The
Resurrection;
The Judgment; The
Recompense; Aiming at excellence
In very vivid, awe-inspiring language, the Qur’an sketches over and over the outline of the Last Day.
At a time when God sees fit, the world as we know it will be brought to an end in
a terrifying cosmic cataclysm and all will be brought to account.
The Qur’anic
descriptions of Resurrection and the Last Day speak of a complete upset of the
present cosmos and a dislocation of the heavens and the earth,
and of mankind as being ‘like scattered locusts and the mountains like carded
wool’. Nothing, however, will be outside God’s control and power for ‘the earth
will be in His hand-grip on the Day of Resurrection and the heavens wrapped up
in His right hand’ (39: 67). After the upheaval, a transformation will take
place out of which will come a new form or level of creation: ‘We have indeed
decreed that death shall be (ever-present) among you; but there is nothing to
prevent Us from changing the nature of your existence and bringing you into
being (anew) in a manner as yet unknown to you’ (56: 60-62)
Just as each person is born as a single
individual, so he or she will be raised up and judged individually. A record of
each person’s deeds on earth will have been kept and will be produced as
evidence on the day of judgment. No person will be
able to deny the contents of this record and even the parts of his body – his
tongue, hands, feet and skin – will testify against him. Many will wish for
another chance to make amends, but in vain.
A person will be judged by the preponderance of
good or evil in him. It is in this connection that the setting up of a miizaan or a balance is
mentioned in the Qur’an referring to rules of justice
and principles of equity.
Intentions crucial
In the judgment of deeds, a person’s intentions
in doing any act will be crucial. The noble Prophet has said that, ‘Actions
shall be judged only according to intentions’. In a hadith qudsi, the Prophet has explained how God in his
justice and mercy has deeds recorded and judged.
In the Judgment, there will be no possibility of
cover-up or hypocrisy and each person will have to face the stark truth. This
is vividly illustrated in another hadith qudsi:
The first of people against whom judgment will be
pronounced on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who has died a martyr. He
will be brought and God will make known to him His favors and he will
acknowledge them. The Almighty will say: And what did you do about them? He
will say: I have fought for You until I died a martyr.
He will say: You have lied. You only fought that it might be said of you: He is
courageous. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on
his face until he is cast into Hell-fire.
Another will be a man who has acquired knowledge
and has taught it and who used to recite the Qur’an.
He will be brought and God will make known to him His favors and he will
acknowledge them. The Almighty will say: And what did you do about them? He
will say: I acquired knowledge and I taught it and I recited the Qur’an for Your sake. He will say: You have lied. You only
acquired knowledge that it might be said of you: He is a reciter.
And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face
until he is cast into Hell-fire.
Another will be a man whom God had made rich and
to whom He had given all kinds of wealth. He will be brought and God will make
known to him His favors and he will acknowledge them. The Almighty will say:
And what did you do about them? He will say: I left no path in which You like money to be spent without spending in it for Your
sake. He will say: You have lied. You only did so that it might be said of you:
He is generous. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along
his face until he is cast into Hell-fire. (top)
Punishment and Hell
The fruits of ingratitude,
disobedience and rebellion against God is disgrace, humiliation and
punishment. This punishment, a sign of God’s just anger (ghadaab) will be visited on the
sinners even on earth, as was the case with the people of
There are different levels or degrees of wrong-doing.
There are those who completely deny the existence of God, whose moral sense is
blunted and whose hearts have become rusted, who live a life or evil and spread
corruption on earth. There are hypocrites who spread dissension and strife
while pretending to be doers of good and even to be believers. And there are
believers who commit minor lapses or even grave crimes in moments of temptation,
weakness or forgetfulness.
Accordingly, there are categories or degrees in
Hell. Hypocrites who profess to believe in God, but actually rebel and work
against Him, will be in the lowest parts of hell (4: 15) and will be gathered
together with those who completely reject God. (also
refer: (46: 19-20; 78: 40)
Those who are believers but whose balance of evil
deeds outweigh their good deed will only experience Hell for a period of time.
If people sincerely repent for their sins in time, God is Forgiving and
Merciful. According to the Qur’an, God may forgive
all sins except the sin of shirk or associating others with Him.
The mercy of God encompasses everything and even
Hell may not be a permanent place. The Prophet, peace be on him, is reported to
have said, ‘Surely, a day will come over Hell when it will be like a field of
corn that has dried up after flourishing for a while. Surely a day will come
over Hell when there shall not be a single human being in it’. (top)
Reward and
The fruits of submission to
God, of living in harmony with His will, of living the natural way, is
satisfaction (ridwaan) in this life (whatever
the outward signs of difficulty and hardship or ease and plenty) and eternal
happiness in the next. (See: 89: 27-28; 39: 73-74)
In fairness and justice, those who are believers
but who remain inactive in this life will not be rewarded in the same measure as
those who showed their commitment through struggle and sacrifice. (See: 4:
95-96)
Between
The Qur’an speaks of a
group of people who were able to discern right and wrong in this life but did
not definitely incline to either. These are the indifferent ones. They will be
placed in a station between heaven and hell, longing to go to paradise and
fearing to be put among the evil-doers.
‘And there will be persons who (in life) were
endowed with the faculty of discernment (between right and wrong), recognizing
each by its mark. And they will call out unto the inmates of
The Hereafter therefore is no ‘pie in the sky’ or
figment of man’s imagination. It is desirable, it is necessary,
it is possible, it is real. The reality of the Hereafter compels an awareness
of our long-term future and the need to work for it, with others, here on
earth.
In the Hereafter, you will have no opportunity to
change anything, to offer a new performance, or to redeem your failings. The
only opportunity for that is here and now, in this life, which is given only
once (for the Qur’an does not speak, for example, of
cycles of rebirths and deaths). This one life, then, is the only life where you
can work and earn or sow those seeds that will bear fruit ‘in the end’.
In practical terms, what do you need to do to
avoid loss and humiliation here and in the hereafter? To begin with, you need
to take stock of your present life, you need to judge yourself before you face
the final judgment: ‘Access and judge yourselves before you are assessed and
judged’ cautioned the noble Prophet.
This stock-taking is a continuous process, a
daily process. You need to ask yourself to which category of mankind you really
belong: non-believers, misguided believers, indifferent to right and wrong,
passive or superficial believers, or true and committed believers.
·
Are you among the non-believers who reject and
are ungrateful to God, who ‘enjoy this world and eat as cattle eat’ and whose
vision remains limited to this world? Are you among those who believe in God
but merely follow the religion and ways of your parents and forefathers, refusing
to be guided by your God-given powers of reason and insight, and adopting false
beliefs and practices in the process?
·
Are you among superficial believers who fall a
prey to evil influences, transgress all limits, succumb to their lusts and
degenerate to lowly wickedness and of whom the Qur’an
says, ‘The evil One has got the better of them, so he has made them lose the
remembrance of God’? (58: 19)
·
Are you among passive or superficial believers
who do not great evil but who, afflicted by laziness, cowardice or miserliness,
do less than the minimum of good and are content with being onlookers at life?
·
Are you among the true and committed believers
who sincerely submit to truths and realities, who
exert themselves to purify their souls and discharge their responsibilities on
earth? Of such the Qur’an says, ‘And they who have
attained to faith, and who have forsaken the domain of evil and are striving
hard in God’s cause, as well as those who shelter and succor them – it is they
who are truly believers. Forgiveness of sins awaits them and a most excellent
sustenance’ (8: 74)
In the process of stock-taking,
as a first stem, you need to undertake the task of islaah or reform. Recognize and admit the wrongs you have
done to your own self and to others which jar against your naturally good nature:
the lie you may have told, the promise you have broken, the trust you have
undertaken and have betrayed or have not fulfilled, the hurt caused by a
malicious, backbiting or racist tongue, the steps taken to a disreputable place
or meeting. Take stock of the way you have earned your livelihood – the ounce
less in weight on goods sold, the rotten vegetables concealed in a pile of
attractive produce, the chicken forced-fed to weigh more at the time of
selling, the defective piece of machinery, the bribe given to secure a
contract, the idle hours while the supervisor was away. Take stock of how you
spend your money and resources – the articles you don’t really need but bought
for ‘conspicuous consumption’ or to show off and other aspects of spending
which you know to be israaf – wasteful and
extravagant. Take stock of your time and how you spent it – the long hours and
even days wasted in trivial pursuits. Such a process of stock-taing and reform requires complete honesty with yourself which can be extremely difficult in the face such consuming
sins as pride or egoism. Recognizing and keeping away from the bad is the first
step to reform.
There are sins of
commissions (wrongs that you may have done) and sins of omission (good deeds
that you have failed to do). Review therefore the opportunities that you have
missed for doing good: the morning Salaat that you
constantly miss on time, the Zakaat that you fail to
pay, the fast that you consciously miss for no good reason, the theft or
embezzlement that you saw and failed to correct, the neighbor in distress you
ignored, the hungry person you could have fed but failed to feed.
Genuinely repent for
these wrongs committed or duties omitted. Pray to God for forgiveness and
resolve not to repeat these errant ways in the knowledge that God is forgiving
and merciful and that He rejoices in your repentance or tawbah which will take you back
to your naturally good condition and to Him.
Such steps as the above
are merely the minimum for avoiding degradation and loss in this life and the
Hereafter. More than this, each one of us would like to improve our
performance, to grow in stature and degrees, to pass from the confines of hell
and the no-man’s land reserved for those who can recognize right from wrong,
but remain indifferent and passive, refusing to uphold right or combat wrong. (top)
There are still remains
the task of seeking to attain God’s satisfaction or ridwaan and realizing true contentment. This can only be
done by aiming for and being committed to right doing and excellence in
everything – to ihsaan.
Ihsaan, as described by the
noble Prophet, peace be on him, is ‘that you worship God as if you see Him, for
while you do not see Him, He certainly sees you’. This implies striving hard
with all the resources of body and possessions to fulfill these
responsibilities. It implies not only goodness but a commitment to excellence
in all that you do. It implies the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice
for achieving God’s purposes for mankind and the rest of creation. One who acts
in this fashion is a muhsin, of whom the Qur’an says, ‘Whoever submits his whole self to God and is
a muhsin, his reward is with God’ (2: 112)
These purposes are to
see, together with others, that the natural values of truth, goodness, beauty
and justice are paramount in the world and that falsehood, evil and injustice
are resisted. When there is a coming together and a harmony between man’s belief, the submission of ‘his whole self to God’ and his
striving, a person attains a state of inner contentment, peace and happiness.
God is satisfied with his performance in this life and says to him:
‘O you tranquil soul
Return to your Lord and
Sustainer
Satisfied, and He well
satisfied with you.
Enter then among My servants
Enter My
To attain this state,
your worldview, your attitudes and your aspirations should be illumined by such
as the following supplication of the noble Prophet, may God bless him and grant
him peace, which he often offered in the stillness of the night before dawn:
All praise is due to You,
O God! You are the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in
them.
All praise is due to You. Yours is the domain of the heavens and the earth and
whatever is in them.
All praise is due to You. You are the light of the heavens and the earth and
whatever is in
them. Praise be to You.
All praise is due to You. You are the Truth. Your promise is true, meeting with You is true, Your words is true.
O God! Unto You do I submit. In you do I believe.
Upon you do I depend. Unto You
do I turn. For You do I contend. Unto You do I seek judgment. So forgive me for what I did and
will do, for what I concealed and what I declared, and for that of which You are more knowledgeable than I.
You are the Expediter and You
are the Deferrer.
There is none worthy of
worship but You.
And there is no ability
or power except by the permission of God.
And let the following
supplication not only strike a chord in your heart but sustain your whole being
in its journey along the natural, God giving way:
O Lord!
Direct me aright in my
faith
Which
is the guardian of my affairs
and
direct me aright in my life
in which I have my being
and
set right my Hereafter
which is my resort
and
make my life filled with
every type of good and
make my death a comfort from
all ill.
(top)