36:55 Surely the companions of the Garden today are in an occupation, rejoicing.
Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ said, "Their occupation in paradise is listening [samāʿ]." This is exactly what He says elsewhere: "They will be made happy in a garden" [30:15]. "You and your spouses, made happy" [43:70]. These are reports about listening in the Garden.
In paradise, the faithful servant will delight in listening. The Exalted Lord will send Seraphiel, who will stand on his right hand and recite the Qur'an, and David, who will stand on his left hand and recite the Psalms. The servant will keep on listening until he becomes happy. His spirit will come to the listening, his heart to elation, and his secret core to the work. Of the body the tongue will remain, and that's it. Of the heart the mark will remain, and that's it. Of the spirit face-to-face vision will remain, and that's it. The body will be distracted by ecstasy, the heart consumed by witnessing, the spirit drowned in finding. The eyes will hope to see the Possessor of Majesty, the heart will hope for a pure wine [76:21], the spirit will hope for listening to the Real. The Exalted Lord will lift up the curtain of majesty and show the vision. He will caress the servant with cups of wine and begin to recite Ṭāhā and Yāsīn, and then the servant's spirit will begin to listen in reality.
O chevalier! The body is not able to listen because it is attached to having the upper hand. The heart is not able to listen because it is a passer-by. "Listening" is the listening of the spirit, for it does not belong here. The body does not listen because it suffers pain from itself. The heart does not listen because it is passing the days. The spirit listens because it is solitary for the Solitary.
Your seeker must be solitary like You-
he must be free of every defect and pain.
It has also been said that the occupation of the paradise-dwellers is ten things: a kingdom without dismissal, youth without old age, constant health without sickness, continued exaltation without abasement, ease without hardship, blessing without tribulation, subsistence without annihilation, life without death, approval without anger, and intimacy without estrangement.
The Pir of the Tariqah said, "This is the occupation of the generality of the faithful, concerning whom Muṣ?afā said, 'Most of the folk of the Garden are simpletons.' As for the proximate of the empire and the elect of the presence of contemplation, they will not turn away from observation in witnessing and immersion in finding toward the bliss of paradise for one instant. With the tongue of their state they will be saying,
"On the day I reach union with You
I will disdain the state of the paradise-dwellers.
"When all the people go forth from the courtyards of the Resurrection, this group will stay right there and will not go. The command will come, 'You also, go to paradise, and see its joy and bliss.'
"They will say, 'Why should we go? What we want is here right now.'"
Pir Bū ʿAlī Siyāh said, "If certain people had to be without Him for one instant, their gall-bladders would melt and their limbs would fall apart joint by joint."
The Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī said, "Were I to be veiled from Him for an hour, I would die."