Abdullah bin Mas'ud radiAllahu ta'ala anhu narrates that the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wasallam said, I have seen the very last person to get out of hell and enter into Jannah. Now, I want you to think about this man and there are several narrations about him. This is the person who has the very least faith in hellfire and Adam's worth of faith in his heart to where Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala takes him out at the very end from Jahannam to enter him into paradise. Yet look how Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is going to treat this man. The Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wasallam said he comes crawling out entirely scorched and he looks back at hellfire and he says Alhamdulillah I'm done with you. And then Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala tells him go ahead and enter into the Garden of Paradise. So in this narration, he goes and he enters into the Garden of Paradise, but what he finds is that the people have all occupied their homes. So imagine he goes through the neighborhoods of Jannah and he says I don't see anything. It looks like all the houses are occupied. So he comes back to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and he says Oh my Lord, the people have taken all of the homes. There was no for sale sign. There was no home with my name on it. What do I do? And Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says to him Do you even remember the time that you were in? Like do you have any recollection of time? Do you know where you are? Do you know how long you were in hellfire? Do you remember anything about your existence before being in Jahannam for all of those years? So he says yes. So Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says to him
Make a wish. So he's going to think and say I wish for something and for the entire kingdom of the world, meaning what? Everything that existed of mulk, of kingdom that this dunya ever possessed, everything from Suleyman alayhis-salam's kingdom, Dawood alayhis-salam's kingdom, to Firaun and Qarun, right? I want it all, O Allah, to be given to me. And Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says to him You know what? You have that something that you wished for and you have the whole world 10 times over. So this man just got out of hellfire, has very little belief in his heart, right? Is the last person to go in. He couldn't even find a house in Jannah for himself. And now he makes a wish and Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says you get what you wish and I'm going to give you the whole world times 10, everything that existed in this world times 10. And he says Ya Rabb, O my Lord, Are you making fun of me? And you're the Lord of all the worlds? And Ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu anhu started to laugh and he said, why are you laughing? He said because the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam started to laugh and he laughed so much that you could see his back teeth and we said Ya Rasulullah, Why are you laughing? He said because Allah laughs when the man says this and says to him, I'm not making fun of you. But I have power over whatever I want, meaning I can do whatever I want, subhanAllah. So what is Jannah to you? It might be different for everyone to an extent because in this life, we don't all like the same things or necessarily want the same things, but you have to realize that you're dealing with Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala who created you, who knows what pleases
you and is promising you a paradise that will forever please you. Now what pleases you here be the same thing in Jannah? In some cases, yes, and in some cases, no, because we have different wants in Jannah, but in some ways no two people's Jannah is going to look exactly the same and when Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala speaks about Jannah in the Quran, he's speaking to generally what will motivate the men and the women. So Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is giving us things that fit the majority, that fit the generalities, knowing that there are specific things that different believing men and women are going to want and Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is not going to disappoint. So when you think about Jannah, do you want to fly in Jannah like Ja'far radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu with the angels? Do you want to hang out and kick back on a particular beach with particular people? If you're a kid, do you want to play with your Pokemon cards? What do you want in Jannah? Jannah is what you want. Jannah is what you wish. Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says, wa feeha ma tashtaheehi al-anfus wa taladhul a'yun That in it is all that the soul's desire and the eyes delight in wa antum feeha khalidoon And you will be there forever. Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says, wa lakum feeha ma tashtaheehi al-anfusukum wa lakum feeha ma tadda'oon You will have all that your soul desires and anything you ask for. So Abu Huraira radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, He says that while the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wasalam was talking one day, there was a Bedouin and this Bedouin comes to the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wasalam And he hears the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wasalam saying that a man from the people of Paradise will ask Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala to cultivate the land so that he could grow crops himself. Now, basically the Prophet sallAllahu alaihi wasalam is telling us that this man that enters into Jannah happens to love to farm and so he wants to farm in Jannah. Now, maybe that doesn't resonate with you at all because you've never experienced what it's like to grow something and you just want to relax in Jannah and eat whatever comes off the tree.
But some people love the experience of seeing something grow, of farming and eating from their own hands. So Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala will ask him, didn't you already get everything that you wanted, everything you desire and he'll say yes, oh Allah, but I like to grow things myself. I want to cultivate the land and grow things myself. And so Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala will say to him fine and he will sow the seeds and within seconds his plants will grow and ripen and the yield will be harvested and piled in heaps like mountains and Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala will say to him take O son of Adam whatever you like for nothing seems to satisfy you. So the Bedouin that was there. He says Ya Rasulullah, this person must be from Quraysh or they're probably from the Ansar because they like to farm and we could care less for farming and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam started to laugh and Ikram radiallahu ta'ala anhu he said that a man in Paradise just thinks to himself, you know, if Allah gives me permission, I would cultivate my own land and all of a sudden he notices the Angels at his door saying Assalamualaikum, peace be on to you. Your Lord is saying that you had a desire in your heart and he knew it. So he sent us with the seeds and he'll tell the Angels to sow them and they will do so and they will grow crops like mountains instantly. This is Jannah. What do you want from it? Right? And subhanAllah, this is something that you know, really speaks to the generosity of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala that a person thinks of Jannah differently and Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala rewards them accordingly. Now it may be something you desired in this Dunya that never happened. So for example, a woman might want to experience being pregnant and having children either because that was a joy for her or maybe she never had that joy in this Dunya. Even though pregnancy is tough in this Dunya and it comes with a lot of pain, maybe a woman wants to experience that in Jannah
again or for the first time. So in one narration, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, That if the believer wants to have a child in Paradise, the pregnancy, the delivery, and the weaning will all take place within an hour and an hour here doesn't mean 60 minutes. But a short time as they desire, a painless process, then the child will be the age that they please. How is that possible? How do you have kids in Jannah? What does that look like? What's the delivery like? Again, that's not for you to worry about. Jannah is for you from Allah who knows you best. Now a question comes up. What about unnatural desires? You see Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is speaking to the fitrah of people in the Quran and he's speaking to things that from a fitrah perspective, from a natural perspective, most women, men, whatever it is, want these things that Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is saying to them. But what if you have an unnatural desire? Does Allah purify the desire or does Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala perfect the reward? See, here's the thing, just because you desire something now doesn't mean that you will there and Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is promising you that you won't be displeased in Jannah. Allah is the one who creates your desires. Then Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala creates the rewards that suit those desires and part of tawakkul or trusting Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala in this life is what? It's knowing that Allah will give you something better even if you can't see it and in Jannah you trust that Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala will give you an unseen reward that is better than anything you could have imagined even if you can't perceive that now. So even if you never heard a single description of Jannah, it would be enough to know that Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala has
customized a Jannah for you that he knows will please you but Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala still tells us some of the specifics to appeal to us and even that alone is from his generosity and mercy. Know that every dua that you make here is only responded to with better and every wish that you make there is only responded to with better.