Who will be Granted Paradise?

P

aradise cannot be gained at a paltry price; it belongs only to those fortunate souls who prove themselves to be God’s true servants. Belief does not just mean adding some rituals to a normal worldly life; true belief entails the governance of one’s whole life by Islam; it means devoting oneself heart and soul to the worship of God.

Islam should radically change a person’s life, for the believer finds God so close that he enters into communion with Him. Angels become his companions in times of solitude. He keeps his tongue in check, being conscious of his responsibilities to the Lord. He strictly obeys God’s commandments. True Islam makes a person live in this world as if he were standing before God and being judged.

The awareness of truth which comes to believers in this world will come to unbelievers only after death, when it is too late. When God becomes visible to man, all will believe in Him, but the believer has faith while God is still invisible. True believers anticipate the severity of the Day of Resurrection in the world: others will have that experience only in the next world.