Can there be any reward better than Jannah

Can there be any reward better than Jannah

Can there be any reward better than Jannah? 

By Mukhtar ibn Yusuf – 19/5/17

The ‘why?’, or otherwise termed as ‘the purpose of existence’, is one of the greatest challenges to mankind.  However, not so for Muslims, as Allah himself states quite explicitly and unambiguously, the purpose of our creation in the Glorious Qu’ran:

“I did not create the Jinns and mankind except to worship Me.”[1]

However, as our Creator, Allah not only asks us to worship Him, but moreover He established consequences for this.  Allah, the Almighty, created heaven and hell as a just reward for following or disregarding His commands. The reward for obedience is an abode of such magnificence that no eyes have seen, no ears have heard and no heart could ever have imagined.  Similarly, the punishment is, in contrast, a superlative in the opposite extreme.

However, is there more than ‘just’ Jannah for the believers?  The reality is that there is without doubt the most ultimate more, which Allah himself refers to as the ‘ziyadah’:

“For those who do good there is the best reward, and something more.”[2]

So what could this something ‘more’ be?

This something ‘more’ is without doubt the real essence of the ‘why’ we worship. The ‘why’ we pray five times a day, the ‘why’ we fast in the month of Ramadhan, and ‘why’ we follow the tenets of Islam with vigour and enthusiasm.

There is a similitude in the ‘more’ with that of the mother.  The mother nurtures the child to behave in accordance with the family values and that which encourages the child to become a good person. The mother’s encouragement in the form of rewards and punishment reinforces this behaviour.  For the child the sweet or any other gift is not the ultimate ‘why’ they display the required behaviour.  The ultimate reason is the happiness of the mother.  Any reward would be worthless without the mother’s pleasure and the comfort of her company.

Similarly, the ‘more’ promised by Almighty Allah is something that makes all other rewards pale into insignificance.  It is the ultimate honour that could be bestowed upon the creation – Allah’s infinite pleasure and the ability for the creation to see the One Supreme Power, the King of Kings, the Most High and the Most Gracious – Allah himself and to be in His company.  What greater reward can there be than for the creation to see their Creator and to be in His esteemed company? Similarly, what punishment can be worse than being barred from the vision of one’s supreme Creator?

An audience with a king of the Dunya would be nigh on impossible.  No amount of servitude, gratitude, or even begging and pleading would enable an individual to meet with their respective King or Queen.  For their ‘Highness’, a meeting with someone so ‘lowly’ is far too demeaning.  However, not so for the King of Kings, for whom status, grandeur and hierarchy have no relevance.

They say that ‘seeing is believing’, however the essence of true faith is that you have to believe before you can see.  Belief and only true belief is the golden ticket to the ultimate spectacle.  Can you imagine casting your own humble celestial eyes on your Beloved, your Creator, your Sustainer, your Cherisher, the one in whom you believed without seeing, the one in whom you confided your innermost faults, the One, the Only, the self-sustaining, the one with the most beautiful names and attributes-  Allah Azza wa jalla?   Subhan-Allah!

Moreover, Allah will also proclaim to the inhabitants of Jannah “I will grant you My pleasure and will never ever be angry with you.”[3] This is without doubt the ultimate reward from a Lord Most Compassionate.

So next time you contemplate or ponder over your creation and the ‘why’ question – remember the ultimate ‘why’ we follow our faith and worship our Creator.  It is so that one day, the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth will reveal his noble, gracious and most beautiful Self to us and will never be displeased with us.  What greater reward can there be than that?

No joy before or after, can compare with that of beholding You;

My being, thinking, worship and even seeing is all because of You;

With Ramadhan fast approaching let’s prepare to worship our Lord, as though we see Him, because if we don’t see Him, He sees us,  and one day, Insha-Allah, we will see Him too.

May Allah make us all of the inhabitants of Jannah, and may Allah grant us the most supreme of all favours, so that we can be one of the blessed souls with whom Allah is infinitely pleased, and who are able to set their humble eyes on their most Majestic Creator- Almighty Allah himself .

Ameen

Footnotes

[1] Surah Adh-Dhariyat وَمَا خَلَقۡتُ ٱلۡجِنَّ وَٱلۡإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعۡبُدُونِ

[2] Surah Yunus, verse 26 لِّلَّذِينَ أَحۡسَنُواْ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ وَزِيَادَةٌ۬‌

[3] Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6183