101 Reasons Why We Left Islam – Chapter 6: Afterlife in Islam – Reason 63
The Quran promises an afterlife of abundance in food and drink. And in just 10 verses, you will quickly spot a trend and a theme:
Quran (2:25)
“And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens beneath which rivers flow. Whenever provided with fruit, they will say, “This is what we were given before,” for they will be served fruit that looks similar ˹but tastes different˺…”
Quran (3:15)
Text: “…Gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally…”
Quran (4:57)
“…We will admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally…”
Quran (47:15)
“The example of Paradise, which the righteous have been promised, is [one where] beneath it rivers flow. Its fruit is lasting, and its shade. Its rivers are of water that does not stagnate, rivers of milk whose taste does not change, rivers of wine delicious to those who drink, and rivers of purified honey…”
Quran (18:31)
Those will have gardens of perpetual residence; beneath them rivers will flow…”
Quran (61:12)
“…He will admit you to gardens beneath which rivers flow and pleasant dwellings in gardens of perpetual residence…”
Quran (36:57)
“For them therein is fruit, and for them is whatever they request.”
Quran (43:73)
“For you therein is abundant fruit, from which you will eat.”
Quran (55:52)
“In them [the gardens] will be of every fruit, two kinds.”
Quran (56:20-21)
“And fruit of what they select, and the meat of fowl, of whatever they desire.”
Quran (77:42-43)
“And fruits as they desire. ‘Eat and drink in satisfaction for what you used to do.’”
The Quran frequently uses the phrase “gardens beneath which rivers flow” (in five verses) to depict the beauty and provision of paradise. Quran (47:15) is particularly detailed four types of rivers (water, milk, wine, honey), which also tie into the theme of food and drink.
Gardens of fruits are the most commonly mentioned food, symbolising abundance and variety (in six verses). Other provisions like bird meat (56:21) and honey or wine (47:15), which would have been considered delicacies back then. Specifically, for dessert dwellers, honey would have been hard to find and delivered sweetness not found anywhere else. For context, sugarcanes were not transported from the New World until the 16th century. You also notice that fruits, not vegetables or fish, are mentioned. Fruits were scarce in 7th 7th-century deserts of Arabia as they were hard to transport.
We are constantly being told that the Quran is a unified, unchangeable message for all times and all places. You can already see that there are hints that this message is not for all nations and all cultures, but only for one – 7th-century desert dwellers of Arabia.
Had the Prophet been around in the 21st century, we would have expected the Quran to be talking about lobsters, caviar, white truffles, Bluefin tuna, bird’s nest soup, oysters, and saffron-rich dishes, as well as eating as much food and desserts as you like without ever gaining weight. Promising water, milk, and honey would not cut it these days. Even people on low incomes and around 70% of the world’s population can afford these staple foods. And bird meat (chicken is a bird) is the second most abundant meat in the world after pork. Again, hardly a delicacy these days.
If you argued that the Quran was talking to 7th-century people, we could challenge that too. For people living in northern Europe, they would have laughed at the idea of rivers of water and fruits being any prized promise of paradise when these were available in the wild for anyone to collect. They would have argued that they are already in Jannah. Boar meat, cheese and spices would have been what their heaven would be like!
But we would take this argument a nudge up and ask one key question: why do we get thirsty and need to drink water? We get thirsty when our body detects a drop in hydration levels, triggering a biological response to maintain fluid balance. Dehydration occurs from water loss through sweat, urine, respiration, or insufficient intake. The brain’s hypothalamus senses increased blood sodium or decreased blood volume, signalling thirst to prompt drinking. This mechanism ensures cells function properly, as water is vital for metabolism, temperature regulation, and organ health. When we die and shed our bodies, our organs, and our Earthly needs, we are supposedly souls in the afterlife. So, what is the need for rivers of water? Only an unknowledgeable person who does not understand the biological needs of drinking and eating would assume that these will be the needs of a soul that has no body or organs. How would an all-knowing god present this eternal heaven, then, where there is no need to drink and eat? An All-knowing god would explain that the soul does not eat or drink, for it will be released from its biological needs. And instead, it will experience spiritual pleasures beyond anything it has experienced. This theme, where the Quran projects physical and biological pleasures to the afterlife, is something we will see a lot of in the coming sections.