Angels · Keeper of Jannah
رضوان
Ridwan
The Garden has keepers who greet with salam; tradition names their chief Ridwan.
The account
The Qur'an shows the office in action: the God-conscious are driven to the Garden in companies "until, when they reach it, its gates are opened and its keepers say: peace be upon you, you have done well, so enter it to abide" (39:73). Angels of welcome, entering upon the residents from every gate with salam for their patience (13:23-24). The name Ridwan for their chief comes from the tradition and the scholars rather than from a verse or rigorously sound hadith, and the Codex marks that grading honestly, as it does for the Angel of Death's popular name.
What is beyond doubt is the doorman scene of the Sahihayn: the Prophet ﷺ said, "I will come to the gate of Jannah on the Day of Rising and ask for it to be opened. The keeper will say: who are you? I will say: Muhammad. He will say: for you I was commanded; I open for no one before you." The first door ever opened in the eternal world swings for him ﷺ. Whoever wants the keeper's greeting rehearses it now: the people of salam in this world are met by salam at that door.
The facts
- OfficeKeepers of the Garden (39:73)
- GreetingSalamun alaykum, enter
- The nameFrom tradition, graded honestly
- First opened forMuhammad ﷺ
The Qur'an on it
وَقَالَ لَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَا سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ طِبْتُمْ فَادْخُلُوهَا خَالِدِينَ
Its keepers will say: peace be upon you; you have done well; enter it, abiding eternally.
The narrations
The keeper will say: who are you? I will say: Muhammad. He will say: for you I was commanded; I open for no one before you.
Muslim 197
Read beside it
The words
On the Path
People beside it
The Unseen