In Islam, the Pond of Abundance ( ar-at, حَوْضُ ٱلْكَوْثَرِ, Ḥawḍ al-Kawthar) refers to a pond or river that exists in

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...

. The traditional Muslim belief is that on the Day of Judgement, when people will be resurrected, they will rise in great thirst and be eager to quench it in an atmosphere of chaos. Then,

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

would be the one privileged by

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

to respond to the pleas of believers to quench their thirst by offering them a cool and refreshing drink from the pond.

Origin of the concept

The

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

refers to the situation in Surah Al-Kawthar, but several

exegetes Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretation ...

maintain that the reference in the

Surah A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah (''Al-Ka ...

is to the general abundance granted to Muhammad. In any case, the concept has come to be identified with the special reverence for Muhammad in comparison to other Prophets and Messengers of God. This concept also exists in Christianity in .

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water'.

Implications

The pond's general implication is that it motivates Muslims to be conscious of the Day of Judgement and its severity and accordingly to plan to improve their afterlife. It also motivates them towards love of Muhammad and promoting the view that the events around the Day of Judgement require belief in the unseen and are highly

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

in nature.

References

Judgment in Islam Islamic terminology Jannah Ponds {{Islam-stub

Origin of the concept

Implications

See also

References