The best reward is seeing Allah
The immense reward of doing good
One of the beautiful ayahs in Surah Yunus is:
۞لِّلَّذِينَ أَحۡسَنُواْ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ وَزِيَادَةٞۖ
وَلَا يَرۡهَقُ وُجُوهَهُمۡ قَتَرٞ وَلَا ذِلَّةٌۚ أُوْلَـٰٓئِكَ أَصۡحَٰبُ ٱلۡجَنَّةِۖ
هُمۡ فِيهَا خَٰلِدُونَ
For them who have done good is the best [reward] and extra. No darkness will cover their faces, nor humiliation. Those are companions of Paradise; they will abide therein eternally (10:26)
In this ayah, Allah is talking about those who do good, alladheena ahsanu – from ihsan. He is inspiring the believers that nothing they do will be wasted. Every single atom of good you do will be recorded, and will be multiplied by anything from 10 to 700 to infinite, depending on His wisdom and graciousness.
He says that the reward for those who do good is al-husna, which literally translates to ‘the best’, but in this context Allah is referring to Jannah. (Ibn Ashur in his tafseer goes into a lot of detail about the linguistics of how we know this.) But then Allah says wa ziyada – and something more.
What is more than Jannah?
Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) said:
When the people of Paradise enter it, Allah will say, ‘Would you like anything more?’ They will say, ‘Have You not brightened our faces? Have You not admitted us into Paradise and saved us from Hellfire?’ Then, He will lift the Veil. Nothing they are given will be more beloved to them than looking at their Lord – Majestic and Exalted is He. [Muslim]
The people of Jannah will want to see the One who created them, protected them, and showered them with mercy. This is the ziyada, the thing that is better than all the joy and peace of Jannah – getting to see Allah Himself.
In Surat al-Qiyamah, Allah says:
وُجُوهٞ يَوۡمَئِذٖ نَّاضِرَةٌ
إِلَىٰ رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةࣱ
Many faces, that day, will be glowing, looking at their Lord. [75:22-23]
The indescribable joy of having Allah’s pleasure
In other narrations, we are told that He will say,
‘Shall I not give you something better than that [Jannah]?’
They will say, ‘O our Lord! What else could be better than that?’
He will say, ‘I bestow My Pleasure on you and will never be angry with you after that.’ [Bukhari]
Allah’s pleasure is the greatest reward we could ever wish for.
Levels of Jannah
The people of Jannah will have an appointment to see Allah every Friday. And because there are different levels of Jannah, some people at the highest levels will have greater VIP access than the ones at the lower levels.
قال رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم
” أَنَّ أَهْلَ الْجَنَّةِ إِذَا دَخَلُوهَا نَزَلُوا فِيهَا
بِفَضْلِ أَعْمَالِهِمْ ثُمَّ يُؤْذَنُ فِي
مِقْدَارِ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ مِنْ أَيَّامِ الدُّنْيَا فَيَزُورُونَ رَبَّهُمْ
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
When the people of Paradise enter it, they shall take their places according to the virtue of their deeds. Then permission shall be granted to them to visit their Lord, for the length of a Friday from the days of the world. (Tirmidhi)
The companions wondered how they would be able to see Allah in Jannah, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) explained that their vision of Him would be clear.
Jarir (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
، عَنْ جَرِيرٍ، قَالَ كُنَّا جُلُوسًا عِنْدَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم
إِذْ نَظَرَ إِلَى الْقَمَرِ لَيْلَةَ الْبَدْرِ قَالَ
“ إِنَّكُمْ سَتَرَوْنَ رَبَّكُمْ كَمَا تَرَوْنَ هَذَا الْقَمَرَ
لاَ تُضَامُّونَ فِي رُؤْيَتِهِ، فَإِنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ أَنْ
لاَ تُغْلَبُوا عَلَى صَلاَةٍ قَبْلَ طُلُوعِ الشَّمْسِ
وَصَلاَةٍ قَبْلَ غُرُوبِ الشَّمْسِ، فَافْعَلُوا ”.
We were sitting with the Prophet (ﷺ) and he looked at the moon on the night of the full-moon and said, “You people will see your Lord as you see this full moon, and you will have no trouble in seeing Him, so if you can avoid missing (through sleep or business, etc.) a prayer before sunrise (Fajr) and a prayer before sunset (`Asr) you must do so.” (Bukhari).
He specifically mentioned the preservation of these two prayers, Fajr and Asr, because the angels take turns at their times, and because Fajr prayer is the time for sleeping, and Asr prayer work time, so performing them is more difficult than other prayers.
We ask Allah to place us in the VIP levels, alongside the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them), and all the best and righteous people.
Delivered by Shaykh Haytham Tamim on 22nd Ramadan 2025. Transcribed by H Khan.
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