Twentieth-century Western scholarship has been interested in virtually every aspect of Muslim eschatology. Considerable attention has been paid to the themes and formulations of Islamic eschatology in the Qur'an and its exegesis, Hadith (Muslim traditions), individual Muslim works on eschatology, and Muslim eschatological folk literature. Thus far, however, no commensurate degree of attention has been paid to describing the different categories of Muslim eschatological literature as literary genres. A group of works that usually have the title Sifat al-Janna (literally, the Description or the Characteristic of Paradise) represent one of these literary genres. These works deal exclusively with the depiction of paradise and the nature of life in it. A preliminary survey of these works also shows that they are almost entirely based on the Qur'an and Hadith material and that they have been predominantly composed by traditionists (Hadith scholars); two indications that this literary genre is closely related to Ahl al-Sunna wal JamaJa ('Orthodox') Muslim thought. The purpose of the suggested study is to delineate and analyze the salient characteristics of this literary genre, particularly with respect to its motifs, structures (i.e. organization of material, themes, etc), and the strategies of compilation its authors employed (e.g. the types of traditions cited, the criteria of including certain themes and excluding others, the relationship to theological debates with other religious groups, etc). The study will cover virtually all the works belonging to this genre in classical and medieval Islam. Of these, Sifat al-Janna by Ibn Abi al-Dunya (d. 281/894), Sifat al-Janna by Ab) Nu'aym al- Isfahani (d. 430/1038), and Hadi al-Arwah by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350) are prominent examples. The abundance of manuscripts of Sifat al-Janna works scattered throughout Muslim and Western archives indicates that historically these works have played a significant role in shaping Muslims' perception of paradise and the rewards of the afterlife. This study will offer a literary 'history' of these works as a genre. In addition, by providing contextual delineation of their composition it seeks to contribute significantly to better understanding of the perceptions of paradise they convey.