Anas b. Malik reported: Paradise is surrounded by hardships and the Hell-Fire is surrounded by temptations. (Muslim) Abu Hurairah narrated that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said: The (Hell) Fire is surrounded (hujibat) by all kinds of desires and passions, while Paradise is surrounded by all kinds of disliked undesirable things. (Bukhari) Behind the curtain of the unseen Allah Almighty in this hadith, out of His mercy opens a window to the unseen for us, telling us what is behind the scenes and what happened when He created Jannah and Jahannam. When Allah Almighty created Jannah with all its magnificence, pleasures, fruits and rewards, with every delight imaginable, and beyond, He asked Jibril to see it. Jibril was overwhelmed by its beauty and sweetness. He couldn’t imagine that anyone would not enter it. Yet, we can see from these hadith that Jannah has been surrounded by hardships – makarih, (what you dislike) and Jahannam has been surrounded by temptation shahawat – the mahaab (what you like). Jannah is not free Jannah is not free of charge. No one can enter it without being tested. Allah Almighty surrounded it by adversities and tests to see who is committed enough and sincere enough to reach the finish line. If Allah Almighty wanted it could have been a smooth ride to Jannah; He could have made it easy to access, but He wants us to see our own qualities, work on them and improve them. Jannah and Jahannam are fenced off Imam Nawawi in his Al Minhaj Sharh Sahih Muslim, a commentary on Sahih Muslim, noted that while Imam Muslim used the word huffat to describe the fact Jannah and Jahannam had been surrounded accordingly by adversity and temptation, Bukhari used the word hujibat, which is related to hijab, meaning like a shield or fence, conveying … Continue reading Putting the brakes on desire and resisting temptation