven, the longing to see God in heaven. He taught them not be interested in the world but in heaven, that this life is all a test, making them want to go to heaven and meet God, feeling like heaven is so big in their heart.

How did he plant it? Abdullah Ibn Umays went on a difficult mission from the prophet. He came back after succeeding in the mission and when he saw the prophet he asked him �What did you do?� to which he said �I did it oh prophet�. So the prophet told him to wait while he got him his reward. So he waited while he went indoors and came back with a stick. Abdullah Ibn Umays looked at it not understanding, then the prophet said �Take this and give it back to me on the Day of Judgement and I will let you into heaven with it� like an entrance card! Abdullah Ibn Umays said �I swear it did not leave my hand from that day� and ordered for it to be buried with him. This is how he made heaven so close to their hearts.

They say that The Rawda in <st1:City><st1:place>Medina</st1:place></st1:City> is actually a part of heaven, if you go into it then you�ve gone into a piece of heaven! Scientists say that God is more generous than letting you get into heaven in Rawda and not let you into it in after you die. They say Uhud is one of the hills of heaven, go look at it and see. Heaven is something close to you, something you can feel and hold. The prophet said he saw heaven and brought back some grapes and said if any of us tasted from this then we would continue tasting it until the Day of Judgement.

He said when he went to heaven in the Israa Wal Miraaj he saw heaven and saw a grand palace and asked who it was for and was told it was for a man from Quraysh. So he thought it was for him but then he was told that it was for Omar Ibn Al Khatab. He said �I saw a woman washing herself for prayer outside the house and I remembered your jealousy Omar and so I looked away�. It�s something you can see, you can imagine.

Once when he was sitting with the companions he said �Someone will come in from this door who is a man of heaven�. So they all looked towards the door and a normal man came in, just a normal person, he didn�t fast more than most but just never used to sleep holding a grudge against anyone. He�s ordinary, heaven is here.

The prophet used to teach them that heaven is so close it�s as if it is just a step away. He used to motivate them to think of heaven. Sit at home and dream of your heaven, imagine as much as you can.

Once the prophet was sitting with the companions and asked them �Which of you went into heaven?� and Abdullah bin Omar said �Yes, I did� so that Omar Bin Al Khatab was embarrassed of him. Then the prophet asked if anyone had ever drunk from heavens� water, and again he said yes and then he asked them if anyone had eaten from heavens� fruit and again he answered yes. Then the prophet asked him to explain to everyone and Abdullah bin Omar said �I tasted from it and drank from its water when you did oh prophet of God.�

So now will we worship during Ramadan? What is more important to you, heaven or the world?

With every Sobhan Allah Wa Bi Hamdih we say, a tree is planted for you in heaven.

Angels keep working to build your homes in heaven as you mention God, and stop when you stop. Anyone who prays 12 prostrations every day will have a palace built for him in heaven. These are just the 12 prostrations of Taraweeh, 2 for Shaf� and 1 Witr and you will have a palace in heaven. So pray these 12 every day in Ramadan and you have 30 palaces in heaven. Also, the more Quran you read in Ramadan the higher up you will be in heaven.

On the day of Uhud, the companions were running away from the attackers apart from Anas who was running towards them. �Where are you going Anas?� they called. He replied �To heaven, I can smell heaven under the <st1:place><st1:PlaceType>mountain</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName>Uhud</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>�. He really could smell it! It�s said that if you are 500 years away from heaven you can start smelling it. Can you smell it? Take a deep breath.

All our social problems the prophet solved with heaven. Some attackers of Islam may think that we use heaven as a drug that it is something we use to cloud our emotions. This isn�t true. Look at how some parents have troubles with their children. If your child was brought up with heaven in their heart, they would learn that treating you well will get them into heaven. Just sit beneath your mum�s feet and you will smell heaven.

Parents who complain about their children not studying and not succeeding, the solution is heaven. From the hadeeth of the prophet PBUH he said that whoever studies with the intention of pleasing God this will bring them closer to heaven. So those who didn�t work hard will get stuck into their studies to get closer to heaven.

Parents who lost their children - from a hadeeth, God will order the angels to build a house for those who lost their children and still thanked God, called Bet El Hamd. Nothing puts out the fire of separating parents and their children as the thought of meeting them in heaven in Bet el Hamd.

People with tragedies, illnesses, someone who loses something like his eyes, what will give them patience but the thought of heaven? The prophet PBUH said that whoever loses something and is patient, his reward will be heaven.

Um Omara went out and fought in the battle of Yarmook and got her hand cut off. When she went back to <st1:City><st1:place>Medina</st1:place></st1:City> and went to meet the other women for food as they were used to, she would be embarrassed because she didn�t have a hand. Then Omar Bin El Khatab says that he heard that she was embarrassed that she had lost her hand and told her to be happy about the good news, that a part of her is already in heaven. Other women are proud of their soft, painted nails, and she was then proud of her cut off hand.

On the day of Badr, when we were the minority against the attackers, the only solution was heaven. The prophet got up and said, when the Ummah needed this talk �Get up to a heaven as wide as the skies and the earth.� Omayr Bin Hamaa� saying �Allah Allah ,oh prophet I want to be there�, so the prophet said to him that he will be there. The muslims won Badr with the remembrance of heaven.

From the hadeeth of Takfeel El Yateem and the thought of how you will be a neighbour of the prophet, who himself was an orphan, in heaven, made people open up orphanages and look after the welfare of an orphan and ask about them. This is to solve a social problem. The prophet was an orphan so this is how you can be close to him

Even in sports, the prophet used heaven to motivate people. Once a spy was listening into a conversation between the prophet and his companions and began to move away to take the news to their opposers. The prophet saw him and then said that whoever caught this man will be rewarded with heaven. Then two men left on camel and a donkey to chase him and Sabat ibn el Akwa� went out running on his feet chasing a man on a horse! He kept going faster till he passed by the 2 men. He was starting to get tired when he remembered heaven and then ran even faster until the other man sat down to rest. So he caught up with him and grabbed him and he said �Come here, you are my key to heaven� and he took him back to the prophet.

Why don�t we go there now? If you wish to see someone in heaven and you are worried on the day you will lose them, make an appointment to meet them at the entrance to heaven now. The day you will meet the prophet and have him pat you will be at the entrance to heaven. If you want to meet your wife and kids there, make an appointment there now. But before you go in you will hear God�s voice calling you saying �Oh people of heaven, I�m going to give you four things. You will be healthy and never ill, young and never get old, stay alive and never die, and will never be sad ever.� From now the happiness will keep on increasing. This is before we even go in. The prophet will knock and open the huge door to heaven. The door will be so big that it will be the distance between <st1:City><st1:place>Mecca</st1:place></st1:City> and the <st1:place>Levant</st1:place>! What will the first group going into heaven look like? The first group will be with the prophet, Imagine going in there hand in hand with the prophet, leading you into heaven. I wonder if I will go in with my friends, all 70 of them! All of you will be together, hand in hand. The faces of the first group going into heaven will shine like the moon. Their sweat will be perfumed. The words coming out of their mouth will be Subhan Allah La Ilah Illa Allah. Will they still have to worship? They will be worshipping because of the beauty of heaven.

Can you imagine going into heaven, what will you do? Will you go hug the prophet, hug your family? He will take you to your home. Everyone will have prime spots. There will a river of honey and a river of milk and rivers of water. The prophet will take you to your home, your home will have a river beneath it. And you will know your home, as if you had memorized it. You will go inside and see it will be built of silver and gold, smelling of the most beautiful perfume. The ceiling will be the throne of the Merciful.

Sayidna Moussa asked God who the lowest person in heaven will be. God said he will be the last one to come out from hell. He will keep trying to go out of hell and keep getting pulled back in until he is finally released. Then God will say to him �You now have the wealth of the wealthiest kings of the world�. Sayidna Moussa asked him if that is what is there for the lowest, then what is it for the highest? The God replied to him that �They are for my worshippers, I planted their pride with my hands, they do not know what I have prepared for them.�

What do you wish for in heaven? Love? Love which has spoilt many young girls and boys lives in the world. What is more beautiful in heaven? Your wife from the world. It will be the same wife but much more beautiful! If she goes into her palace, everything will light up. If they look at each other, their hearts will fill up with love, if they talk they will increase affection. This is a love that hasn�t occurred in the world.<o:p></o:p>

What other love will there be? The love for the family and the gathering of the family, love of your friends, the ones you loved in the world.

Look at the blessings in heaven, a cloud will pass by the people in heaven and ask �What do you want me to rain on you today?� Children will of course ask for chocolate!

Every Friday there will be a market in heaven and on their return, the wife and husband will meet each other and say to each other that their beauty had increased. Every Friday their beauty will increase!

What will you want to hear? The sounds in heaven will be something else, nothing you will hear in the world. God will say to us �Have you ever heard something this beautiful?� and we will say No! and then He will order the prophet to read Surit Taha. He will ask us �Have you ever heard anything like this?� and we will say No! Then He would order Sayidna Dawoud to read Surit Yaseen, and God will ask us �Have you ever heard anything this beautiful?� and we will say No! Then He will say I will read to you Surit Al Rahman. Can you imagine hearing this sura read by Al Rahman Himself in heaven?!

Who do you want to meet? Do you want to meet Al Bukhari and Muslim? Do you want to meet Sayida Maryam, Khadeeja? Do you wish to meet them and invite them to your home? Abu Bakr, Omar, Ali, and I want to be with them every day! I want to see the prophet, I wish I could meet him and go to his palace and sit with him. Then invite him and invite my family and friends and sit with them by the river and hear him talk about the battles. What else do you wish for? I wish to talk to God and have him talk to us. Your eyes will see God as you see the moon when it is full. God who we pray to and worship and created the world and its beauty, will I really see God? Yes! God will ask, �So people of heaven, are you happy?� They will say Yes! Then they will be told that there is more and they will ask �What?� And they will be called to go visit God and will all be carried to the Merciful. This is all in the book called �Hady El Arwah illa Bilad El Arah� by Ibn El Qayim. Then they will go up and sit on seats of gold and silver and a light will shine above them and they will think it is God, but it won�t be, it will be the light of God�s acceptance swt. Then God will say to them �Oh people of heaven Salamon Alaykom� Salaman Kawlan Min Rabin Raheem. Then God will say �Where are my worshippers who worshipped me without seeing me?� We will say �Be happy with us God� and He will say �. If I wasn�t happy with you I wouldn�t put you in my heaven.� Then they will ask to see God and the prophet said that they will be able to see His face. Then God will ask them if they are now happy and then everyone will be addressed individually with God saying to each of us �I am happy with you, so are you happy with me?�

Everyone, plant this in your heart. This is your work for today - everyone imagine what heaven is like and talk to your friends about it. May God grant us all heaven.

Heaven in Our Hearts!

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