Sacred-Texts Islam
Index Previous Next
'To what doth it serve to say, "They shall feast"?' said Jesus to his disciples. 'Surely God speaketh plain. But to what purpose are the four rivers of precious liquor in paradise, with so many fruits? Assuredly, God eateth not, the angels eat not, the soul eateth not, the sense eateth not, but rather the flesh, which is our body. Wherefore the glory of paradise is for the body the meats, and for the soul and the sense God and the conversation of Angels and blessed spirits. That glory shall be better revealed by the messenger of God, who (seeing God hath created all things for love of him) knoweth all things better than any other creature.'
Said Bartholomew: 'O master, shall the glory of paradise be equal for every man? If it be equal, it shall not be just, and if it be not equal the lesser will envy the greater.'
Jesus answered: 'It will not be equal, for that God is just; and everyone shall be content, because there is no envy there. Tell me, Bartholomew: there is a master who hath many servants, and he clotheth all of those his servants in the same cloth. Do then the boys, who are clothed in the garments of boys, mourn because they have not the apparel of grown men? Surely, on the contrary, if the elders desired to put on them their larger garments they would be wroth, because, the garments not being of their size, they would think themselves mocked.
'Now, Bartholomew, lift thy heart to God in paradise, and thou shalt see that all one glory, although it shall be more to one and less to another, shall not produce ought of envy.'