The Lifeboat

Yemenat

Ahmed Saif Hashed

I often asked my mother about Paradise, bombarding her with questions while she happily shared stories and answered my inquiries with great enthusiasm and detail. She spoke to me with joy and elation, letting her imagination run wild as if she were living it rather than just recounting it.

She described its scenes as if standing on a hill overlooking it, immersing herself in descriptions that captivated the spirit and enchanted the heart. When I asked her how one could attain it, she explained that prayer was one of the main conditions, but I had not yet prayed and didn’t know what was said during it.

I received a promise from my father that he would buy me what was called the “Lifeboat” as soon as he went to Aden. It was a small booklet designed to teach children how to pray using writing and illustrations.

I wanted the “Lifeboat” to learn to pray so that I could attain God’s Paradise in the afterlife and enjoy the abundant delights it offered. The “Lifeboat” was a vessel and a guide to God, and to what pleases and delights Him.

I longed to pray to enter Paradise and dwell there forever. In Paradise, there is no sadness, no death, and no grief. There is no poverty or hunger, only apples, grapes, fruits, and rivers of honey, butter, and milk.

I would imagine this state and feel an overwhelming desire, with every fiber of my being longing for it. The afterlife for those who enter Paradise is a joyful existence that never fades or extinguishes—a timeless eternity! What a life it is, where everything you desire or wish for is immediately at your fingertips!

In Paradise, everything that its inhabitants crave is present and available. Whatever they wish for