Are the Inhabitants of Paradise from the End of Times in Multitude or are they Few?
Brief description of the dubiety
In the verses of Chapter 56 (Surah al-Waqiah), different things have been mentioned regarding the number of the inhabitants of paradise from the end of times. For example, verse 14 describes them as being few, while verse 40 mentions that a multitude of those from the end of times will be among the inhabitants of paradise. These two verses seem to contradict one another.
Detailed description of the dubiety
Contradictory Verses
Verses in which the number of inhabitants of paradise from the end of times is described as being few
Surah al-Waqiah, verses 11-14 say: “They are the ones brought near [to Allah], [who will reside] in the gardens of bliss. A multitude from the former [generations] and a few from the latter ones.” In the last of these verses, the number of the inhabitants of paradise from the end of times is described as being few.
Verses in which the number of inhabitants of paradise from the end of times is described as being in multitude
In verses 38-40 of this same Surah, it has been mentioned that: “For the People of the Right Hand. A multitude from the former [generations] and a multitude from the latter [ones].” Based on this verse, the number of inhabitants from the end of times will be in a large quantity.
A summarized response
By pondering over the fact that three different groups of people have been mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, it can be understood that those inhabitants of paradise from the end of times who are few in number are the Sabiqoon (The Foremost Ones), and those who are a multitude are the Ashab al-Yameen (People of the Right Hand), therefore a contradiction does not exist between these two verses.
A detailed response
Pre-requisite Introduction
Who are the Ashab al-Yameen?
The Ashab al-Yameen who have been mentioned in verse 38 are the same group as the Ashab al-Maymanah that have been mentioned in verse 8. Linguistically, Maymanah is taken from the word Yumn which means blessings, and in addition to this, Maymanah is also the opposite of Maysarah, i.e. right which is the opposite of left. [1]
Based on the aforementioned linguistic meaning, the Ashab al-Yameen are a group of people who are blessed, or they are a group of people who will receive their book of deeds in their right hand which is also a sign of being blessed, and them being the doers of good and people of salvation. This second meaning is related to the first meaning. [2]
Who are the Sabiqoon?
Sabiqoon is taken from the word Sabaq which means to precede. [3] Here, Sabiqoon refers to those who were foremost in having faith; and based on a narration from Imam al-Sadiq, it refers to the Messengers of Allah and the Awliya (Friends of Allah). [4]
In reality, the Sabiqoon are a group of people who are distinguished from the Ashab al-Yameen and thus they have been mentioned separately due to their special qualities. Since the Sabiqoon have been mentioned as a distinctive group, it can be understood that the Ashab al-Yameen encompasses all of the righteous individuals except for the Sabiqoon. For example, the word politicians includes the president and all of the ministers and governors, however if this word was used next to the word president, then it would not include the president. As an example, in the news it is sometimes mentioned that: “The president and all of the politicians took part in the ceremony of the country’s independence day.” In this case, the word politician has been used as a separate word thus it does not include the president.
Who are the Awwaleen and the Akhireen?
What is meant by the Awwaleen are the nations of the past Prophets, and what is meant by the Akhireen is the Islamic community (ummah). Due to the fact that the Awwaleen encompasses the nations of the past Prophets - and that too a vast number of Prophets – and the Akhireen only encompasses one nation, it is natural that the number of the foremost ones from all of the previous nations will be more than the foremost ones from only one nation.
One of the benefits of categorizing into different groups is to mention various points for each individual group
When a group of people exist that have some differences between them which prevents us from giving one blanket statement for all of them, we split them into different categories based on specific qualities which they have, because then we easily give a statement for each sub-group. For example, we have a group of teachers who we cannot pay equally due to the differences in their level of education, thus we split them into groups of those who have completed their Masters degree, and those who have completed their PhD, and then we give the individuals of each sub-group a payment which is based on the category that they fall into which is appropriate for their level of studies.
We cannot have one statement for all of the inhabitants of paradise
At the beginning of Chapter 56, Allah categorizes the people of Judgement Day into three groups, and then He mentions the rewards or punishments of each group. In verses 7-11 it says: “And you will be (sorted out into) three groups: The People of the Right Hand - and what are the People of the Right Hand? And the People of the Left Hand - and what are the People of the Left Hand? And the Foremost Ones are the Foremost Ones: they are the ones brought near [to Allah].” Therefore, one of the groups will go to hell and the other two will go to paradise. Based on the fact that these two latter groups have differences in the actions that they performed in this world, and the blessings that they will attain in paradise, one statement cannot be given for all of them, thus Allah split the inhabitants of paradise into two groups (i.e. Ashab al-Yameen and Sabiqoon) so that the rules for each of them can be mentioned separately.
It cannot be said that from the last nation, only a few people will inhabit paradise, because based on verse 40 of this Surah, they are not just a few, rather the distinguished inhabitants of paradise from the last nation (i.e. Sabiqoon) are few. Based on the given explanation, it is clear that the mention of a few and a multitude are not regarding all of the inhabitants of paradise from the last nation, rather the few mentioned in verse 14 is regarding the Sabiqoon, and the multitude mentioned in verse 40 is regarding the Ashab al-Yameen, therefore no contradiction exists between the verses.
Common example
Here we can give an example of permanent and substitute teachers, and we split a group of those who train teachers into permanent and substitute. We say that the permanent teachers were present in the summer just as they were present throughout the school year, however the substitute teachers were only present throughout the year. Now is there any doubt if one was to say that the teachers were present or not present in the summer? No, because nothing was mentioned in regards to all of the teachers, rather they were first split into two groups, and then the statements relating to each of them was mentioned separately.
With regards to this supposed contradiction in Chapter 56, no absolute statement is given for all of the inhabitants of paradise, rather they were initially split into two groups, (i.e. Sabiqoon, and Ashab al-Yameen), and then with regards to the Sabiqoon it was mentioned that from the last nation there will be a few of them, and with regards to the Ashab al-Yameen it was mentioned that from the last nation, there will be a multitude of them.