Jannah: How to Come Home

[The following is a transcript of a lecture by Shaykh Mokhtar Maghraoui. It contains minor modifications from the spoken word for the purposes of readability.]

We begin the Qur'an in the beginning of Ramadan with this story in Surah al-Baqara: the story of our father Adam (peace be upon him):

وَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ وَكُلَا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلَا تَقْرَبَا هَـٰذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ ﴿٣٥﴾ فَأَزَلَّهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ عَنْهَا فَأَخْرَجَهُمَا مِمَّا كَانَا فِيهِ وَقُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ وَلَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُسْتَقَرٌّ وَمَتَاعٌ إِلَىٰ حِينٍ ﴿٣٦﴾ فَتَلَقَّىٰ آدَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ ﴿٣٧﴾ قُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي هُدًى فَمَن تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

“We said: “O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden; and eat of the bountiful things therein as ye will; but approach not this tree, or ye run into harm and transgression. Then did Satan make them slip from the (garden), and get them out of the state (of felicity) in which they had been. We said, “Get ye down, all (ye people), with enmity between yourselves. On earth will be your dwelling-place and your means of livelihood – for a time.” Then Adam learnt from his Lord words of inspiration, and his Lord turned towards him; for He is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful. We said, “Get ye down all from here; and if, as is sure, there comes to you Guidance from me, whomsoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” [Surat al-Baqarah, 2:35-38, trans. Yusuf Ali].

It is as though Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is reminding us: Your origin is Jannah. Your home is Jannah. And now, you are in this world. You are in this life – for a journey to come back home.

Our parents Adam & Hawa were in Jannah, and Shaytaan lured them into disobedience, and as a result they had to leave Jannah. When that occurs, when we commit a sin in which we deliberately disobey Allah 'azza wa jall, rest assured, we leave Jannah. What do I mean by that? In this world, if I or you deliberately disobey Allah then we lose a feeling inside of us that is spiritually delightful, we lose a feeling in our quloob (hearts) of peace, joy and liberty inside, because we committed a sin. So just as Adam and Hawa, in committing a sin had to leave Jannah, we in this dunya (world), when we commit a sin, we lose something very special in our quloob.

On account of sin, we had to leave home. Jannah is home. Every human being, we were all citizens of Jannah in the genome of our parents. Our original home is Jannah. Dhunoob (sins) make me leave home.

In the Qur'an, this is the first story. It is as though the rest of the Qur'an – and all the Qur'an – is to tell us how to come back home. Thus come the remaining parts of the Qur'an which we shall insha Allah ta'ala listen to, I hope, and read carefully.

I hope that all my brothers and sisters engage their minds and hearts and senses in reading the Qur'an and in reflecting about the Qur'an, even those of us who don't understand Arabic well: read the meanings of what we are going to read or recite [in prayer] each night, and come with that insha Allah ta'ala.

The Qur'an is the way, insha Allah ta'ala, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blessed us with as how to get back home and how to get to Jannah. So let us listen very carefully to the way of how to come back home – how to come back to to Jannah – throughout this month, insha Allah ta'ala. And may we take that road and never deviate from it, insha Allah ta'ala, until we arrive. Wa salla Allahumma 'ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wa sallam [May Allah send his peace and blessings up our leader Muhammad and upon his family and companions].