Deeds to Raise Your Rank

Path to Piety

Deeds to Raise Your Rank

Muhammad Nawaz Attari Madani

Firdaws is the loftiest station of Paradise about which the final Prophet of Allah صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم said, “When you supplicate to Allah Almighty, ask Him for Firdaws, as it is in the centre of all Paradises and the highest of them. Above it is the Divine Throne.”^[1] According to hadith experts, Firdaws contains every blessing found in other levels of Paradise and many more. All four streams of Paradise, i.e., water, milk, honey, and pure wine, flow from here, as this is the fountainhead. The higher the rank in Paradise, the more comfort one will attain, and the lower the level in Hell, the more pain and torment one will face.^[2]

The one who asked for Firdaws was forgiven:

A person saw Sayyidunā Hammād ibn Salama رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْـه in a dream and asked him, “How did Allah Almighty deal with you?” He replied, “He forgave me, had mercy on me, and granted me a place in Firdaws.” The man then asked the reason, to which he replied, “It was due to saying these words:

یَاذَا الطَّوْلِ، یَاذَاالْجَلَالِ وَالْاِکْرَامِ، یَاکَرِیْمُ اَسْکِنِّيَ الْفِرْدَوْسَ. “ ^[3]

To attain this lofty level of Paradise, supplicate to your generous Lord. Furthermore, read about the following good deeds, act upon them, and gain this status and much more by the mercy of Allah.

7 deeds that lead to Firdaws:

1.   Praying salah with its inner and outer etiquettes.

2.   Abstaining from futile and pointless discourse.

3.   Paying zakat.

4.   Protecting one’s chastity.

5.   Safeguarding trusts.

6.   Fulfilling promises. 

7.   Preserving your salah.

Describing the reward prepared in the Hereafter for those believers who adopt these virtues, Allah Almighty says:

اُولٰٓىٕكَ هُمُ الْوٰرِثُوْنَۙ(۱۰) الَّذِیْنَ یَرِثُوْنَ الْفِرْدَوْسَؕ-هُمْ فِیْهَا خٰلِدُوْنَ(۱۱)

“These people are the heirs. That (they) will attain the inheritance of Paradise; they will abide therein forever.”^[4]

Two Hadith of the final Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم:

1.   A house in Firdaws for the well mannered person: “A house will be built in the upper part of Paradise for a person who has good manners.”^[5] Commenting on this hadith, Mufti Ahmad Yar Khan رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْـه remarked, “The rank of good character is the highest, as it leads to Firdaws. One should strive to acquire it, as well as supplicate to the Lord for it.”^[6]

2.   The excellence of the reciter of three Surahs: “The person who recites Surah al-Ḥadīd, Surah al-Wāqiʿa, and Surah al-Raḥmān is referred to as a “denizen of Firdaws,” in the kingdom of the earth and the heavens.^[7]

May Allah Almighty enable us to embody these virtuous deeds, and may He admit us into Firdaws without accountability.

اٰمِیْن بِجَاہِ النَّبِیِّ الْاَمِیْن صَلَّی اللہ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ وَاٰلہٖ وَسَلَّم