Dining in Heaven
Various verses in Qur’an contain instances of delicious food in the Heaven.
“And amongst them will be passed round vessels of silver and goblets of crystal” (Al-Insan: 15)
And “And We shall bestow on them, of fruit and meat, anything they shall desire.” (At-Tur: 22)
Sometimes in Heaven, beside a stream, or a fountain, one finds very beautiful and wonderful sealed jars. In order to eat from them, one needs to break the jars. After doing that, a pleasant scent fills the air;
“Their thirst will be slaked with Pure Wine sealed.” (Al-Mutafifin: 25)
If a bird passes by and people in Heaven feel like eating it, the bird appears in front of them fried, if they say, “You are pure and clean, Lord”. By saying “Thank You, God.” When they’re done, the bird comes back to life and flies away. Therefore, the first and the last things people say when they’re granted such bounties in Heaven, is to thank God.
According to Imam Baqir, Prophet Muhammad said, “Each believer has a lot of gardens in Heaven… when he feels like a certain kind of food, what he desires the most appears in front of him, without he having to name it. Therefore, one needs neither to wait for the food to be cooked, nor to ask for it.”
The same is true about fruits in Heaven. It would be enough for the believer to look at the fruit on a tree. The branch comes lower and offers him the fruit, “And the shades of the (Garden) will come low over them, and the bunches (of fruit), there, will hang low in humbleness. And amongst them will be passed round vessels of silver and goblets of crystal.” (Al-Insan: 14)
The fruits in heaven turn into other fruits sometimes. Prophet Muhammad said, “I had a dream about my uncle Hamza in Heaven. He had a vessel of grapes in front of him. They turned into dates at once.”
There are various food and fruits in Heaven. Prophet Muhammad said that each fruit had a thousand of tastes in Heaven. The fruits in Heaven are all ripe and delicious. Once they are picked from the branch, new ones appear in place of them.
According to Prophet Muhammad, there is a palace in Heaven, made of pearls, in which there are seventy houses made of ruby. In each room there are seventy tables with seventy different types of food.
The fruits in Heaven have a hundred different tastes. Therefore, when someone tastes a fruit for the second time, he says in surprise, “This is the same as the one we had before.”
The fruits in heaven have no skin or pit, or whatsoever. They are all ripe and sweet and once a fruit is picked from a branch, another one replaces it.
The Qur’an talks about Heavenly fruits such as,
“In them will be Fruits, and dates and pomegranates.” (Ar-Rahman: 68),
“Among Talh trees with flowers (or fruits) piled one above another” (Al-Waqi’a: 29), and
“And tall (and stately) palm-trees, with shoots of fruit-stalks, piled one over another” (Qaf: 10).
The best food in Heaven is meat, especially the flesh of birds. According to Prophet Muhammad, “Meat is the best food in this world and in the hereafter, and the best meat is the flesh of birds.” There are feasts with hundreds of kinds of food; “And the flesh of fowls, any that they may desire.” (Al-Waqi’a: 21)
But the first thing people are given after they enter the Heaven is the liver of fish. It is said that a Jewish scientist asked Prophet Muhammad about the first meal people get after their entrance into the Heaven and he answered, “The liver of the whale.” The scientist asked about the beverage they will be given and the Prophet said, “The drink of ‘Salsabil’.”
“And they will have therein their sustenance, morning and evening.” (Maryam: 62)
According to the above mentioned verse, people seem to be given two meals in Heaven; breakfast and dinner. This shows the importance of these two meals. Or maybe it means that the food is prepared for them day and night.
God gives each person in Heaven the strength of a hundred men to eat, to drink, and to make love. When they are full, the food turns into a scent and leaves their bodies, no one in the heaven needs to urinate or to empty their bowels.
Imam Sadiq said, “One dines in the Heaven as many times as the number of the days he lived in this world and he eats as much as all he has had in his whole life, in one meal only.”
Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi
