The First Paradise: The Abode of Peace

The Prophet arrived at the hundredth step where he heard the angels praising and glorifying their Lord in the First Heaven. It is called Dar al-Salam, the Abode of Peace, and has one hundred and twenty-four thousand doors. Each door represents a prophet. Gabriel knocked at the door reserved for the Prophet Muhammad. A voice said from inside: "Who it it?" Gabriel replied: "It is Gabriel and the Prophet Muhammad." The voice said: "Has he been sent for?" Gabriel said: "Yes, he has been called to the Divine Presence." The door was opened. The angel Ishmael came on a horse of light, covered in a cloth of light, holding a staff of light. In his right hand, Ishmael carried all the deeds of human beings performed during the day, and in the other, all that they had done during the night. One thousand processions of angels accompanied him.

Ishmael said: "O Gabriel, who is with you?" He replied: "The Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon him." Ishmael said: "Has he been sent for?" Gabriel replied yes. Then the Buraq was invited to land on the first Paradise, the nearest Paradise to the world. It is also called al-sama al-dunya: the nearest Heaven. This Paradise can be compared to a rolling wave held in mid-air; God spoke to it and said: "Be a red emerald," and it was. The praising of its inhabitants is: Subhana dhil Mulki wal Malakut: "Praise be to the Possessor of the Earthly and the Heavenly Dominions."

Then the Prophet looked at the First Heaven and found an angel formed like a man. Al the actions that belong to human beings are displayed to him. If the spirit of a believer comes to him he sends it to Paradise; if the spirit of an unbeliever comes to him he asks forgiveness for it. When forgiveness is granted he sends it to Paradise. He has a tablet made of light which hangs from the Throne to the first heaven. He writes on it the names of those who are sent to Paradise. Then the Prophet saw a man with an angelic power towards whom he felt a great attraction. When he asked who that man was, Gabriel said: "This is your father, Adam." Adam greeted him and said to the Prophet: "Welcome to the good son and the righteous Prophet."

There are two doors to the right and the left of Adam. When he looks at the right side he is happy and when he looks at the left he weeps. The Prophet asked what these two doors were. Gabriel said: "The door to the right is the door to Paradise and Rewards. When Adam sees his children entering it he smiles and is happy. The door to the left leads to punishment and the fire. When Adam sees his children entering it he weeps and is sad for them. Out of each of his tears God creates an angel who asks forgiveness until the day when forgiveness is granted and they are allowed to enter into Paradise."

Then the angels began to recite poetry:

• "I yearn to see the one whom God created
  To be unique in creation!
  No beloved one is purer nor more elevated than that one,
  God's beloved is His servant, the Praised One
  Whose name was cut out from the name
  Of the Most Glorious One.
  His are the attributes that no eloquence can express.
  It is enough honor that for him the moon split in two.
  What more do you ask than God's perfecting of his beauty?
  And verily God endowed him with the best character.
  And verily God created his light to be the greatest blessing,
  And He called him "beloved" before He created creation.
  And because of his light the sun was clouded over,
  Because of his overwhelming light filling the firmament.
  The clouds showed a great miracle and moved
  Like a wild herd,
  And thunder clapped and rain poured
  Upon his mere request.
  What more do you want than the softening of the rock
  When he walked upon it with his sandaled feet,
  Although you did not see its marks
  When he tread on the sand?
  God has elevated him to His presence
  And the angelic world.
  Were it not for him, there would never be Paradise,
  Nor heavens, and no earth.
  What an honor God bestowed upon him when He gave
  Ten salutations to those who would
  Send to him only one!"
  

They moved for five hundred thousand light-years within the radius of the First Paradise. The Buraq moved faster than the speed of light, for each of its steps could reach wherever his sight did. The entire distances they travelled were filled with angels whose number is known only to the Creator, praising Him and glorifying Him with all kinds of praises. There was not one handful of space but it was occupied by an angel in prostration. They were all sizes, big and small. A voice came saying: "O My beloved Muhammad! all these angels are glorifying Me, and I am sending all this praise as waves upon waves of angelic blessings to support human beings through their daily life. These blessings will guide them towards everything that concerns them, and open for them all kinds of physical and spiritual knowledges that will help them progress in their ways of life, materially and spiritually. I will raise them through this angelic power and enable them to enter My Paradises when they come to My Divine Presence."

Blessings and Peace on the Prophet, his Family, and his Companions.

To Sufism.