What Does “No Heart Can Imagine” Mean in the Hadith Qudsi About Paradise?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
How should we understand the phrase “no heart can imagine” in the hadith qudsi describing Paradise? Does it imply that the heart can imagine like the brain, or is it referring to abstract feelings? Please explain this concept.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
Faith is ultimately rooted in what Islamic cosmology terms “the heart,” the spiritual heart. This is the locus of belief for the human. It is the faculty within the human being that enables him to know the Divine, with a knowledge that results from submission, devotion, contentment in His decree, and gratitude. These are the means by which to reach knowledge of Allah Most High, and they are the only means. See the detailed video explanation.
Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,
“Allah said: I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human heart has conceived. Recite the verse if you wish: ‘No soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort.’” [Quran, 32:17] [Bukhari; Muslim]
No human heart has conceived the realities of its joyful thoughts—the delightful and uplifting emotions and ideas that bring happiness no one has ever experienced or imagined. The things in Paradise are beyond human imagination or thought, regardless of how much one tries to envision their beauty and perfection.
The summary commentary of the above hadith refers to the wondrous and unparalleled visual delights in Paradise, the exquisite and unheard-of sounds in Paradise, and the delightful and uplifting emotions and ideas that bring happiness, which no one has ever experienced or imagined.
This explanation reflects an attempt to comprehend the magnificence and grandeur of what Allah has prepared for the believers in Paradise, which is beyond anything conceivable in this worldly life. [Abdul-Haq al-Dehlawi, Lam‘at al-Tanqih]
May Allah (Most High) guide us to what pleases Him, forgive us for our shortcomings, and alleviate our difficulties, Amin.
I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. Insha’Allah, you will receive guidance and direction.
Related
- Human-Mind Relationship- Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
- What Is the Heart?
- Returning to Our Senses – Shaykh Ahmed El Azhary
- Ghazali’s Science of the Soul – Shaykh Dr. Asim Yusuf
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersGuidance? You can choose from the Islamic Studies Curriculum or the Youth Islamic Studies Curriculum and progress through each course step by step.
I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Mawlana Ilyas Patel has received traditional education in various countries. He started his schooling in the UK and completed his hifz of the Quran in India. After that, he joined an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied secular and Aalimiyya sciences. Later, he traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, and other Middle Eastern countries to further his education. Mawlana has served as an Imam in the Republic of Ireland for several years and taught the Quran and other Islamic sciences to both children and adults. He also worked as a teacher and librarian at a local Islamic seminary in the UK for 12 years. Presently, he lives in the UK with his wife and is interested in books and gardening.
