Badges mark quoted or attributed material (Qur'an, hadith, another author, an opposing view). Unbadged passages are Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's own words.
When you discover God Almighty and realize that He has all these high attributes, you will be filled with feelings of love for Him. At the same time, you know that God is the greatest, God is all-powerful, and God is the Lord of everything. The combination of these two sentiments, your love for God and your realization of God’s greatness, manifests in a unique form. All the words of the dictionary fall short of expressing this sentiment. This sentiment is full of affection, at the same time, it is full of awe. p. 328
In human language, it is impossible to find a word that can express this noble spirit. This spirit is fear in its appearance, but love in its inner content. This is the highest stage of faith in God. p. 328
God-consciousness is the highest form of man’s sentimental expression. When a person reaches this level of consciousness, he is so overwhelmed by his feelings that he forgets all words from his memory. If he tries to express this in the word “love”, he finds that the feeling is also full of fear; and when he tries to express it in the word “fear”, he finds that it is also full of love. In the dictionary of inner feelings, it is a completely known experience, but as far as words are concerned, there is no word in any dictionary that can fully express this sublime sentiment. p. 328
Deserving Candidate
for Paradise p. 329
Who is a deserving candidate for the eternal world of Paradise? The Quran is a revealed book which gives the answer to this question. According to the Quran, only a muzakka (20:76) person will be selected for being settled into Paradise. p. 329original + quote
Muzakka means a purified soul. The muzakka person is one who prepares himself in terms of the Paradise culture, who develops his personality on the lines required for living in the society of Paradise. Paradise is an ideal society. Everything in Paradise will be perfect and up to a high standard. The qualities that are required in a muzakka person are given in the Quran in detail. p. 329
Paradise is not anyone’s birth right, nor will one receive entry into it through recommendation or wishful thinking. Entry into Paradise is totally a matter of selection, and this selection will be done by none other than God Almighty in the world hereafter. p. 329
The hearts of the people of Paradise will be filled with the glory of God. (39:75) This is the first quality of a muzakka person. That is, he must discover the glory of God in the present world and acknowledge it from deep within his heart. Glorifying God is always a result of discovery. It means that a person should adopt the culture of contemplation (tadabbur), and through thinking and reflection, discover God as the Lord of the Universe. This discovery must be intellectually so deep that it should bring about a revolutionary change in his personality. In this way he becomes a rabbani (3:79) person, as defined in the Quran. p. 329original + quote
A scene from Paradise has been given in the Quran in the chapter Al-Qamar (The Moon) in these words: p. 330Qur'an
The God-fearing will find themselves in gardens and rivers, in the seat of truth with an all-powerful sovereign. (54:55) p. 330Qur'an
It means that the people of Paradise will have the qualities of truthfulness and sincerity in the complete sense of the word. Those who have proved that they possess this high quality will be enrolled in the bright list of entrants to Paradise. p. 330