Isharat al-I'jaz | Verse 25: About Paradise | 216
(211-223)

In Short: A person has only to peruse the samples, examples, and similitudes of the resurrection in very many realms (lit. species - al-anwâ') [of beings] to surmise from their diverse signs the existence of bodily resurrection and eternal happiness.

The positioning and relationships of the phrases:

You should be aware that the string on which the pearls of this verse are threaded in successive order is this: eternal happiness is of two sorts:

The First and Foremost: Allâh the Most High's pleasure, and His grace, manifestation, and nearness.

The Second: Physical bliss, which is attained through one's house, food, and marriage, and their continuing for all eternity, which completes and perfects them.

The first sorts are not in need of detailed explanation, or anyway such explanation is not possible. As for the second, the most agreeable of dwellings is that set among plants and flowing water. You surely know that the plashing, gurgling waters of rivers, whispering beneath pavilions and gardens, inspire poetry and breathe love into hearts. As for food, it is sustenance, and while the most delicious of basic sustenance is that which is familiar, fruits are best in one respect when varied. For familiarity [allows] one to recognize the high degree of the bounty and its superiority over similar things. Moreover, one of its highest pleasures is knowing that [the sustenance] is the reward for one's actions. Another is its source and store being right before one's eyes, yielding the pleasure of confident assurance. Concerning marriage, one of man's most intense needs is to have someone respond to him with heartfelt love and to share with [his partner] pleasure and intimacy, and for them to together feel wonder [at the divine bounties] and to ponder over them. You must have observed that if someone sees something unusual that perplexes him and makes him think, he calls on someone, if only mentally, to share his perplexity. And the gentlest of hearts, and the kindest and warmest, are those of the second sex. And those whose spirits will blend fully and hearts will achieve complete intimacy, and whose outward union will be pure and chaste are those of the second sex who have been purified and cleansed of bad morals and unpleasant traits.

• If you were to ask: [The purpose of] food is to perpetuate a person's [life] for by means of it those parts of the body that dissolve are re-formed, and marriage is to perpetuate the human race, but in the hereafter people will be immortal and not subject to change and dissolution. Anyway there will be no reproduction in the hereafter, will there?

No Voice