Jannah: Home at Last
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Your Friends in Jannah | Episode 15
Few things bring us more joy and fulfillment than close companionship. Our friends celebrate our joys and support us through hardships. In Jannah, our friends will visit us—or, if they do not find us, they will ask for us. They may even save us from the Fire. So choose your friends wisely, and strive to be a righteous friend so that you all may reunite and live together in the bliss of Paradise.
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DISCLAIMER: All depictions of Jannah are purely conceptual and only vocals were used in the making of the soundtrack.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-sahibu s-sahib, imma ila al-jannah wa imma ila al-naar. A friend will drag you, either to paradise or to hellfire. And the company we choose here will likely be who we're going to be resurrected with and who we end up spending eternity with. So choose your friends wisely doesn't just mean for the purpose of this world. In fact, to a greater extent, the next world. I always marvel at people that do hajj together or people that share Ramadan with each other or people that share some sort of deep religious experience and they create these bonds that are unlike the bonds of anything else. Because just like loving Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not like loving anyone else, loving someone for the sake of Allah is not like loving anyone else for the sake of anything else. Urwa ibn Zubayr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu has a very touching story about our mother A'ishah radiyaAllahu anha. He says that one day I went to visit A'ishah and she was my aunt and I wanted to ask her some questions and I found her standing up praying and she was reading Qur'an and she was reading these ayat and she would cry and she would make dua and she would repeat the ayat and she'd cry and she'd make dua. So he said that she was taking so long that I told myself let me go shop because I have some things to do and then I'll come back later when she's done. So he said I went to the souk, I did what I had to do and I came back after a long time and I found her reciting the exact same ayah and it is an ayah from surah At-Tur. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
So he heard A'ishah radiyaAllahu anha reciting the last part of this. The ayah says that people start coming close to one another in Jannah and asking about each other and they're curious if someone they loved made it and if someone is missing and so they start to say that we remember before where we used to fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala together amongst our people and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has been gracious to us and saved us from the torment of the fire. So A'ishah radiyaAllahu anha was repeating this last part over and over again, this conversation between friends in Jannah where they say how merciful was Allah to us when he pardoned us and freed us as we used to be amongst our people, those that believed in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and feared him. Indeed, we used to call upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone before and we used to fear him alone before and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is truly most kind and most merciful. Friends that used to worship Allah together knew that they were strangers together in this dunya and now they're celebrating being the only people in paradise because all of the people of paradise are people who were righteous even when they were in the midst of great wickedness. And so these conversations start to unfold and the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam He said, when the people of paradise enter it, then friends that used to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala together, they'll start to long for one another. And so what happens? The couch of one person will move to the couch of the other and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will bring them close together and they will meet reclining on their couches, remembering their days.
And a person will say to his friend, do you know when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgave us? Like when this was unlocked for us? And the friend will reply on such and such day and in such and such place, we called upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he forgave us. So as you're looking back with each other, you know, what do you think was the moment? Was it Laylatul Qadr? Was it the 27th night in the Masjid together? Was it Hajj together? When was it that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgave us? And you know exactly the moment that in this dunya Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala unlocked for you the Jannah that you are now enjoying. In another narration, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, among the delights of the people of paradise will be that they visit one another on mounts and camels and they'll be supplied with these noble horses with saddles that do not defecate or urinate and they ride them wherever they want to by the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is not just true for friends that lived as contemporaries because just like there are families across generations that we spoke about, there are friends across generations as well. Have you loved the sahaba as if they were your own sahaba, as if they were your own companions? Now you get to go and visit them as you please. The sahaba that you used to long for, now you long for them and you see them. And what do the people talk about? What do these righteous friends talk about when they come together? Now a lot of it is what they used to do. A lot of it is catching up on old memories and that's part of the joy of the people of paradise because certainly this isn't wickedness. Maybe they are reflecting on how they were before they got religious and maybe they're just reflecting on old times and old jokes. But righteous friends also discuss things that they used to discuss in this life. And so Ibn Al-Qayyim rahimahullah, he says that imagine the students of knowledge, the people that used to care so much about religious knowledge, continuing their discussions in Jannah.
So you're trying to understand the Qur'an and the sunnah, certain fiqh things, certain episodes of the seerah. You're trying to get all of that in Jannah together and you're continuing that discussion there. Except now when you want to know if a hadith is authentic, you walk over to the narrator who's literally right there. And if you want to know about an element of the seerah, go ask the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam or ask the person that it involves. It's just a part of their joy. And Ibn Al-Qayyim rahimahullah said this type of discussion for people who love the deen, people who love ilm, is the sweetest thing in this world. And now it's even better in Jannah. And he said that's only for the students of knowledge. And subhanAllah, there's something very beautiful here that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said that circles of knowledge are gardens of paradise in this earth. And now those circles of knowledge are continuing literally in the gardens of paradise. Now unlike family, when it comes to friends, sometimes you have some friends that are not just going to be on a different level in terms of paradise, but you'll have some friends that are in hellfire. And it's not like you all get joined together by virtue of one person being in a particular part of paradise. However, intercession is still a thing. And you want to be a person who is interceding, not being interceded for. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said that there are some people who will enter into hellfire and they will remain there, never dying and never living. But there are others who will enter hellfire because of their sins. And they will be burnt inside of hellfire until they turn like coals. And then permission will be granted for shafa'ah, for intercession. And they will be brought out of it in groups and they'll be spread over the side of the rivers of paradise. And then it will be said, O people of paradise, pour water on them.
And so some of the people of paradise will come and they'll pour water on those people and they will grow like seeds in a valley after a flood. And the Messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, verily, there are some people who will be brought out of the fire, having been burnt all over except for their faces and they will enter paradise with all traces of the fire removed after their friends pour water on them. And the people of paradise will say, these are the people of hellfire who were brought out and admitted into Jannah. They are Al-Jahannamiyoon. Now, SubhanAllah, this is something very significant because it really speaks to this idea of pulling your friend out of a hard time. You know, we talk about As-Sahibu Sahib, a friend is someone who drags. Don't just be someone that hangs out with righteous people that can drag you right. But also think of how you can save others and the reward, the tremendous reward of being a source of Hidayah, being a source of guidance for others while seeking the best companions who are upon guidance your entire life, looking for the effect that they have upon you in this dunya and looking for their possible intercession to at least elevate you in paradise. And that's why the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, adhere to the jama'a, adhere to the community, beware of separation for indeed shaitan is with the one who is alone and he is further away from two. Whoever wants the best place in paradise, then let him stick to the jama'a, let him stick to the community. And so if you want the best companions of paradise, then love and follow the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and slice them in his companions as if they were your contemporaries. Maybe now they actually will be your contemporaries without any fear of ever losing them.
SadaqAllahul Azeem. Al-Fatiha. Al-Fatiha.
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