I discuss how, by limiting their language, Muslim fundamentalists have shrunk their idea of heaven to just a place with unlimited worldly pleasures for menfolk.

The ultimate nature of the absolute reality, Brahman, is described in the Vedas as Satchidananda. This means:

Sat: pure existence or being (truth/reality).

Chit: pure consciousness or awareness.

Ananda: pure bliss or joy.

In Arabic, which is also an expressive language, there is a close equivalent of Sat-chit-ananda in these terms - wujūd, shuʿūr, and saʿāda.

Wujūd: Absolute Existence (≡ sat).

Shuʿūr or ʿIlm bi-l-Dhāt : Self-Consciousness or Self-Knowledge (≡ chit).

Saʿāda or Bahja: Supreme Bliss or Beatitude (≡ ananda).

Ibn Arabi has described God's self-manifestation thus: He is the Existent who knows Himself in bliss (al-mawjūd alladhī yaʿrifu nafsahu fī saʿāda).

These are beautiful words.

These wonderful Arabic phrases are well-known in Islamic mysticism, especially amongst the Sufis. Regrettably, Muslim fundamentalists discriminate against Sufis who they do not consider pious Muslims. This abasement of those who believe in wujūd, shuʿūr, & saʿāda virtually amounts to removing these words from the spiritual vocabulary of the fundamentalists. This has had the expected consequences.

Ludwig Wittgenstein said “my language is the limit of my world”. Indeed, with rare exceptions, our imagination takes us only as far as our language permits. By expelling wujūd, shuʿūr, & saʿāda from their spiritual vocabulary, Muslim fundamentalists have limited their imagination to the worldly. This has changed the expectation of heaven amongst many. Consider this:

We strive to maximise our pleasure. We try to eat things we find delicious as much as possible. We try to keep drinking things that we associate with pleasure. And so on....

We want to continue these pleasurable things even after life. Thus many fashion their 'heaven' as a place where these enjoyable sensations will continue indefinitely. Such a place would, naturally, be full of whatever things we feel give us the greatest pleasure.

In Sanatana Dharma we have different paths to enlightenment but the end goal is the same - to attain the greatest ‘pleasure’ of all – the overwhelming Bliss that comes with the realisation of our real identity as a spark of the Divine. The realised seer lives permanently in this luminous state of bliss that is amazing. Nothing can match it.

Sufis also strive for the same.

Mansour al-Hallaj is one such example. He was a Persian Hanbali mystic, poet, and teacher of Sufism in the 9th century. When he attained realisation, he exultantly exclaimed – anā’l-Ḥaqq! I am the Truth. He was condemned to death for both religious and political reasons by those in whose vocabulary wujūd, shuʿūr, and saʿāda did not find a place.

So many other Sufi mystics have experienced this bliss. Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya, who wanted to burn heaven and quench the fires of hell was one such. Then there was Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī (Bayazid), known for “annihilation in God” and who famously said, subḥānī (“Glory be to me!”). There is Jalaluddin Rumi and many, many more.

When fundamentalists reject wujūd, shuʿūr, and saʿāda, they become blind to the possibility of these, and their vocabulary only limits them to worldly pleasures. For them, orgasm is the apex pleasure that they can imagine. They want to keep having orgasms indefinitely, till eternity. Being male-oriented, their heaven is imagined with 72 willing virgins with whom they can keep copulating at will. That this number and belief is founded on a very weak hadith is immaterial. It has taken hold of the imagination of the Muslims as well as many non-Muslims.

Some authenticated Hadiths mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari also tend to reinforce this feeling:

Sahih al-Bukhari 2796 says, "In Paradise, there is a market... men will see beautiful women... and take whoever they wish."

Sahih Muslim 2834 - "The believer in Paradise will marry 500 ḥūr, 4,000 virgins, and 8,000 previously married women." (Narrated by Anas)

Sahih al-Bukhari 3244 - "A man in Paradise will be given the sexual strength of 100 men."

Many Imams keep quoting the above, especially the last one. 

The martyrs have an added incentive – they will be prioritised in receiving this bounty.

This is what happens when language is limited and the words describing the immanent, blissful spiritual heaven are cut off. Fortunately the Gurus of the Sanatana Dharma have not yet done so, and Satchidananda is still a part of the common vocabulary amongst the Dharmic faithful. May it remain so.

Kishore Asthana

31.10.2025