Paradise Is Not Cheap

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

There are many roads to Paradise but is it easy to reach Paradise? No. Just look how the Noble Companions struggled for Islam. If you want to make to the top of the corporate world, is it easy? Of course not. You have to work very hard. Ask any successful CEO or CFO of a big corporation, how did they get there? They will tell you they started from bottom up and they worked hard and still working hard to keep things moving in the right direction.

Paradise is the highest we can aim for, much much bigger than the corporations, nothing we can compare with in this world. It is our ultimate bliss. Your status in Paradise is much higher, much better than of those best and successful CEOs/CFOs. This is a very precious position--being inhabitants of Paradise. Things that are very precious aren't given away for cheap. They are sought after. You have to give up a lot to get Paradise.

Don't think you can just pray and sleep and not do anything else and you will get to Paradise. Don't think that you just work and work to provide for your family and do every community service under the sun and not have relationship with your Lord and then you will enter His Paradise? You have to do a lot more than what you are doing right now. You have to struggle and struggle and keep struggling until you die in order to get there. Allah wants to see you strive for Him.

It's not enough to ask Allah for the highest Paradise (with a special view of the Throne of Allah) and hope you can get there by doing nothing to get there. The CEO or CFO of a corporation didn't get where they are by just aspiring to get there, by asking the Board/shareholders for the position...they have to show they deserve the job. They have to do a lot to get up there. They struggled. They sought knowledge, went through years of study -- acquired various degrees (MBAs, PhDs) and special skills, went through years of training, acquired years of work experience in various fields, continuous training and education, etc. Not easy. Lots of sacrifices. It didn't happened overnight. All this success require patience, endurance, good work ethics, good time management and being with the right crowd of people, the right influence, etc. How much effort have we put to get to His Paradise?

Allah tells us many ways to go to Paradise. For example, when Allah tells you Paradise is at the feet of your mother...yes, you can go to Paradise by being good to your mother. But is it easy to be good to your mother? No. Allah commanded us to give good treatment to our parents, "And your Lord has decreed that you not worship except Him, and to parents, good treatment. Whether one or both of them reach old age [while] with you, say not to them [so much as], "uff," and do not repel them but speak to them a noble word." [Al-Isra 17:23]

Ask any child if they never said words the like of 'uff' to their mother. Chances are they have said 10 times worse and longer.

When the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam said, "The best of you are those who are best to their families, and I am the best of you to my family," don't think you can just dream to be the best and it will happen by you sitting around in coffee shops or giving your family the fun and comfort of this dunya. You have to teach your family about their Lord and their duty to their Lord and you have to be their good example. You have to struggle. Ask any parent whose child has memorized Qur'an, pray five times a day, go to the masjid at every prayer -- how they get there, how their children get there. They struggled for years and they are still struggling.

Indeed, our children, our parents, our families, everyone around us are tests for us and we ourselves are tests for them. If we realize this we are one step closer to realizing Paradise. We still have a lot to do in such a short time. So don't waste any time. Strive and busy yourself towards Him.

May Allah grant us tawfiq. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakum Allahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam