Building a Home in Paradise - Ustadh Aqeel Mahmood
By Ustadh Aqeel Mahmood | 2026-06-19T19:05:51.147159+00:00 | Topic: Quran
Introduction
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, and ask His forgiveness. We believe in Him and trust in Him. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him. Whomsoever He misguides, none can guide him.
I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.
O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.
O you who have believed, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul and created from it a wife, and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah in Whom you ask for mercy. Verily, Allah is ever watching over you.
O you who have believed, fear Allah and say the right words. He will amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great triumph.
As for what follows: the best speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And the worst of all things are its innovations. And every innovation is a newly invented matter. And every newly invented matter is a misguidance. And every misguidance is in the Fire.
The Dream Home of This World
From the many blessings that Allah has given us is providing for us safety and security, living in these lands — being able to work and to provide for our families. And one of the things that we like to do for our families, and that every single one of us wants for our families, is to have a secure home. A home that they are comfortable in.
A person may save his money in order to buy the perfect home for his family. The dream house in the best possible location — close to a masjid, close to a school, close to a hospital. Something convenient. The ideal home. In the best possible place. And he will save up all his money to buy this place. Maybe it will take him years and years to buy this perfect house.
And then once he buys this home, the trouble doesn't end there. And the worry doesn't end there. He ends up decorating this house, and repairing it if there is any damage done to it. So he will have plumbers in the house, electricians, decorators, painters — making the house exactly how he wants it. Having the right colours for every single room. Making sure that the tiles of the bathroom are exactly how his family wants them. The perfect home. The ideal home.
And then once he has it exactly how he wants it done — and maybe even then it's not perfect. Maybe he hired some cowboy builder and he didn't do a good job, so he has to do the job again, just to do it exactly how he wants it to be done. And then when the house is made exactly how he wants it, the effort and the worry doesn't end there. He has to worry about maintaining the home, the bills — the electricity bill, the water bill. And maybe there might be some kitchen appliances that stop working, so he has to buy some more. Maybe the furniture isn't exactly what he wanted, or maybe the furniture gets damaged. So he has to buy new furniture.
So he ends up making so much effort in having this ideal home — the perfect home for himself and his family. And even after all of this effort, even after all of this effort, he realizes at the end of all this that this home that he spent so much time on, so many months and so many years — and he may live in the same house for his whole life — even after all this time, he knows that he is going to leave that home, and nothing from that house is going to accompany him to his grave.
What Accompanies Us to the Grave
When he dies, three things accompany him to his grave. Three things accompany the man or the woman to the grave. Two of those things will return, and one of them will stay with him in his grave.
The two things which will return are his family — and he'll hear the footsteps of them leaving when he's in his grave — and the other is his wealth, the money that he accumulated in this life. And the only thing that will stay with him are his deeds. Whatever he did in this life.
So even after all of this effort that a person makes in order to make the dream home for himself, he knows that ultimately he will leave the home, and the home is going to outlast him. Yet how many of us, brothers and sisters, are looking to invest in a home which will never go away — a home in paradise, of which the designer and the creator is Allah Azza wa Jal Himself.
The act of Allah Azza wa Jal, who has perfected every single thing. A house which is perfect. Imagine a house being built for you which is perfect in every single way. A person won't have to worry about maintaining the home — it's being maintained by our Creator Himself. We won't need to do anything. It's going to be comfort upon comfort.
The Homes of Paradise Described in the Qur'an and Sunnah
Homes in paradise have been described for us in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:
Beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss. They will be everlasting — we won't ever be taken out of those homes. We'll be there forever and ever. And He says:
That a believer will reside in these high dwellings of paradise in peace and security — آمِنُونَ. He won't have to worry about any vandalism, anybody causing any harm to him or his family. Sometimes a person is in his home and he goes to sleep and he wakes up in the morning and he realizes that his house has been burgled, or he realizes that maybe he didn't lock the door at night, and he's worrying to himself — something could have happened, somebody could have come in, it's not safe around these streets. Yet in paradise, our homes will be safe and secure — آمِنُونَ.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in the Qur'an, when He talks about the description of these houses, He says:
That the believers will have rooms built upon rooms — multi-storey mansions, stories upon stories. A person sees a house in this world and he's bought a house which is three stories or four stories, and we're impressed, and we want a house like that. Yet imagine in paradise multiple stories when it comes to our homes that Allah Azza wa Jal blesses us with and gifts us with.
The Structure of the Homes of Paradise
And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ described the homes of paradise. He was asked: what is paradise built of? And he said: bricks of gold and silver. The bricks of paradise and the bricks of the houses in paradise are of gold and silver. And he said its mortar is musk — the thing that you put between the bricks to make sure the bricks stay in place, that mortar is from the musk of paradise. And he said its pebbles are pearls and rubies. The pebbles on the ground are pearls and rubies. Yet when a person walks on the pebbles, he won't find any discomfort — a person walks on pebbles in this world and it's uncomfortable, he has to wear some type of footwear. In paradise, there'll be no discomfort for the believer.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Whoever enters paradise will be happy and he will never ever be miserable. He will never be upset in paradise. And he will abide therein forever. He will never ever die. There will be no death in paradise. And his clothes will never wear out. And his youth will never fade."
(Sahih Muslim, Book 53, Hadith 2837)
He'll be young forever — no need for any makeup or plastic surgery. He'll be a young man for the rest of his life in paradise, forever and ever.
And Ibn Kathir, rahimahullah, said that Allah Azza wa Jal has told us about His blessed slaves who will have rooms and dwellings in paradise — lofty rooms built upon one another. And even when he comes to the inside of these homes, a person will be inside his home and he will be able to see outside through those bricks. There will be a certain creation of Allah Azza wa Jal that he will be able to see outside of his home, and yet the people who are outside won't be able to see into his home. And this is from the creation of Allah Azza wa Jal, from the blessings that Allah Azza wa Jal will give the believer.
The Interiors of the Homes of Paradise
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions the inside of these homes. And He says:
Therein will be thrones raised high. A person will have thrones in paradise in his home — he will be given that status, like a king, living in his own home. Thrones raised high. And he will be given cups set at hand, close by. He won't have to go around looking for a cup so he can have a drink — it will already be there for him, already set up for him. A person goes to a nice flash restaurant and he goes to the table — what does he see? He sees the plate already there for him, the glass already there for him. Likewise in paradise, a person will have the cup right there in front of him. He won't need to make any effort.
And وَنَمَارِقُ مَصْفُوفَةٌ — cushions set in rows, arranged in a certain way. However you want them to be arranged, they'll be arranged. You won't have to do it yourself. All you'll have to do is think and it will be exactly how you want it to be. Designed by Allah Azza wa Jal Himself. And وَزَرَابِيُّ مَبْثُوثَةٌ — rich carpets all spread out. Carpets of paradise, carpets of these homes that Allah Azza wa Jal will gift for us, spread out in our homes.
The Tents and Trees of Paradise
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also mentioned other things in paradise. And if we look at this world and we look at things that we might buy for our spouses, for our wives, we might buy a pearl. And we look in the shops and we'll see pearls and the size of these pearls is very small — not even the size of a digit on our finger. Yet in paradise, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will gift the believer with a hollowed-out pearl sixty miles long. A pearl which a person will be able to enter — it will be like a tent for him. A tent which is made out of a huge pearl, a hollowed-out pearl, sixty miles long. And on every single corner of this pearl, there will be a wife waiting for him.
A person in this world pitches a tent in his home or in his back garden, and he knows after looking at this tent and looking at his own home that there's no comparison — you can't compare the two, a tent is so much smaller than his home. And yet you think about the tents of paradise, brothers and sisters — think about the huge size of these tents. And that's just a tent in paradise. Imagine how huge the mansions and the homes of the believer will be. If the tent is sixty miles long, then how big will the homes of paradise be, subhanAllah.
When it comes to the description of paradise, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also describes what is going to be outside of these homes. Maybe somebody wants to have some greenery, some trees in his own home. And when it comes to the size of these trees, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ described it and he mentioned the size of the trees in paradise. And he said:
Verily, there is in paradise a tree such that if a rider were to travel under its shade, it would take him one hundred years to cross it.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4881; Sahih Muslim, Book 53, Hadith 2826)
And that shows you the immense size of this tree. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He grants us the ability to make these homes for ourselves in paradise.
أقول قولي هذا واستغفر الله لي ولكم إنه هو الغفور الرحيم وصلى الله وسلم على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين
Second Khutbah: How to Build Your Home in Paradise
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين
We talked about the reward for the believer when he obeys Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in paradise, and how these homes are awaiting for him in paradise — these homes created by Allah Azza wa Jal Himself, the best of creators, the best of designers. These homes which will never go anywhere. Yet we need to know how we can build these homes in paradise. What can we do to be able to build these homes in paradise right now? And how easy it is for us, brothers and sisters, to be able to build these homes.
A person goes through so much effort in this world to build a perfect home, the dream home — months and years he spends. And how many of us actually go out and prepare and do the things that we need to do in order to have these homes in paradise already prepared for us? The Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned and told us many ways that a person can build these homes for ourselves. The things that we can do so that these homes are ready for us in paradise — so that when we die and when we go to Jannah, we'll know our homes. We'll know our living places, we'll know where they are. We won't have to ask anybody. We'll know exactly where we are living. We'll see our homes. And we'll be able to make multiple homes for ourselves.
A person has two or three houses in this world and he is known to be someone who is very successful, very rich, very wealthy. MashaAllah, this brother has two or three homes — one in this city, one in that city, one in another city — and we are impressed by this. Imagine having multiple homes in paradise that will never ever go away.
1. Building a Masjid for the Sake of Allah
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned one of the ways that we can build for ourselves a home in paradise. And he said:
Whosoever builds a masjid for the sake of Allah, even if it is the size of a sandgrouse's nesting place, Allah will build for him a house in paradise.
(Sahih Ibn Majah, Hadith 738; also reported in Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 450, and Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 1084)
Whoever builds a masjid for the sake of Allah Azza wa Jal, purely for the sake of Allah, even if it's the size of a sparrow's nest, even if it's something as small as this, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will build for him a complete house in paradise — just for him contributing when it comes to building a masjid for the sake of Allah Azza wa Jal in this world. How amazing is the reward of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and how easy it is to get this reward.
2. Praying the Twelve Voluntary Prayers (Sunnah Rawatib)
From the things that we can do, brothers and sisters, when it comes to building for ourselves a home in paradise is as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said — that there is no Muslim who prays to Allah Azza wa Jal every single day twelve units of voluntary prayer, not including the obligatory prayers, except that Allah Azza wa Jal will build for him a house in Jannah.
There is no Muslim slave who prays twelve voluntary rak'ahs to Allah every day, over and above the obligatory prayers, but Allah will build for him a house in paradise.
(Sahih Muslim, Book 6, Hadith 728)
What are these twelve voluntary prayers? How can we pray them? When are we supposed to pray them? The twelve voluntary prayers have been mentioned by Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, and she said: two rak'aat before Fajr, and four before Dhuhr, and two after the Dhuhr prayer, and two after Maghrib, and two after Isha.
How long would it take for us to pray these prayers, brothers and sisters? We go through so much effort and so much hardship to build a perfect home — we paint and we decorate and we do so much for our own homes and we tire ourselves. And yet a little bit of effort from ourselves to build these homes in paradise won't take long — ten minutes, five or ten minutes to pray these twelve voluntary prayers. And that's how long it will take to build a home for us in paradise. Not twelve months or twelve weeks that it might take for a person to have the ideal home in this world — ten minutes and he's got a house for himself in paradise.
And when it comes to the day of Jumu'ah, there is no prescribed prayer before the Jumu'ah prayer, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prescribed for us after the Jumu'ah prayer four rak'aat.
3. Reciting Surah Al-Ikhlas Ten Times
From the things that we can do when it comes to building for ourselves a house in paradise is as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said — that whosoever reads قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ, whosoever reads Surah Al-Ikhlas ten times:
Whoever recites Surah Al-Ikhlas ten times, Allah will build for him a house in paradise.
(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 21568; graded Sahih by Al-Albani in Silsilah Al-Ahadith Al-Sahihah, Hadith 589)
How easy it is for us to have these permanent homes for ourselves in paradise.
4. Leaving Arguing, Lying, and Perfecting One's Character
From the ways that a person will be given a home in paradise is as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
I guarantee a house in the outskirts of paradise for the one who leaves arguing even if he is right; and a house in the middle of paradise for the one who leaves lying even if he is joking; and a house in the highest part of paradise for the one who perfects his character.
(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4800; graded Hasan by Al-Albani)
And this is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ guaranteeing us. Sometimes we need to buy something for our homes and we go to a shop and the salesman is trying to sell us something and he's giving us these guarantees. And we know that sometimes they're only looking out for themselves — they might give us guarantees and yet they're just looking for the commission. That's all they're interested in. I know everyone's met a salesman who isn't very trustworthy, and this is the nature of business. So they might try to sell you something and guarantee certain things for you, but nothing is for sure in this world. Yet the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — the most truthful one, الأمين الصادق — he is guaranteeing for us a home in paradise.
A home in the lower parts of paradise — for the one who leaves arguing, even if he's right. Sometimes a person feels he's right and he wants to get the point across and he wants to make sure that that person knows that he's wrong. Yet the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has guaranteed for the one who leaves this argument, even if he's right, a home in paradise.
A home in the middle parts of paradise — for the one who leaves lying, even if he's joking. Sometimes we try to scare our friends or our family members by saying something that isn't true and we play a joke on them — somebody has stolen your car and he looks out the window and his car is still there, or we play these other types of jokes on people where lying is involved. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that the one who leaves lying, even if it's a joke, then Allah will build for him a home in the middle parts of paradise.
A home in the highest parts of paradise — for the one who perfects his character. And if somebody wants to perfect his character, all we have to do is look at the best of creation, Muhammad ﷺ, to know and to understand and to be able to copy him when it comes to his manners. He was the best when it came to his manners, as Allah says:
And you, O Messenger of Allah, are of the best and most exemplary character. He was the one who had the best type of character.
5. Remembering Allah When Entering the Marketplace
From the things that we can do when it comes to building for ourselves a home in paradise is as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said — that whosoever enters a marketplace to buy something, he goes into a marketplace, some things needed at his home, this temporary home that he has, another item has stopped working, so he goes to the marketplace to buy it. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that whosoever enters a marketplace and says:
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3428; graded Hasan by Al-Albani)
How long would it take for him to say this? How long would it take for a person to say this before he enters the marketplace — for him to remember Allah Azza wa Jal before he enters into this marketplace where lying takes place and all types of evil take place — and he remembers Allah Azza wa Jal before he enters. So he makes this supplication, which won't even take a minute for him. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will make for him a house in paradise. How easy for us, brothers and sisters, to be able to prepare for the Akhirah and to be able to build for ourselves a home in paradise.
6. Patience Upon the Loss of a Child
From the ways that a person will be given a home in paradise is having patience when it comes to certain calamities and certain trials that may befall him in this world. And from the trials that may afflict a person in this world is losing that which he holds most dear to him — and that's his own child. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blesses him with a child and it's the most closest thing to his heart, and then he loses his child, this child passes away.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that when the child of a slave passes away, Allah says to the angels: "Did you take the soul of the child of My slave?" And they will say: "Yes, O Allah." And then Allah Azza wa Jal will say: "Did you take the fruit of his heart — the thing which was the most closest to him, the most precious to his heart?" And they will say: "Yes." And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will say: "What did My slave say?" And the angels will reply and they will say: "He praised You and he said: إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ — everything will return to You." So he is satisfied with the decree of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And he knows that his child and he himself will eventually be returning back to Allah Azza wa Jal. And when he knows this and when he says this after this calamity that befalls him, and he remembers Allah Azza wa Jal at this time, then at this moment Allah Azza wa Jal will say: "Build for My slave a house in Jannah, and name it the house of praise" — because of his patience, because of the patience that he had when a calamity befell him.
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1021; graded Hasan by Al-Albani)
Conclusion: Invest in the Eternal Home
So we can see, brothers and sisters, when it comes to this temporary life and the effort we go through to try to make the ideal home for ourselves — we have to realize and understand that everything in this world is temporary. Whatever is with you isn't permanent. It's going to go away. It's going to dissolve. And whatever is with Allah Azza wa Jal is permanent — it's never ever going to go away.
So we need to start investing in the Hereafter. We need to start doing those things which will enable us to have many homes in paradise — gardens in paradise — to be able to invest in those homes which won't ever go away. They're going to be permanent. We'll be living in there forever and ever, in peace and in security with our families.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He gives us the ability to build multiple homes for ourselves in paradise.