MATERIAL CULTURE AND AN ISLAMIC ETHIC
LIFE IN the Garden and the Fire necessarily follows life on earth. Yet, because the Garden and the Fire act as metonymies for reward and punishment, they do not exist solely as distant realms. Within the Qur’an and hadiths, they also provide a guiding force in a believer’s life. Given that statements of whether the behavior will warrant a place in the Garden or the Fire often accompany injunctions or prohibitions, eschatological realities could have been felt within the temporal parameters of believers’ lives. Thus, while the Garden and the Fire act as ends, they are also the very means to those ends. As ends, they represent the final spatial realm of a believer’s life: one dies to be resurrected in order to live eternal life in either the Garden or the Fire. As means, they provide guidance: by following the behavior of the people of the Garden, one achieves a blissful eternal life; by following the action of the people of the Fire, one ensures eternal suffering.
The temporal link between the world and the afterworld begins at the onset of death. When a person dies, his or her soul is in the intermediate state (barzakh).1 Some Sunni manuals suggest that forty days before a person is to die, a leaf falls from a tree, and an angel records the deed and informs Death. Death is sometimes seen as an independent entity, but more often is personified in the terrifying angel ‘Izra’il. Aside from facing ‘Izra’il, death itself is an anguishing process. On the day of death, four angels force the deceased to relinquish provisions, drink, breath, and the term of life. A scribe then records the deceased’s life. Often souls will be tested. For example, in one tradition Satan takes the form of relatives, offers cool drink, and suggests that all will be well when the individual renounces Muhammad and his religion in favor of Judaism, since it produced the messiah.2 Whether adjudicated a righteous believer or not, the soul faces torment owing to the terrorizing process of being in the grave itself. Graves are said to contain snakes, scorpions, and worms. Everyone suffers, but the unbeliever faces punishment.3 In some manuals, the individual’s soul is said to slip from the body, and Gabriel shows the soul the place it will be accorded after the torment of the grave and the Last Judgment. At some point, the soul reunites with the body in the grave, but how and when this occurs is unclear. After death, two angels, Munkar and Nakir, interrogate the soul. They sit by the grave and question the believer’s loyalties to Islam by asking the believer to identify his or her Lord, prophet, and correct religion.4 The two angels predominate in the eschatological narrative; yet, they are not named in the Qur’an and canonical hadith collections.
The actual resurrection takes place at the appointed hour (sa‘a). Bodies will be reunited with their spirits. The angel Israfil blows his trumpet, once to herald the beginning of the resurrection, a second time to announce its end.5 The possibility of intercession (shafa‘a) is promised as humanity prepares for the end of time-driven events. Natural disasters and disintegration of morality foreshadow both the coming of the antichrist (al-Dajjal) and Gog and Magog (Yajuj and Majuj), twin monsters said to prefigure the savior. The savior (mahdi) will follow and battle with al-Dajjal. Then follows the Resurrection (qiyama) and the Gathering (hashr). The body will then form beginning with the coccyx, and a naked, shivering, terrified humanity will gather together. Souls will then be assigned to their proper abodes. Finally, it is the time to cross the bridge (Sirat) to verify the soul’s status. If the soul is deemed a righteous one heading to al-janna, the bridge is easy to cross because it widens. If the soul is damned, as we have seen, then the bridge will narrow until it is as thin as the edge of a blade, and the person will eventually fall into the blazing fire beneath. Certain collections involve another moment: a beautiful maiden greets a righteous soul, and an ugly hag meets a damned soul.6 After the final placement of the soul, there appears the possibility of intercession. Only after this general sequence do believers enter the Garden or the Fire.
Through a thematic linking of world and afterworld, invocations of the Garden and the Fire also exerted influence even before the realms are fully experienced at the end of time. The connection between life and afterlife forms an inherent eschatological polemic found in the Qur’an and instructions about daily behavior in various hadiths. There was a prevailing Islamic ethic regarding the promise or threat of the afterlife that may have affected the beliefs and behaviors of Muslims during their earthly lives. The ethic itself reflected that life and the afterlife were linked in the early Islamic community through material objects that were appreciated in this world, but meant to be enjoyed in the next. These sumptuary objects, such as silver vessels and silk garments, linked the limitations of the earthly world and the glories of the afterworld. They also formed an early sensibility about how Muslims were supposed to behave in relation to non-Muslims. The early ethical framework sought to define what was distinctly Muslim both in terms of afterlife and in terms of daily behavior. Yet, the ethical framework was not universal. In fact, hadiths suggest that there was a different understanding of what constituted acceptable behavior for male and female Muslims.
LINKING LIFE AND AFTERLIFE IN THE QUR’AN
One of the prominent themes in the Qur’an is the announcing of the impending doom of the Last Judgment. Verses address those who are condemned to the Fire, as in the case of Abu Lahab mentioned in chapter 1. Verses also contain implicit references and explicit statements about al-janna and al-nar. For example, the Garden appears with a variety of set phrases such as “rivers that flow underneath.” Statements about the Last Judgment and the Garden lead to the same idea: an Islamic life is a prelude to the reality of the Garden. In verses admonishing female infanticide, the Fire is wielded. For those who believe in the power and unity of god, the Garden is promised. For those who act against sin, there is the hereafter of bliss, and those who have been rewarded with the Fire cry out to those who have been rewarded with the Garden.
Aside from the myriad of allusions to the Garden and the Fire, the Qur’an presents itself as an eschatological warning that God is the creator and those who do not follow his wishes will not understand the nature of their punishment until it is too late. The aim of the verses is for humanity to see what will follow their perception of existence so they will be able to comprehend the meaning of their lives in the fullest cosmological picture. In order to depict these cosmological realities, Qur’anic verses are didactic in nature. They focus both on the temporal linkages between life and afterlife through discussions of the resurrection, warnings to humanity, and tales of past peoples who have been punished or annihilated. In many ways, the warnings given to humanity are couched in the most dramatic terms. For example, the opening of the sura Qaf presents a dialogue framed by God’s voice in response to unbelievers’ incredulous attitudes about the possibility of resurrection:
1. Qaf. By the Glorious Qur’an (Thou art Allah’s Messenger) 2. But they wonder that there has come to them a warner from among themselves. So the unbelievers say: “This is a wonderful thing!” 3. “What! When we die and become dust (shall we live again?), that is a (sort of) return (far from our understanding).” 4. We already know how much of them the earth takes away. With us is a record guarding (the full account). 5. But they deny the truth when it comes to them: so they are in a confused state.
The Qur’an is named as an authority of Allah’s message, and Muhammad is named as the “warner” (al-mundhir). The unbelievers marvel at the idea that life continues after death. Meanwhile, in verse 4–5, Allah uses the nominative plural “We” and asserts that while the body is taken, the life still can be judged. Implicit in the statement is that the recording of the life includes piety and veneration directed to Allah. Verses then introduce what believers ought to understand in order to dispel their confusion:
6. Do they not look at the sky above them? How We have made it and adorned it and there are no flaws in it? 7. And the earth We have spread it out and set thereon mountains standing firm, and produced therein every kind of beautiful growth in pairs. 8. To be observed and commemorated by every devotee turning (to Allah). 9. And we send down from the sky Rain charged with blessing and we produce therewith Gardens and Grain for harvests. 10. And tall (and stately) palm trees, with shoots of fruit stalks, piled one over another. 11. As sustenance for (Allah’s) servants. And we give (new) life therewith to land that is dead: thus will be the resurrection.
The message supports the idea of the Resurrection: just as plants are “resurrected” from the earth, so too will bodies rise from their graves.
Aside from asserting the validity of the Resurrection through the focus on creation, verses also present the narratives of past peoples who have disregarded the truth of Resurrection: “Before them was denied (the Hereafter) by the People. Of Noah, the Companions of the Rass, the Thamud. the ‘Ad, Pharaoh, the Brethren of Lut, the Companions of the Wood and the people of Tubba‘; each one (of them) rejected the messengers, and My warning was duly fulfilled (in them)” (50.12–14). The verses highlight that just as the Meccans disregarded Muhammad’s message, these groups disregarded the warning of their own prophets. Their denying is expressed through the word kadhdhaba, which has connotations of lying. Other suras fully develop the stories of these past peoples, and their fates are incorporated in the Qur’an as a warning about the consequences of not heeding the message of the current messenger, Muhammad.
Aside from focusing on the Resurrection, sometimes verses also make the explicit linkage between the creation of the earthly world and the afterworld. For example, the sura al-Tur narrates the undoing of God’s worldly creation and the structuring of God’s otherworldly creation. The sura begins by invoking the eternal truth contained within the created world:
1. By the Mount (of Revelation) 2. By the decree inscribed 3. In a scroll unfolded 4. By the much frequented Fane 5. By the canopy raised high 6. and by the ocean filled with swell 7. Verily, the Doom of thy Lord will indeed come to pass 8. There is none can avert it 9. On the Day when the firmament will be in dreadful commotion 10. and the mountains will fly hither and thither 11. then woe that day to those that treat (truth) as falsehood 12. that play (and paddle) in shallow trifles. 13. that day shall they be thrust down to the Fire of Hell irresistibly 14. “This” it will be said, “is the fire—which ye were wont to deny! 15. Is this then a fake, or is it ye that do not see? 16. Burn ye therein; The same is it to you whether ye bear it with patience or not; ye but receive the recompense of your (own) deeds.”
At the end of time, Allah takes apart his creation. The firmament will shatter, and the mountains fall apart. Those who did not recognize the truth during their lives will finally taste the truth through pain. They will be cast into the Fire that they refused to acknowledge. The events are inevitable just as punishment inevitably awaits unbelievers. The believers, however, are promised a far different future. Instead of pain, they will experience the true nature of bliss:
17. as to the righteous they will be in Gardens and in Happiness 18. Enjoying the Bliss which their Lord hath bestowed on them, and their Lord shall deliver them from the Penalty of the Fire. 19. (To them will be said) “Eat and drink ye with profit and health because of your (good) deeds.” 20. They will recline (with ease) on Thrones (of dignity) arranged in ranks; And we shall join them to Companions, with beautiful Big and lustrous eyes. 21. And those who believe and whose families follow them in faith—to them shall we join their families; Nor shall we deprive them (of the fruit) of aught of their works: (Yet) is each individual in pledge for his deeds. 22. And we shall bestow on them, of fruit and meat, anything they shall desire. 23. They shall there exchange One with another, a (loving) cup free of frivolity free of all taint of ill. 24. Round about them will serve (devoted) to them, youths (handsome) as Pearls well-guarded. 23. They will advance to each other, engaging in mutual enquiry. 26. They will say: “Aforetime, We were not without fear for the sake of our people. 27. But Allah has been good to us and has delivered us from the penalty of the scorching wind. 28. Truly we did call unto him from of old; Truly it is He, the Beneficent, the Merciful!”
The bliss then is not only being saved from the Fire and the scorching wind, referred to in the previous sura, but also enjoying certain pleasures. The elevated status would include lounging on thrones, which are elsewhere mentioned as covered with silk cushions and placed on silk carpets, and being joined with houris marked by their large eyes. Chapter 1 noted the role of houris as nurses for the wounded in battle. Their sensual nature will be further analyzed in chapters 5 and 6.
The scene offered by the above verses paints a perpetual banquet of bliss. Believers will be joined with their families. One can meet ancestors and descendants. Part of the enjoyment includes eating fruit and meat and other things that are desired. This includes wine that will not make anyone ill, presumably with drunkenness. Handsome youths, described as “pearls well-guarded,” form a retinue who serve food and drink. Each person, upon greeting others, will mention the former fear of Allah, and how Allah has finally rewarded them. The recognition that they are saved comes from the fact that they did not face Allah’s punishment, not that they enjoy the pleasures of Garden life. It is the alleviation of the fear of the Fire as opposed to the rewards of the Garden for which they are truly grateful.
The linkage of earthly creation and otherworldly creation not only highlights the continuum of life within its natural elements of flora, but it also demonstrates the continuum of social dynamics. Yet, part of the linkage between life and afterlife is to show the superlative nature of the afterlife in terms of material objects. While many suras explore objects in the afterworld, two in particular, al-Rahman and al-Waqi‘a, present a rich vision of how the life to come is linked to behavior during earthly time. The aim of the following paragraphs is to introduce the suras’ visions of the afterlife, which will be analyzed in chapters 4 and 5.
Al-Rahman, “The Merciful,” refers to one of the names of God. The title also governs the sura’s content: each component of the verse exemplifies the power and gracious mercy of Allah.7 The sura maintains symmetry in form and content through the use of dualities and with the refrain, “Which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?” The sura begins with the manifold creations of Allah that extend from sun and moon, herbs and trees, and the firmament to flora, man, and jinn that support a balanced world “in order that ye may not transgress (due) balance” (55.8). Before the creation of man begins the refrain “which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?” This refrain follows the mention of every creation that include bodies of waters out of which come small pearls or coral (55.21).8
The creations of Allah are extended to the other world, and the sura turns to the Last Judgment. Jinn and men will not be able to pass through the “zones of the heavens and the earth” without Allah’s permission (54.33). Their punishment is described:
35. On you will be sent (O ye evil ones twain!) A flame of fire (to burn) and a smoke (to choke): No defense will ye have: 36. When the sky is rent asunder, and it becomes red like ointment: 38. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 39. On that day no question will be asked of man or jinn as to his sin, 40. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? (For) the sinners will be known by their marks: and they will be seized by their forelocks and their feet. 42. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 43. This is the Hell which the sinners deny. 444. In its midst and in the midst of boiling hot water will they wander round! 45. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?
Interestingly, the punishment is mentioned for both sinners and jinn. The refrain emphasizes the actual sin, which is to deny the favors that Allah has granted. It is due to the denial that the unbelievers are placed in the Fire.
Finally, the sura turns to a vision of the Garden. Reiterating the theme of pairs, there will be two gardens that contain trees and springs in order to empathize perfection and completion. Fruit will even cluster in pairs.
46. But for such as fear the time when they will stand before (the Judgment seat of) their Lord there will be two Gardens. 47. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? 48. Containing all kinds (of trees and delights)—49. then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? 50. In them (Each) will be two springs flowing free. 51. Therein which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? 52. In them will be fruits of every kind, two and two. 53. Then which of the favors of your lord will ye deny?
The section turns to the surroundings of the Garden and objects such as carpets, brocades, pomegranates, and dates:
54. They will recline on carpets whose inner linings will be of rich brocade: the fruit of the gardens will be near (and easy of reach). 55. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 56. In them will be (maidens) chaste, restraining their glances, whom no man or jinn before them has touched. 57. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 58. Like unto rubies and coral. 59. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 60. Is there any Reward for Good—other than Good? 61. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 62. And besides these two, there are two other Gardens. 63. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 64. Dark green in color (from plentiful watering). 65. Then which of the favors of your lord will ye deny? 66. In them (each) will be two springs pouring forth water in continuous abundance: 67. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 68. In them will be fruits and dates and pomegranates. 69. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 70. In them will be fair companions, good beautiful 71. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 72. Companions restrained (as to their glances), in (goodly) pavilions. 73. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 74. Whom no man or Jinn before them has touched. 75. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 76. Reclining on green cushions and rich carpets of beauty. 77. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? 76. Blessed be the name of they Lord full of Majesty, bounty and honor.
The carpets will be of rich brocade, and believers will be able to reach and savor the fruit that abound around them. In their restrained beauty, houris will be untouched by men or jinn. Gardens will be filled with plenty of water. It will be a place of springs, dates, and sumptuous fruits such as pomegranate. Life will be bountiful in the beautiful canopy of the Garden, and believers will rest eternally on its green cushions and rich carpets.
The following sura, Al-Waqi‘a, translated as “the Reality,” summarizes the eschatological argument presented found in the Qur’an: what awaits both Muslims and unbelievers is linked to the existence of things that began before time. Creation, destruction, and life in the hereafter all follow each other. What is inevitable is the end of the world, but also the life beyond it that can only be experienced in the polarities of absolute bliss or torment. The sura’s structure follows the division of humanity into the three groups: the foremost in faith, the companions of the right hand, and companions of the left hand. The sura begins with apocalyptic events and the sorting of humanity into three classes: “the companions of the right hand,” “the companions of the left hand,” and “foremost (in faith) who will be the foremost in the hereafter.” Presumably, the foremost of faith consist of the elect of the companions of the right hand since their rewards are similarly described. The elect inhabit the Gardens of Bliss (al-jannat al-na‘im) where they enjoy the rewards of their good lives (56.13):
15. (They will be) on Thrones encrusted (with gold and precious stones), 16. Reclining on them, facing each other. 17. Round about them will (serve) youths of perpetual (freshness) 18. With goblets, (shining) beakers and cups (filled) out of clear-flowing fountains. 19. No after-ache will they receive therefrom, nor will they suffer intoxication. 20. and with fruits any that they may select; 21. And the flesh of fowls, any that they may desire. 22. And (there will be) companions with beautiful big and lustrous eyes. 23. like unto pearls well-guarded. 24. a reward for the deeds or their past (Life). 25. No frivolity, will they hear therein, nor any taint of ill—26. Only the saying “Peace! Peace!”
In the Garden, people recline on jewel-encrusted thrones and drink from beautiful beakers and cups. Presumably these delicious drinks have the ability to bring joy without the sin of overindulgence. These will not intoxicate; instead, they will bring forth balanced pleasure, alluded to in the first section of al-Rahman. Just as the drinks will please but not intoxicate, the companions will enjoy the benefits of life without its disadvantages; for example, there will be no illness. As reward, the elect will be served by houris described as “pearls well guarded.” The companions of the right hand will enjoy similar pleasures as the foremost of faith; yet, their surroundings will not be so gilded.
28. they will be among lote trees without thorns, 29. Among talh trees with flowers (or fruits—piled one above another—30. in shade long-extended. 31. By water flowing constantly. 32. And fruit in abundance. 33. Whose season is not limited, nor (supply) forbidden. 34. And on Thrones (of Dignity) raised high. 35. We have created (their companions) of special creation. 36. And made them virgin pure (and undefiled) 37. Beloved (by nature) equal in age 38. For the companions of the right hand.
Here the companions enjoy the garden landscape filled with lotus and talh trees surrounded by flowing water and abundant fruit. Although they sit on thrones like the foremost of faith, these thrones are not bejeweled or surrounded by carpets. Similarly, the companions of the right hand instead of being served by houris have companions pure and equal in age.
The companions of the left hand confront a far different future. What they enjoyed in earthly lives will be withheld from them in their future lives (56.45). They will be surrounded by blasts of fire, boiling water, and black smoke (56.42). For doubting that they will be resurrected to account for their deeds (56.47), they will face punishment. Verses list these pains and then question the companions of the left hand about the creation of the world:
52. “ye will surely taste of the tree of Zaqqum. 53. Then will ye fill your insides therewith. 54. And drink boiling water on top of it: 55. Indeed ye shall drink like diseased camels raging with thirst!” 56. Such will be their entertainment on the day of requital! 57. It is we who have created you: why do ye not testify to this truth? 58. Do ye then see?—The (human seed) that ye throw out—59. Is it ye who create it, or are we the creators? 60. We have decreed Death to be your common lot, and we are not to be frustrated 61. From changing your forms and creating you (again) in (forms) that ye know now. 62. And ye certainly know already the first form of creation: why then do you not celebrate his praises?
The verses continue to name the creations that the companions ignore such as the seeds in the ground that grow, the water that comes from the clouds, and the kindled fire.
The sura follows by summarizing the choices with which humanity is faced. The verses call upon humanity to witness the setting of the stars, the revelation of the Qur’an, and the inevitability of death that exempts no one from future account (56.86). For those who accept these inevitable realities, they will enjoy “rest and satisfaction” in the Garden of Bliss (al-jannat al-na‘im) (56.89). Those who “treat truth as falsehood” (56.92) will be met with boiling water and burning hellfire (56.93).
When the trumpet is blown and life ceases to exist, earth “is moved, and its mountains … are crushed to powder at one stroke” (69.14). As seen in the sura al-Waqi‘a, on that day, humanity will be divided into the foremost of faith, the companions on the left, and the companions on the right. The distinction between those who deserve the Garden and those who deserve the Fire will be determined by the acceptance of God’s power and creation during their lives. For those who reject the message of God, the gates of the Garden will not open until a camel can pass through the eye of a needle (7.40). What confirms the reality of the Last Judgment is to the extent that those who are damned are finally confronted by the fact that they had no faith in their lives; and the people of the Garden are forbidden to help those in need of succor from the Fire from which they will never escape (7.48–50). While their infinite futures are so differently marked, it is their finite past that was responsible for their eschatological placement.
The message of the Garden and the Fire is not only to set humanity on the right path, but also to warn them of coming trials. Humanity is offered a choice, and that choice has eschatological consequences. For the righteous is the promise of the Garden with its carpets, brocades, and houris, and for those who turn away from the truth of Allah, there is nothing but the pain of the Fire. In this sense, the eschatological narrative in the Qur’an is not just temporally determined. Instead, the Qur’an also provides a view of the afterworld that is similar to the earthly world, but structured on different spatial and temporal parameters. With the focus on the things found within the afterworld, the Qur’an posits not just an alternative to earthly life, but also a material alternative to the limitations of the world.
AN ISLAMIC ETHIC
The connection between behavior on earth and reward and punishment in the afterlife is so explicit that many descriptions of the Garden and the Fire are accompanied with explanations of which action leads to one realm or the other, and many traditions about daily life are followed by how the action will result in the calculus of entering the Garden or the Fire. Through the glimpses of the life in the Garden and the Fire, there emerges a code of behavior that constitutes a type of Islamic ethics. This Islamic ethic, which offers guidelines of how to have faith and behave like a Muslim, is presented as a choice given to humanity. Behavior enjoined upon believers on earth had an inverse relationship with behaviors to be enjoyed in the next world: what was shunned in this world is entertained in the next. The same was true for the appreciation of objects. What was enjoyed outside the lines of moderation in this world was the cause of the punishment in the Fire. What was abstained from or unavailable in this world was gifted as a reward for righteous behavior in the Garden. Theoretically, everyone had the same opportunity to be a good Muslim, and those who did not avail themselves of the compassion of Allah were to be awarded a life in The Fire.
In hadiths, the Garden and the Fire are constantly invoked when discussing the rules of Muslim behavior. For example, special prayers are formed to implore Allah to save believers from the Fire.9 Punishment for wrongdoing was often specified by sin. Those who avoided paying tithe or zakat would have their wealth transform into a “white-headed serpent with a sac of venom in each cheek which will seek him out until it has him in its power, saying, ‘I am the wealth that you had hidden away.’”10 During his Night Journey and Ascension, Muhammad saw a usurer whose punishment was to drown in a river because a stone was thrown into his mouth to weigh him down. Any spending of money in an inappropriate way is seen as unfavorable on Judgment Day.11 Keeping one’s oath is another obligation that if broken warrants the Fire. Swearing on a false oath near the prophet’s minbar (pulpit) earns a special seat in the Fire.12 Even stealing a toothpick will gain a place in the Fire.13 While the Fire was employed to compel religious obligations, the Garden appears more frequently in hadiths in order to enjoin ethical behavior. Keeping oaths and not lying will open the doors of the Garden. Truthfulness leads to right action, and right action leads to the Garden.14 The purpose is not only to be righteous, but also to be mindful of the effects of bad speech and behavior.
At times the Garden and the Fire are used as symbols of antithetical behavior. If a person tells the truth, he or she will gain the Garden. By contrast, a person who utters words of no importance falls into the fires of jahannam, while one who watches his words will land in the Garden.15 For example, someone who falsely alleges paternity is sure to be placed in the Fire.16 These injunctions against wrongful speech focus on one of the potential areas of humanity’s corruption. The other involves man’s desire for sex outside the confines of marriage. In one hadith, Muhammad links the two areas of corruption together: “Whomever Allah protects from the evil of two things will enter the Garden. They are what is between his jaws and that is between his legs, what is between his jaws and what is between his legs.”17 Misrepresenting oneself in speech leads to Fire. So does unchecked sexual appetite.
PROBLEM OF ADORNMENT
Hadith collections present a series of narratives that encourage Muslims to protect themselves against adornment in dress and in the household. Good Muslims cannot enjoy material luxuries on earth if they are focused on the veneration of Allah. If they surround themselves with unnecessary luxury, then they forfeit the greater luxuries in the Garden. The major area of adornment that is prohibited for Muslims is dress made of fabrics such as silk. In one hadith, the prophet was given a silk robe (farruj) as a gift. He initially prayed in it, but then took it off, claiming that it was not the dress of Allah-fearing pious people.18 Another hadith shows how the refusal to wear silk robes helped Muslims define themselves in relation to non-Muslims:
Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi’ from ‘Abdallah ibn ‘Umar that ‘Abdullah saw a silk robe at the door of the mosque. He said, “Messenger of Allah, would you buy this robe and wear it on jum’a [Friday] when envoys come to you?” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “No one wears this but a person who has no portion in the Next World.” Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was brought some robes of the same material and gave one of them to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab. ‘Umar said, “Messenger of Allah, do you clothe me in it when you said what you said about the robe of ‘Utarid?” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “I did not give it to you to wear.” ‘Umar gave it to a brother of his in Mecca who was still an idolator.19
The prophet’s response mirrors Qur’anic verses that suggest that one buys with this world the pleasures of the next. By not buying these robes on earth, a believer will be offered a more glorious version of the robe in the next life.20 In the second part of the hadith, the prophet receives a similar robe and hands it to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, his companion and one of his eventual successors. After discussing whether it is appropriate to wear the robe, ‘Umar gives it to his non-Muslim brother.21 His brother’s acceptance of the gift is possible, since his future does not have to be safeguarded against luxury. He is already doomed to the Fire.
While ‘Umar’s religiosity is seen as exemplary, other traditions characterize ‘Ali, another companion whose succession eventually leads to the Shi‘a split in the Islamic community, as having been swayed by luxury. In one tradition, Muhammad gives ‘Ali a silk garment, and ‘Ali wears it. The prophet gets angry so ‘Ali tears it to pieces and then distributes it to women.22 This hadith suggests a Sunni bias because it portrays ‘Ali’s as slightly misguided due to his luxury-seeking tendencies. Beyond the figure of ‘Ali, the motif of giving the silk to the women for head coverings signifies the same concept of giving the silk to lesser humans, such as those who are not Muslim. In this narrative, women are not expected to have the same level of piety when it comes to adornment; consequently, they are represented as inferior to those who do—namely men.
Prohibitions on dress do not only involve types of cloth, but also how they should be worn. The length of a man’s lower garment is one case in point: “Yahya related to me from Malik from al-‘Ala’ ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman that his father said, ‘I asked Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri about the lower garment. He said that he would inform me with knowledge and that he had heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, ‘The lower garment of the believer should reach to the middle of his calves. There is no harm in what is between that and the ankles. What is lower than that is in the Fire, what is lower than that is in the Fire. On the Day of Rising, Allah will not look at a person who trails his lower garment out of arrogance.’”23
Women play an intermediate role between the two positions. For example, many hadiths on dress are found in the section on “dress and the women’s quarters.” As evinced by the tradition where ‘Ali gives the silk to women, dress and the appreciation of clothes is seen to be the realm of women’s pleasures. Linked to the dress is an inherent notion of sexuality that surfaces with the way that women adorn themselves: “Yahya related to me from Malik from Muslim ibn Abi Maryam from Abu Salih that Abu Hurayra said, ‘Women who are naked even though they are wearing clothes, go astray and make others go astray, and they will not enter the Garden, nor will they experience its fragrance, and its fragrance can be experienced from as far as the distance traveled in five hundred years.’”24
The pleasures of wearing clothes, and especially the silken ones, are then seen as an extension of sexuality in which women act as enticement. Hadiths regard women as sexual objects or lures and men as sexually desiring; yet, it is women who can be easily tainted as luxury-seeking Muslims because of their feminine nature. Women cannot be ethical to the same standard as men because of their inclination to enjoy sumptuous material objects.
Sumptuary items related to foods also should be shunned, among them silk and trailing garments. Silver vessels were identified as the ware of idolatry: it is the Zoroastrian who was linked with the use of silver vessels. In one hadith, a certain Hudhayfa throws back the vessel, saying that there was to be neither enjoyment of silk or silk brocade (dibaj), nor eating from silver and gold vessels because “such things are for the unbelievers in this worldly life and for us in the hereafter.”25 Silver and gold rings are also forbidden.26 Another hadith in Imam Malik’s al-Muwatta’ makes the connection between the silver vessel and the fate of the unbeliever far more direct: “A person who drinks from a silver vessel brings the fire of jahannam into his belly.”27 Using the vessel will literally ingest jahannam. In the same way, another tradition found in Muslim’s collection has the prophet advising against enjoying sumptuary objects: “‘Abd al-Rahman b. Abu Layla reported that Hudhaifa asked for water and a Magian gave him water in a silver vessel, whereupon he said, I heard Allah’s Messenger (Peace be Upon Him) as saying: do not wear silk or brocade and do not drink in vessels of gold and silver, and do not eat in the dishes made of them for these are for them in the world.”28 In these hadiths, items such as silk and brocade are reserved for non-Muslims in this world, suggesting they are for Muslims in the next world. Even certain foods play a part in the ascetic regime. ‘Umar, renowned in Sunni texts for his piety, swears not to consume ghee or clarified butter: “Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Sa‘id that ‘Umar al-Khattab was eating bread with ghee. He summoned one of the desert people and he began to eat and mop up the grease in the dish with a morsel of bread. ‘Umar said, ‘It is as if you were poor.’ He said, ‘By Allah, I have not eaten ghee nor have I seen food with it since such-and-such a time!’ ‘Umar declared, ‘I shall not eat clarified butter until people are given life again like they were first given life (i.e. on the Day of Rising).’”29 The refusal to eat ghee and not to wear silk or enjoy the presence of silver and gold is not just an ascetic impulse within Islamic ethics. As evinced from other hadiths, Muslims were not expected to forgo all pleasures in this world, but they are expected to distance themselves from those pleasures that competed with the affection and reverence for God. Disregarding the objects and not displaying vanity showed awareness of the greater pleasures in the next life.
These objects are unacceptable for Muslims, but acceptable for non-Muslims. To gorge on the feast on earth is to have no faith that the true feast awaits. What makes the other feast the more delicious one is not only because it is a reward, but also because sense of perception will be renewed and reformed. These two polarized fields—Muslim and non-Muslim—have their own ethic. The Muslim abstains from luxuries in this life in order to afford luxuries in the future; the non-Muslim relishes luxuries in life precisely because he or she does not comply with the terms of Islamic ethics.
The injunctions against silk, brocade, and silver vessels evince an ethic that identifies itself as not Persian. While it is true that brocades and metals were available in a Byzantine-controlled Syria, the finest of fabrics and items made of precious metals were renowned products of Sassanian Iran. In fact, the word for silk that appears in the Qur’an as a promise for the believers in the Garden is the borrowed Persian term harir, as opposed to the Arabic word khazz, which was technically a mix between silk and wool, but understood to be silk.30 What may inform the injunctions against luxury, then, may be an anti-Persian aesthetic that threatened a more moderate aesthetic within Islamic ethics. That stance against Persian goods is also used to define Muslim behavior in relation to presumably luxury-seeking Zoroastrians. It is possible that the proliferation of these hadiths come from a later time period when Arab raiding forces had occupied the Sassanian capital, Ctesiphon (ca. 637) and gained access to the Iranian plateau through the capture of the city Nihavand (642). Yet, the fact that there are similar traditions in early collections such as al-Malik’s al-Muwatta’ suggests that both the argument for an earlier or later provenance for the hadiths is possible.
What is intriguing is that Muhammad was known to wear a signet ring and to have a favorite red cloak. The case against silk, brocade, and precious metals, then, signified a battle that was larger than an individual’s desire to dress. The sensibility of what Muslims as a community were supposed to wear and enjoy emerged in a commercial environment where Muslims were not supposed to be the high-end earthly consumers; instead, they were encouraged to be modest in this world so they could gain those goods, in an even more superior form, in the next world.
WOMEN IN HELL
The difference between the believer and unbeliever is significant and explicit when it comes to traditions about the afterlife. other significant distinctions are far more implicit. In particular, the categories of male and female are another form of stratification within traditions about the Garden and the Fire. The most visible way to locate this gendered distinction is within the texts that describe the rewards of believing men: men of the Garden are awarded houris for their good behavior on earth. There is no indication that women are awarded houris or a corresponding being. For this reason, some have suggested that Islamic paradise is a realm that caters to men’s pleasures. Other significant traditions suggest that women will form the majority in hell.
Hadiths that claim that most of the people in hell are women do not always associate their placement with any specific sin. The most basic form is the prophet claiming that he saw more women in the Fire than in the Garden, presumably during the Night Journey and Ascension or eclipse prayer:
Usama b. Zayd reported that Allah’s Messenger said: I stood at the door of the Garden and I found that the overwhelming majority of those who entered therein was that of poor persons and wealthy persons were detained.… The denizens of the Fire were commanded to get into hell, and I stood upon the door of Fire and the majority among them who entered there was that of women.31
In this hadith, the poor form a large portion of the Garden, while the rich are detained. It is unclear as to how long they are detained or to what extent being detained necessitates that they be in the realm of Fire. The corrupting factor is not just possessing things that were enjoyed in the wrong form (impure) in the wrong realm (on earth). By the second clause, it becomes clear that the hadith is making basic ontological distinctions between rich and poor, those who have enjoyed pleasures in this life, and those who have been deprived of them. Within this framework, the hadith damns the category of women who provide another ontological standard. Furthermore, that standard is reinforced by the vision of the majority of hell being women. The hadith suggests that women are seen to be in the lower realms; they are found to be lacking faith, according to normative Islamic standards.
In two other versions, the reasons why women predominate in the Fire are due to their ungrateful relationships with their spouses:
Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas, The Prophet said, “I was shown the Fire and that the majority of its dwellers were women who were ungrateful.” It was asked, “Do they disbelieve in Allah?” (or are they ungrateful to Allah?) He replied, “They are ungrateful for the favors and the good (charitable deeds) done to them. If you have always been good (benevolent) to one of them and then she sees something in you (not of her liking), she will say, ‘I have never received any good from you.’”32
The justification for punishment is not that women are ungrateful to Allah, which could constitute a lack of faith; rather, they are ungrateful to their husbands. Another hadith clarifies these infelicities:
It is narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar that the Messenger of Allah observed: “O womenfolk, you should give charity and ask much forgiveness for I saw you in bulk amongst the dwellers of the Fire.” A wise lady among them said: “Why is it, Messenger of Allah, that our folk are the bulk of the Fire?” Upon this the Holy Prophet observed: “You curse too much and are ungrateful to your spouses. I have seen none lacking in common sense and failing in religion but (at the same time) robbing the wisdom of the wise, besides you.” Upon this the woman remarked: “What is wrong with our common sense and with religion?” He the Holy Prophet observed: “Your lack of common sense can be well judged from the fact that the evidence of two women is equal to one man, that is a proof of the lack of common sense, and you spend some nights (and days) in which you do not offer prayer and in the month of Ramadan (during the days) you do not observe fast, that is a failing in religion.” This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Abu Tahir with this chain of transmitters.33
The prophet counsels that women should be charitable and ask forgiveness, thus locating the reason that they are placed in hell. Once again, the theme of women’s relationships to their husbands plays a major role in determining whether they enter the Garden or the Fire. It is unclear if women’s religious failure is due to a separate entity or a manifestation of their lack of common sense. Yet, they are also damned because they rob the wise of wisdom. In this sense, some traditions count as one of the signs of the last hour that men will listen to their wives over their mothers. Presumably, the status of women depends on their role in the family. It is in the role of a wife that a woman has inappropriate power over righteous men, but it is in the role of a mother that she is respected. What reinforces the sense that women are not charitable is a series of hadiths where a woman is doomed to hell because she allowed a cat to starve rather than untying and feeding it.34 While the hadiths are about a particular woman, they reinforce a sense that women are ungrateful (kufr) for the blessings that are provided for them, whether from God or their husbands.
The hadiths about women’s earthly behavior and otherworldly placement suggest that women’s ethical standing involves a more complicated judgment by normative Islamic standards: women ought strive to be good Muslims and to be rewarded a life in the Garden; yet, they are predisposed to the behavior that is similar to an unbeliever’s. When it comes to expressing appreciation for aesthetic objects, this tendency of women is somewhat accepted; however, it is unclear if there is a future punishment involved. What it does indicate is that contained within the traditions is a sense that women’s ethical behavior can never be the same as men’s. Instead, women’s differing status is made clear by the few allowances—such as enjoying silk—and the many injunctions to be grateful, charitable wives. In this sense, Islamic tradition intimates that women have the same opportunity to enter the Garden, but have more obstacles to overcome than men. Women are to be grateful not only to God, but also to their husbands. Within this hierarchy of the family is also a different opportunity that also signals their earthly placement apart from men: women may enjoy the adornments of the non-Muslim in ways that Muslim males cannot.
SHAHADA VERSUS BEHAVIOR
Faith in the shahada, the statement that “there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of God,” is a prerequisite of faith and has come to be identified as one of the pillars of Islam. Yet, is faith in the shahada sufficient criterion for entering the Garden? Some hadiths record that belief in the shahada results in placement in the Garden, while others suggest that it is only righteous or ethical deeds that will insure the entry into the Garden. How are the two positions of faith and deeds to be reconciled? Is the afterlife something you actively work towards during your life? Is it something that is rewarded for good deeds and thus orients the way in which you see the continuum between this life and the next? Or is placement in the Garden bestowed solely by Allah’s will?
The famous female mystic Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya (713–801) proclaimed that she wished that the Garden and the Fire did not exist because they were becoming objects of people’s desires and replacing the sole and necessary preoccupation with Allah. The Qur’an is clear in its orientation that the Garden is only for the pious, and that piety is based on their sole devotion and recognition of Allah as the sole deity. Even those verses that refer to actions such as lying are related to the lie of asserting and denying the truth of Allah. While the Qur’an presents a unified vision of the relationship between faith and the Garden, hadiths tend to be more varied.
People asked Muhammad not only about the Garden, but how to reach it. Some traditions begin with statements such as “Tell me such a deed as will make me enter the Garden.”35 Certain hadiths also assert that particular actions can elicit the right type of outcome. These range from the common meritorious act of offering zakat36 to the more unusual endeavors, such as “Paradise is granted to followers who launch the first naval expedition.”37 The opposite is true as well. Actions can also prohibit entry in the Garden. For example, you will not enter if you wrong your neighbor.38
While communal appreciation constitutes an important part of the process of recognizing if someone will win the Garden, the true test is one that is self-imposed. It is faith that will guarantee a place in the Garden. In one hadith, Muhammad claimed that if you believe in the shahada, you will enter the Garden. At that point, someone asked even if a person committed illegal sexual intercourse, and Muhammad replied in the affirmative.39 Yet, the shahada is not the only standard by which a person is judged. In another hadith, Muhammad affirmed that belief in the shahada is all that is required to guarantee the Garden. A person asks if he should inform the people, and the prophet replies that they should not in case people depend solely on the shahada gaining them access to the Garden.40
Within this spectrum is the issue of a free will. The following hadith maintains the will of Allah as the final arbitrator of those who will receive the Garden and those who receive the Fire:
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, created Adam. Then He stroked his back with His right hand and some of his progeny issued from it. He said, ‘I created these for the Garden and they will act with the behavior of the people of the Garden,’ Then He stroked his back again and brought forth the rest of his progeny from him. He said, ‘I created these for the Fire and they will act with the behavior of the people of the Fire.’” A man asked, “Messenger of Allah, then of what value are actions?” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, replied, “When Allah created a slave for the Garden, He gives him the behavior of the people of the Garden so that he dies on one of the actions of the people of the Garden and by it He brings him into the Garden. When He created a slave for the Fire, He gives him the behavior of the people of the Fire so that he dies on one of the actions of the people of the Fire and by it He brings him into the Fire.”41
The preliminary part of the hadith states that Allah molds those destined for one realm or the other. The molding itself results in a proclivity to act a certain way. What is set is a tendency to behave as the people of each respective realm would. When the people reaffirm the actions that they were destined to undertake, they are insured of the realm that was set for them. The hadith suggests, then, that Allah has complete control of how humans are created; in essence, Allah knows the fitra, or the natural constitution, of an individual. What is unknown is the way an individual chooses to act through the course of his or her lifetime.
It is due to the potential of an individual reforming his or her nature that the concept of jihad plays such a large role in collections of hadith. Traditions about jihad, technically called jihad fi sabil Allah (“striving in the path of Allah”), have two connotations. The first refers to the militant message to fight in the path of Allah, traditions presented in chapter 1; the second is the notion of jihad being an internal struggle on the straight and righteous path to Allah. In this sense, jihad is the constant striving to be Muslim and to be a better one.
Unlike the term “conversion,” which contains within it the connotation of a discrete moment of transformation, jihad connotes slower and more gradual shifts. When one constantly strives to be better in the eyes of God, one is in a process of jihad. In one hadith, Muhammad is asked what deed will ensure entry into the Garden. He replies within the framework of jihad as endeavor: “It is reported on the authority of ‘Abdullah b. Ma‘sud that he observed: ‘I asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) which deed was best. He (the Holy Prophet) replied: ‘Prayer at its appointed hour.’ I again said: ‘Then what?’ He then replied: ‘Kindness to the parents.’ I again said: ‘Then what?’ He replied, ‘Earnest endeavor (jihad) in the cause of Allah.’ And I would have not ceased asking more questions but out of regard for his feelings.”42 Given the tone of the first two injunctions, it is unlikely that here jihad has military connotations. Instead, it is based on the notion of endeavor for what Allah wills.
Yet, martyrdom through battle is also enjoined in hadiths. That martyrdom gains entry into the Garden or passage home safely with material rewards.43 The sacrifice itself allows for dramatic transformation on the day of the Resurrection where wounds will have the color of blood and the scent of musk.44 Martyrdom’s rewards are ontological and consequential:
Narrated Anas bin Malik: “The Prophet said, ‘Nobody dies and finds good from Allah (in the hereafter) would wish to come back to this world even if he were given the whole world and whatever is in it, except the martyr who, on seeing the superiority of martyrdom, would like to come back to the world and get killed again (in Allah’s cause).’”
Narrated Anas: “The Prophet said, ‘A single endeavor (of fighting) in Allah’s cause in the afternoon or in the forenoon is better than all the world and whatever is in it. A place in the Garden as small as the bow or lash of one of you is better than all the world and whatever is in it. And if a woman from the Garden appeared to the people of the earth, she would fill the space between heaven and earth with light and pleasant scent and her head cover is better than the world and whatever is in it.’”45
The rewards extend to the categorical worth of the act and to the pleasures of paradise, exemplified by the gain of women in the Garden and by the superior home of the martyrs. In one dream the prophet reported that he saw the home of the martyrs:
Narrated Samura: “The Prophet said, ‘Last night two men came to me (in a dream) and made me ascend a tree and then admitted me into a better and superior house, better of which I have never seen. One of them said, ‘This house is the house of martyrs.’”46
Martyrdom for God is determined not only by action, but also by intention. In one hadith found in Malik’s collection, a non-Muslim kills a Muslim. The Muslim gains the Garden, and the non-Muslim, after Allah’s forgiveness, fights in the way of God, and so he too is seen as a martyr.47 Muhammad is believed to have said, “Anyone whose both feet get covered with dust in Allah’s cause will not be touched by the Fire.”48
Islamic ethics does not require the actual undertaking of acts of militaristic jihad. Instead, the offering of oneself for Allah is adequate. In this sense, jihad may be seen as the highest grade of abstention, if it is followed with righteous behavior and correct action:
Narrated Abu Hurayra, “The Prophet said, ‘Whoever believes in Allah and his Apostle, offer prayer perfectly and fasts the month of Ramadan, will rightfully be granted the Garden by Allah, no matter whether he fights in Allah’s cause or remains in the land where he is born.’ The people said, ‘O Allah’s Apostle! Shall we acquaint the people with this good news?’ He said ‘the Garden has one hundred grades which Allah has reserved for the Mujahidin who fight in his Cause, and the distance between the Heaven and the Earth. So, when you ask Allah for something, ask for al-Firdaws which is the best and highest part of the Garden.’ [The subnarrator added] ‘I think the Prophet also said, Above al-Firdaws is the Throne of the Beneficent and from it originate the rivers of the Garden.’”49
While the martyrs are to receive the highest grade of the Garden, it is unclear if everyone else is excluded from that category. The Garden is gained through struggle that takes place in an individual’s daily choices. One becomes a better Muslim by striving to meet the ethical standards set through the prophet’s example recorded in hadiths. The struggle on earth involves not just behavior, but also any mechanism to bring awareness to the choices that face humanity.
While the Qur’an is clear that choices have their consequences, hadiths suggest that there is the possibility to be saved from the Fire. Some individuals implore Allah to save them from their inevitable placement. After the placement, Allah is said to take “equal to the weight of a grain of mustard seed to be taken out of the Fire.” In their blackened state, they will be put in the river Haya, or “Life,” and they will grow like yellow and twisted grain “near the bank of a flood channel.”50 In the case of those who have been saved, they will be given life, but not one that restores the graces and beauty that Allah first offered to them. Instead, they will be yellow and twisted. The mustard seed as a trope continues; other hadiths suggest that if a believer has a grain of goodness, even the size of a mustard seed, then he or she will be saved from the Fire.51 Another series suggest that the mustard seed of pride will guarantee a person a spot in the Fire.52
Some exit the Fire through Allah’s wishes and form the lowest ranks of the Garden. One of the most common traditions refers to the story of Ibn al-‘Awf, referred to in chapter 2, whom Allah allowed to crawl through the gates of the Garden. In one hadith, Allah forgives a man and orders him to enter the Garden. The man tries, but finds it is full. Allah laughs at the wretch and tells him to try again: “Go and Enter the Garden, for there is for you the like of the world and ten times like it, or for you is ten time the like of this world. He (the narrator) said: He (that man) would say: ‘Art Thou making fun of me? Though Thou are the King?’ He the narrator said: I saw the Messenger of Allah laugh till his front teeth were visible. And it was said: That would be the lowest rank among the inhabitants of the Garden.”53 Hadiths record a sense of joy on the part of Muhammad as he laughs at God’s compassion or sinners’ lack of understanding. In this sense, the stories that involve the last inhabitants of the Garden not only offer a sense of the true mercy and compassion of Allah, but the stories are also framed as joyous jokes where the hero is a fallible fool, but God’s generosity forgives the naiveté as well as the sin.
The articulation of what it meant to act as a Muslim was inextricably linked to a certain code of behavior that required faith in Muhammad’s message and God’s divine beneficence and an appreciation of, yet abstention from, material objects. With the case of adornment, Muslims were expected to deny themselves the sumptuous goods of the world in order to gain the materials of the Garden. Similarly, Muslims are promised objects such as homes, women, silks, and jewelry in the Garden if they struggle on the path and for the love of Allah. What the Qur’an and hadiths demonstrate is that the degree to which one enjoys material goods is a choice with consequences. In this world, one can be an unbeliever who enjoys a lifestyle filled with luxurious clothes and sumptuous vessels, or one can choose to abstain from these pleasures and to save them, in an altered form, for the next world. What is interesting about these distinctions is that it is unlikely that most Muslims in the seventh century—or even most Muslims in the tenth century—were rich enough to renounce a materially driven lifestyle. It is more likely, then, that the objects were used as ways to identify what it meant to be Muslim in this world and a rewarded believer in the next.