Atheism and the Afterlife

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Question :

Will there be animals in Al-Jannat?


Answer :

Praise be to Allaah.

The animals that will be in Paradise according to the reports are of three types:

1 – Specific animals which it is said will themselves be in Paradise, such as the dog of the people of the Cave and the she-camel of Saalih (peace be upon him). There are no saheeh reports concerning them.


2 – Those which are mentioned in the Qur’aan and Sunnah, which Allaah has prepared for the believers in Paradise, whether they are mentioned in specific terms, such as the birds of which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And with the flesh of fowls that they desire”[al-Waaqi’ah 56:21]

or mentioned in general terms, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And We shall provide them with fruit and meat such as they desire”[al-Toor 52:22]


Another example is the bull which Allaah has prepared as food for the people of Paradise, as was narrated from Thawbaan the freed slave of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), who said: “I was standing by the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when one of the Jewish rabbis came and said, ‘Peace be upon you, O Muhammad,’ and I pushed him back so hard that he nearly fell over… He (the Jew) said: ‘What would be their food after this?’ He (the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)) said: ‘A bull which was fed in the different quarters of Paradise would be slaughtered for them’…” Narrated by Muslim, 315.


3 – Those animals which have been specifically mentioned in the saheeh Sunnah, which will be in Paradise. These include:

(a) It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Pray in the sheep pens and wipe their dust (raghaam), for they are among the animals of Paradise.”

Narrated by al-Bayhaqi, 2/449; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 3789.

Raghaam means dust (as translated here). The word has also been narrated as ra’aam, which refers to the mucus that comes from the sheep’s nose. What is meant is to wipe the dust from it, or wipe away what comes from its nose, so as to look after it and take care of it. This was the view of al-Manaawi in Fayd al-Qadeer.

(b) It was narrated that Abu Mas’ood al-Ansaari said: A man brought a bridled she-camel and said, “This is for the sake of Allaah.” The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “You will have seven hundred she-camels in return on the Day of Resurrection, each of them bridled.” Narrated by Muslim, 1892.

Al-Nawawi said: What is meant by makhtoomah (bridled) is that it has a khitaam (bridle) on it, which is like a halter. And it was said that that it may be understood as meaning that he will have the reward of giving seven hundred she-camels, or it may be understood as it appears to be, and that he will have seven hundred she-camels in Paradise, each of them bridled, and he will be able to ride them wherever he wants, for pleasure, as was narrated concerning the horses and camels (nujab) of Paradise. This interpretation is more clear. And Allaah knows best.

Sharh al-Nawawi, 13/38.

The ahaadeeth about the camels and horses to which al-Nawawi referred are as follows

(a) It was narrated from Abu Ayyoob that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The people of Paradise will visit one another on white camels as if they are rubies, and there are no animals in Paradise apart from camels and birds.”

Narrated by al-Tabaraani in al-Kabeer, 4/179.

Al-Haythami said: This was narrated by al-Tabaraani. Its isnaad includes Jaabir ibn Nooh who is da’eef (weak). Majma’ al-Zawaa’id, 10/413. It was also classed as da’eef by al-Albaani in Da’eef al-Jaami’, 1833.

(b) It was narrated from Sulaymaan ibn Buraydah from his father that a man asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), “O Messenger of Allaah, will there be horses in Paradise?” He said, “If Allaah admits you to Paradise, you will not wish that you could be carried on a horse of red rubies which will fly wherever you want in Paradise, but that will happen.” And another man asked him, “O Messenger of Allaah, will there be camels in Paradise?” but he did not say something like he had said to his companion. He said, “If Allaah admits you to Paradise, you will have therein whatever your heart desires and will delight your eyes.”

Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2543. Classd as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Targheeb, 3/522.

A similar report was also narrated by Abu Ayyoob from al-Tirmidhi, 2544; and also classed as saheeh by al-Albaani, 3/423.

And it was narrated in saheeh ahaadeeth that the souls of the martyrs are in the crops of birds in Paradise which fly wherever they want.

It should be noted that the birds, horses and camels in Paradise are not the same as those in this world; they resemble them in name only. What they are really like is known only to Allaah. But we know that they are extremely beautiful, because they are one of the delights that Allaah has prepared for His close friends in Paradise. This was indicated by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the hadeeth quoted above, in which it says that the horses of Paradise are of red rubies, and will fly with their rider wherever he wants.

We ask Allaah to bless us and admit us to Paradise by His mercy, for He is the Most Generous.

islam Q&A​
 
KAding said:
I don't understand. Surely a living body is different from a dead one chemically? After all a dead body is not biologically alive and simply not functioning. The chemical processes at work inside the body are radically different, no??
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Kading...... .... You can harness a heart from a deceased person which isn't "biologically" active after it ceases being in a body. put it in another and it will again start to beat if God so wills it ... so how can we define the difference between being alive and being dead on that "chemical level" when you have something here that technically is dead? In Islam we don't know what the soul is or where it lies? ... its function is unknown... We can't define it by the chemical of physical processes that go on in this realm.... Its mysteries are known only to God

KAding said:
More interesting is the case of someone like Terri Schiavo, who's body was still alive, but who's brain ceased to create consiousness. How do religous people see that? Has the soul already departed? In general I would think dementia is somewhat of a challenge to traditional religoous doctrine on death. After all, does dementia mean the soul has degraded? Or is the link between soul and body breaking down?
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The brain isn't the abode of the soul... Again we don't know where it lies, you can be under the influence of anesthetics, in any operation, they can even add an amnestic agent to make you forget the whole incident ... you will cease to "create" consciousness, but you will not be dead, there will be an assimilation between you and a person in a coma, and in fact some never recover from the anesthesia, but that is not how the soul is defined, it isn't disassembled or degraded when in the state of the unconscious....if that were the case your soul would be disassembled every night when in a stage III/ IV none REM sleep, and if in fact it were disassembled/degraded then that what assembles it back when you wake up?... such as was the case with the late MS Shiavo.... Although in her case she wasn't technically brain dead but had lost higher reticular function, her lower centers which are responsible for breathing, were still in tact.... Anyone can be in a coma for a number of year and never recover since Neurons can't regenerate, yet there is evidence in one or two cases that they can and have. what ever the case, sooner or later the body naturally atrophies from disuse from being bed ridden or old age or a decubitus, ... she would have died naturally.... modern science with all its technology can't keep cells from aging, or dying, even if they can keep your lungs breathing for you. My point being, we don't know what the soul is, where it dwells, we can't define the essence of life by the level of consciousness. or higher brain function or anything physical in this world... There is a clear difference between the state of being dead and the state of being alive. We don't know how something that is dead (harnessed heart) can beat again in someone, or fail to beat in another... if you can accept that there are things to which there is no explanation, and please don't take my word for it, ask any neurologist, they will tell you, as much as we have learned, there is much we don't know.... The essence of life, that amazing thing that makes you, well you ... and not someone else, born in this time, and not in another century, it is very unique, it is purposeful ... you are not a chance happening ... unless you chose to believe that?
 
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So it seems all the animals in paradise originate from the Middle East.

There will be no animals native to New Zealand, Australia or Canada in paradise.

The reason of course is that the people who wrote this were not aware of such animals.

Inspite of God knowing of such animals, they are banned from Paradise. And you still believe there is a God?
 
Joe98 said:
So it seems all the animals in paradise originate from the Middle East.

There will be no animals native to New Zealand, Australia or Canada in paradise.

The reason of course is that the people who wrote this were not aware of such animals.

Inspite of God knowing of such animals, they are banned from Paradise. And you still believe there is a God?
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Nope, we don't really know any of that. If you reread the post by Fi-sabillilah you will noticed that very few animals are mentioned as being in heaven and that is qualified with statements such they are among the animals or are some of the animals. In reality we do not know all the animals that will be included or excluded. That is a very trivial point so there was no need for the Qur'an or the Sunnah to dwell over it. we do not need to worry about how to get our parakeet into heaven, our concern is how we can get ourselves into heaven.
 
Joe98 said:
So it seems all the animals in paradise originate from the Middle East.

There will be no animals native to New Zealand, Australia or Canada in paradise.

The reason of course is that the people who wrote this were not aware of such animals.

Inspite of God knowing of such animals, they are banned from Paradise. And you still believe there is a God?
Click to expand...

where did you get from, that the animals in paradise originate from the Middle East?
 
lol.... what no tasmanian devils in heaven? then by deductive reasoning there is no God....At times the discussions here become absurd... When Descartes makes a claim there is a God, everyone jumps all over it.... Just not when there is an entire all encompassing doctrine ...
 
More interesting is the case of someone like Terri Schiavo, who's body was still alive, but who's brain ceased to create consiousness. How do religous people see that? Has the soul already departed? In general I would think dementia is somewhat of a challenge to traditional religoous doctrine on death. After all, does dementia mean the soul has degraded? Or is the link between soul and body breaking down?
Click to expand...
I don't know wheter Islam has some ruling regarding this situation. But just think about it for a sec. How can we determine wheter someone still has a consciousness or not? People say she was braindeath, nothing picked up by EEG scan. What does EEG scan do? it measures electrical potential in the brain. So you're asking me what does Islam think abou that? Well Islam believes consciousness is a matter of the soul, not of the electrical potentials in ones head. So all the EEG scans show us is that the soul no longer causes these potentials. Does that mean the soul is no longer inside the body? Perhaps it only means the brain no longers functions and hence doesn't alow the soul to create these electrical potentials any more... who knows...

But to get back on your suspision that consciousness can be obtained by nothying more then the chemical and electrical processes in our brain. If you are right, that would mean hypotetically speakeng, AI is manufacterable (wheter human beings are capable of making it is of course a whole difrent discussion). Don't forget, our nerve system also relies on electrical charges and so (according to the model without a soul) all our thought should rely on binary imput. So have you ever thought about it, if youwould write a computerprogram, how do you translate consciousness in binary numbers?
 

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