SPIRIT OF ISLAM NOVEMBER 2019

22 Spirit of Islam Issue 83 November 2019 HUMANKIND AND PARADISE Designed for Each Other H UMANKIND and Paradise are counterparts of each other. They hold a complementary nature towards each other. Paradise has been made for man and man has been made for Paradise. The truth is that Paradise yearns for man and man aspires for Paradise. Without man Paradise is incomplete and without Paradise, man is incomplete. This fact is an essential part of the creation plan of God—that this world is the ground for the development of heavenly personalities who can qualify to reside in eternal Paradise. According to the Quran: Why should God punish you, if you render thanks to Him and believe in Him? God is appreciative and aware. (4: 147) This implies that the requirements of the creation plan of God cannot be fulfilled if man makes himself deserving of Hell by his misconduct. The creation plan of God demands that man makes himself deserving of Heaven so that in the Hereafter he can reside eternally in the gardens of Paradise. The truth is that man has been created to inhabit Paradise, but by the misuse of the freedom granted by God, he makes himself deserving only to be fuel for Hell-fire. He fails to acknowledge the freedom granted to him by God; the freedom that was given so that he may creatively revere and adore God; profess his gratitude for the blessings endowed throughout his life and declare and discover his benefactor. This is the objective with which man was created and this is the man about which it may be said that he was made for Paradise and Paradise made for him. o Man has been created to inhabit Paradise, but by the misuse of the freedom granted by God, he makes himself deserving only to be fuel for Hell-fire.