Al-Matalib al-'Aliyah 4620 — The description of Paradise

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When the Day of Resurrection comes, Allah Almighty will separate the people of Paradise from the people of Hell. And when it is Monday and Thursday, pulpits of light will be set up around the Throne, and pulpits of chrysolite and ruby will also be placed. The angels appointed over them will say: O our Lord! For whom have You set up these pulpits? Then it will be put into their hearts: they are for the 'strangers' (that is, those who lived as strangers in the world for the sake of Allah). The angels will say: O Lord! Who are these strangers? They will be answered: They are the people who loved one another for the sake of the greatness of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, though they had not seen Him (in the world). Then, meanwhile, each one of them will come forward knowing his sitting place in Paradise even better than any of you knows the place of the tent beside his wife in his worldly home, and their nearness to Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, will be according to their ranks in Paradise. When all the people have reached their places and are complete, the Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, will say: O My servants, My creation, My guests, and you who loved one another for the sake of My greatness and majesty though you had not seen Me! (Today) feed them. So they will be fed. Then Allah Almighty will say: Present them with fruits; so they will be presented with fruits containing every kind of desire, delight and fine fragrance. Then the Most Generous Lord will say: Give them drink; so vessels will be presented to them such that the onlooker will be amazed whether the vessel is whiter and more shining or the drink inside it. Then Allah Almighty will say: Clothe them; so they will be presented with fruits (of a tree) hanging down to the ground like the breasts of virgin women, in every fruit there will be seventy garments, no garment resembling another. Then the Lord of Majesty will say: Perfume them; so a wind will blow that will scent them with the most intense and excellent musk, the like of which no human being has ever smelled before. Then Allah will say: Remove the veils from before them. Remember that between Allah Almighty and the nearest of His creation to Him there are seventy thousand veils of light; not even a close angel among His creation has the strength to raise his head towards the lowest of these veils. Then all those veils will be lifted, and those people will fall down in prostration upon seeing the greatness of Allah Almighty. Then the Lord of Majesty and Perfection will say: Raise your heads; you are no longer in the abode of deeds (the house of toil and labour), rather you are in the abode of bliss and the everlasting dwelling. For you is everything you are in, and indeed as much again will be granted along with it. Then the Lord will ask: O My servants! Are you pleased? They will say: 'Radina rabbana in radita 'anna' (O our Lord! We are pleased, provided that You are pleased with us). Then those people will return to their dwellings, while their beauty, their wives and the delights of their food and drink will have been multiplied many times over, and every affair of theirs will be in keeping with that same glory. Meanwhile something will shine beside them that will illuminate even the passages of their hearing, and it will be matchless in beauty and splendour. They will ask: Who are you? It will say: I am the 'more' (the additional reward) about which Allah Almighty has said: 'And with Us is more' [Surah Qaf: 35]. Meanwhile seventy thousand angels will come to every servant, each angel having a vessel that does not resemble another's, containing a blessing different from the other's; the angels will be consulting among themselves which gift should be presented first. They will say: Your Lord has sent this to you and He sends you His greetings of peace. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: There are no two servants who established brotherhood with each other for the sake of Allah except that their houses will face each other; a servant will be able to see to the farthest end of his brother's house. However, when they desire their wives, veils will be let down between them."
Imam Abu Bakr bin al-Muqri' mentioned this narration in the Ziyadat (additions) to Musnad Abi Ya'la; however, its chain contains Amr bin Khalid al-Wasiti, who is a kadhdhab (liar), and Suwayd bin Abd al-Aziz, who is matruk al-hadith (abandoned in hadith), on account of which this narration is mawdu' (fabricated) or extremely weak; moreover, Zayd bin Ali's narrating from his forefathers has also been regarded as questionable by the imams of narrator criticism (al-jarh wa al-ta'dil).