Lessons from Prophet Ibrahim: Plant Your Garden in Jannah

A narration about Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and the Night Journey describes Paradise as a land waiting to be planted, with four short phrases as its seeds. The narration itself is weak, but the same four phrases are confirmed in Sahih Muslim as the words dearest to Allah. Here is the narration with its grading, the authentic hadith, and what each word means.

Prophet Ibrahim on the night of the Mi’raj

On the night of the Mi’raj, the Prophet ﷺ rose through the heavens and met several prophets. In the seventh heaven he met Ibrahim, who welcomed him as “son and Prophet” (Sahih al-Bukhari 3207).

At-Tirmidhi records a narration from Ibn Mas’ud that on that night Ibrahim sent a message to this ummah:

About its grading: at-Tirmidhi described this narration as hasan gharib from this route, while Darussalam grades it Da’if (weak). At-Tirmidhi also notes that there is a narration on the same subject from Abu Ayyub. Because of this difference in grading, we do not build the lessons on it alone. The good news is that the heart of its message, the virtue of these four words, is confirmed by Sahih hadith.

The four words dearest to Allah

And the Prophet ﷺ told us how much he himself loved them:

Dearer than everything the sun rises on: the whole world and all it holds. That is the weight of four short phrases.

What each word means

HadeethEnc explains the four words like this (HadeethEnc 5475):

• Subhanallah: declaring Allah far above every flaw and imperfection.
• Alhamdulillah: praising Allah for His perfect attributes, with love and reverence for Him.
• La ilaha illallah: no one deserves to be worshipped except Allah.
• Allahu Akbar: Allah is greater and mightier than everything.

It adds that the order does not matter, which shows how easy the religion makes this deed. In its explanation of Muslim 2695, it notes that the hadith reminds us how small and short-lived the pleasures of this world are next to remembering Allah (HadeethEnc 6211).

Planting your garden

Whatever the exact wording of Ibrahim’s message, the picture is a beautiful one: every Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illallah and Allahu Akbar is something we send ahead for our Hereafter. They take seconds to say and cost nothing, and another hadith counts each of them as a charity (Every Tasbih Is Charity).

Reflection: Ibrahim’s greeting of salam reached us across the ages. The least we can do is fill our days with the words dearest to Allah.

How to put it into practice

• Say the four words while walking, waiting or before sleep.
• Start anywhere; the Prophet ﷺ said it does not matter which you begin with.
• Teach them to children; they are short and easy to remember.
• Check the grade of hadith you share, as we did here.

Key lessons

• Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illallah and Allahu Akbar are the dearest words to Allah.
• The Prophet ﷺ loved them more than everything the sun rises on.
• The narration of Ibrahim’s message (Tirmidhi 3462) is graded Da’if by Darussalam.
• Every dhikr is a seed we plant for our Hereafter.

Questions people ask

May Allah make us among those who remember Him often, and grant us a garden in Jannah.

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