The Meaning of His Saying, "And Paradise Has Been Brought Near for the Righteous... And He Came with a Repentant Heart"

The Shaykh : As for Paradise, and I ask Allah the Exalted to make me and you among its people, it is brought near, drawn close to the righteous, not far away. These are four descriptions for every one who returns to Allah and repents, who fears the Most Merciful in secret and comes with a repentant heart. As for the one who returns (al-awwab), he is the one who turns back to Allah Mighty and Majestic from his sins to the obedience of his Lord. As for the one who guards (al-hafiz), he is the one who preserves the commands of Allah, not neglecting them and not transgressing them. So he combines returning from disobedience—every son of Adam errs, and the best of those who err are those who repent—with guarding the limits of Allah Mighty and Majestic, not transgressing what Allah has commanded him, but fulfilling it completely and abundantly according to his ability. "Who fears the Most Merciful in secret" means who fears Allah the Exalted in secret. Fear (khashiyyah) is more specific than knowledge, for every fear is knowledge, but not every fear is khashiyyah, since khashiyyah does not occur except with knowledge, as Allah the Exalted said: meaning those who have knowledge of Allah Mighty and Majestic, not those who have knowledge of nature, for among those who have knowledge of nature are some who are the most disbelieving of Allah’s creation regarding Allah. But the intended meaning is those who have knowledge of Allah Glorified and Exalted regarding His names and attributes, and His cosmic and legislative rulings that encompass the supreme wisdom. Is the intended meaning that he fears Allah when he is alone in his market, or his house, or his desert, or his sea, or is the intended meaning broader than that? The intended meaning is broader than that. He fears Allah in solitude and fears Allah in secret, meaning what is hidden from people, what he keeps in his chest. So he fears Allah Mighty and Majestic outwardly and inwardly, in congregation and in solitude. Many people, may Allah protect me and you from their states, fear Allah the Exalted outwardly, so you find him before you standing in the position of the humble, worshipping, submissive, but his heart is arrogant and tyrannical, refuge with Allah from that. As for the one who fears Allah in secret and whose heart is like his outward appearance, fearing Allah outwardly and inwardly, and who comes with a repentant heart. It did not say "and he was one with a repentant heart," but rather it said: So these four descriptions are the descriptions of the people of Paradise.