Translation of the saying:

One of our helpers informed us and said: We were with our master Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani, then he gave us a sermon in which he described the pious, and said:

“Do you not see those who stay awake at night in anticipation of death and weep for fear of fire? They believe in the Hereafter as if they see it. Their desire for paradise is the desire of those who walk through its green fields, sit by its beautiful rivers, and rest in the everlasting shade of its fruitful trees, while they know that they will not die after the first death, and will live beside God forever. Every one of them has abandoned this inferior world and joined the Abode of Eternity. When they look in front of them, they see houses raised with the light of God and surrounded by gardens as wide as the eye can see; Heavens of infinite and astonishing breadth, as the breadth of the vast sky. At this moment, they do not care for what behind them, which is the ugly world; because what they see in front of them has preoccupied them from what is behind them. God, may His majesty be glorified, lifts the veil from their eyes and shows them what has been prepared for them; so they eagerly long for it, and forbearingly refrain from what is forbidden for fear of not gaining it. In Heaven, they are neighbors of the Prophets and companions of the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous, so they visit each other, and this is one of the best blessings in Heaven”.

Then he turned toward me and said:

“Do you not like to be the neighbor of Muhammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him and his family, and the companion of his Ahl al-Bayt?!”

Then he resumed his sermon and said:

“When they put a believer in the grave, he fears; then God lets him smell the scent of Heaven to soothe him, and if someone does not smell the scent of Heaven, then no good has been wanted for him. Then there is nothing more pleasing to a believer than to find the friends of God by his side and feel at ease with them. Then, after a short delay which is inevitable, one of the gates of Heaven is opened for him, and he enters it with the friends of God, like a groom who enters the bridal chamber, and his eyes are delighted by its horizons. At this moment, some of those who are with him say: ‘Let him recover himself; for he came from the world’. Then he sits in the shade of a tree, or by a river, or on a bed, or in some houses, and they bring him something to eat and drink and delight his eyes and relieve him of the exhaustion of death. Then slowly his righteous friends and good relatives, who died before him, come to him and greet him, and they rejoice in seeing each other. So he thinks that he has returned from a trip or woken up from a short sleep. Then they give him the good tidings of seeing the Prophet of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him and his family, and thus he is filled with a joy never felt before. So he visits His Excellency and his Caliphs, and they treat him favorably. Then they have him reside in the Heaven that God has prepared exclusively for him, and grant him its endless blessings”.

I said: May I be sacrificed for you, you thrilled our hearts with your words! I wish you would describe its endless blessings more! So he said:

“If you had seen the endless blessings of Heaven and known about its mysterious beauties, nothing would be more worthless to you than the world and its ornaments. If you had seen the green trees of Heaven, how their foliage shake in the breeze blowing from under the Throne, their roots are in hills of musk and saffron, rosewater springs spout from beneath them, you would loathe the desires of the world and leave them for its people. Do you not know that amber hangs from the trunks of the trees of Heaven, jasmine and lily bushes are wrapped around them, and those trees have grown among fields covered with colorful flowers and eye-caching greenswards? Do you not know that among those lush fields and around those fruitful trees, there are rivers of pure water, rivers of fresh milk, rivers of tasty honey, and rivers of clean wine? And among them is a river called Tasnim, and another river called Salsabil which tastes like ginger. Do you not know that diamond icicles hang from the roofs of the houses of Heaven and the walls of its caves, its pebbles are made of pearls and rubies, its brushwood is made of agate and turquoise, and its soil is made of musk and saffron? There are houses in there made of golden bricks and decorated with silver sheets, with green emerald doors, solid bronze windows, and transparent crystal glasses. In their rooms and around the rivers and in the orchards and under the fruitful trees, there are beds made of oak and walnut, and engraved with beautiful patterns, and on those beds are carpets made of pure silk, and on those carpets are mattresses made of green velvet, and on those mattresses are cushions made of blue silk fabric, and on each bed a table is set, on which there are fruits of the four season fruits, such as apples, grapes, bananas, pears, figs, pomegranates, plums, oranges, peaches, and fruits that do not exist in the world, colorful fragrant delicious foods, plates made of crystal, bowls made of gold, and spoons made of silver, and at each table is a beautiful lady who desires her husband, while she has worn dresses made of blue chiffon and white silk, adorned herself with jewels, and perfumed herself with incense. The hair of these ladies is as dark as the darkness of the night, their faces are as bright as the brightness of the sun, and their bodies are as delicate as spring blossoms, and the hair of some of them is golden and some others maroon; they have black, blue, green eyes, thin lips, and long eyebrows, unimaginable in beauty; they hold silver cups of wine and honey juice to offer to their husband, while they surpass each other to accompany him and compete to attract his attention”.

At this moment he fell silent and after a while said:

“One of the blessings of Heaven is that God has appointed an Angel over its people that calls to them every day and says: ‘O people of Heaven! You will live forever!’, and another Angel says: ‘Know that you shall have what you desire and more!’; another blessing is that God has removed heat, cold and darkness from Heaven and suffering, illness and old age from its people; another blessing is that no day in Heaven is equal to the previous day; another blessing is that sometimes people of Heaven see people of Hell in the midst of punishment and talk to them; another blessing is that the Angels talk to people of Heaven, and people of Heaven talk to the Angels; another blessing is that people of Heaven see nothing but beauty and hear nothing but beauty, and seeing people of Hell is seeing justice; another blessing is that people of Heaven can reside wherever in Heaven they want; another blessing is that God has removed the reckoning from people of Heaven, and they do not commit sins in it; another blessing is that God raises the ranks of people of Heaven; another blessing is that people of Heaven are the kings of Heaven, and another blessings is that Heaven is better than all of these!”

Then he turned toward me and said: “Is it not enough?”, I said: may I be sacrificed for you, half of what you said is enough for the wise. Then he turned toward his helpers and said loudly:

“Be aware! This Heaven is for you and for those who are on your path, and there is nothing for others but fire!”

Explanation of the saying:

The meaning of “your path” in this honorable saying is the collection of beliefs and righteous deeds that are explained in the honorable book Return to Islam based on the Book of God, the mutawatir Sunnah of His Prophet and in the light of the sound intellect, which represents the pure and perfect Islam; whoever accepts it is from people of Heaven, and whoever denies it is from people of Hell.

It is worth mentioning that many of Mansoor’s helpers have this honorable saying with them and read it at the beginning of the day in order to strengthen the remembrance of Heaven in themselves and keep themselves safe from attachment to the world until the end of the day.