If he be one of the companions of the right hand, then “Peace to you from the com- panions of the right hand.” The companions of the right hand are lower in station and rank than the preceders and the proximate. They are the worshipers, those who worship in order to reach the joy and bliss of paradise. They are the doers, those who do deeds in this world to find reward in the afterworld. The Exalted Lord says, “We leave not to waste the wage of those who do beautiful deeds [18:30]. We will not leave to waste the wage of the beautiful-doers. We will not make them despair of the permanent good fortune and generous kingdom that they want. We will give them their wage completely: He will give them their wages in full [4:173]. And We will place Our bounty on top of that: He will increase them from His bounty [4:173].” They will have adorned sitting places and refined dwellings. The lights of gentle favors will be lit and varieties of incense will be burning; serving boys and servants, servitors and retinue, will be standing in wait; heart-entrancing cup-bearers will have cups of wine placed in their hands, and tumult-inducing minstrels will be playing heart-stealing tunes. Each one will be seated like a king, leaning back on an exalted throne in his own chambers, towers, gardens, and forests, a crown of rulership studded with the pearls of solicitude on his head, on the carpet of expansiveness, with jus- tice given to the contemplation of the Contemplated. The necklace of beauty will be hung around the neck of union, and his voice will be raised in praise and magnification. The Patron will lift up the curtain and “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what has never passed into the heart of any mortal” will become hard cash. By the majesty of the Lord God, no loving mother has ever caressed a weeping child more than God will caress the disobedient servant at the moment of face-to-face vision!
