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Unbeliever’s Argument In Hell

What the Qur’an teachers :
Before the fire they are brought, morning and evening, and then on the Day when the Last Hour comes, it will be said: Cast Pharaoh’s people into the worst suffering. They will contend with one another in the fire: The weak will say to those who were arrogant, “We have been your followers, so can you relieve us of some share of the fire?” The arrogant will reply: “We are all in it together. For God has judged between His creatures.” Those in the fire will say to the keepers of hell: “Pray to your Lord that He lighten this suffering of ours, though it be for one day only.” They will ask: “Did your messengers not come to you with clear evidence of the truth?” They will say: “Yes, indeed.” (The keepers of hell) will say: “Pray, then!” But the prayers of the unbelievers will be all in vain.

(The Forgiving; 40: 46-50)

It describes the end suffered by Pharaoh and his people as a result of their arrogant rejection of Moses’ call on them to believe in God’s oneness. The way this verse is phrased suggests that they are brought before the fire during the time between their death and the Day of Judgment. This may be a reference to the torment suffered in the grave. The statement that follows reads: “and then on the Day when the Last Hour comes, it will be said: Cast Pharaoh’s people into the worst suffering.” This means that this suffering precedes the Day of Judgment. It is a terrible punishment involving exposure to the fire morning and evening, either to make them expect its burning and pain, which is a terrible suffering, or to experience it, which is even worse. Then, on the Day of Judgment, they will be cast into the worst suffering.

The verse that follows tells us of something that happens after resurrection. The unbelievers are shown arguing in hell: “The weak will say to those who were arrogant, ‘We have been your followers, so can you relieve us of some share of the fire?’” This means that the weak are together with the arrogant in the fire of hell. The weak have not been spared on account of their weakness, or their being driven like cattle, having no say or choice. God granted them a position of honor, which equipped them to exercise free choice and to be responsible for what they choose. They relinquished all this and followed their arrogant leaders instead. They did not object to anything the leaders said. In fact, it did not occur to them that they could object. They did not think about what their arrogant leaders said to them, or the errors they landed them in: “We have been your followers.” The fact of their relinquishing responsibility and what God granted them could never serve as extenuating circumstances in God’s sight. Therefore, they will be in hell, driven there by their leaders, just as they used to drive them like sheep in the life of this world. We see them asking their leaders: “Can you relieve us of some share of the fire?” This question is a reminder of what such leaders used to assert, pledging to protect their followers against evil and harm.

Such arrogant leaders, however, are soon fed up with their weak followers’ requests. Their answer betrays their boredom, but nonetheless they acknowledge what has happened: “We are all in it together. For God has judged between His creatures.”

“We are all in it together.” We are all weak, lacking all support and help. We are all alike. So why do you put such a question to us when you realize that the noble and the weaker elements are all the same? “God has judged between His creatures.” There can be no review or change to His judgment. The matter is settled. No creature can reduce or amend God’s judgment.

When all realize that no refuge can be sought from God’s punishment except with Him, they all humbly appeal to the guards of hell, in a way that makes them all equal: “Those in the fire will say to the keepers of hell: Pray to your Lord that He lighten this suffering of ours, though it be for one day only.”

They want the guards of hell to intercede on their behalf, hoping that their terrible ordeal can be lifted a little. They ask them to pray to God to reduce their punishment for one day, just to breathe and have a bit of rest. Even a day’s reduction is worth such appeals.

The guards of hell, however, do not respond to this humble and passionate appeal. They know their limits, and they are aware of God’s law and that the time is long passed. Therefore, they increase the suffering of the dwellers of hell by rebuking them and reminding them of the reasons for their suffering: “They will ask: ‘Did your messengers not come to you with clear evidence of the truth?’ They will say: ‘Yes, indeed.’”

The question and its answer suffice. There is no need for any more argument. The guards of hell leave them to their fate, allowing them to sink into despair. “(The keepers of hell) will say: Pray, then!” If any praying will change your situation even a bit, why do you not offer such prayers yourselves? The verse concludes with a comment on such prayers: “But the prayers of the unbelievers will be all in vain.” Such prayer is ignored, remains unanswered. Those who say it are forgotten, be they the leaders or their followers.

– By NAUSHAD SHAMIM AL-HAQ

Finding A Worthy Purpose To Devote Our Life For

It has disappointed so many, while also pleased many others. People have died chasing it and people who didn’t chase also died. Its joys and hardships are but temporary delusions.

How many times does it deceive us with its illusions? It can captivate the heart, blind the one besotted by it, and also burden us with worries. It is none other than the Dunya!

“Know that the life of the world is merely a game and a diversion and ostentation, and a cause of boasting among you and trying to outdo one another in wealth and children, like the plant-growth after rain, which delights the cultivators. Then it withers, you see it turning yellow, and then it becomes broken stubble. In the hereafter, there is terrible punishment, but also forgiveness from Allah and His good pleasure. The life of the world is nothing but the enjoyment of delusion.” (Qur’an, 57:20)

If we stop to think about those who are titled “successful” in this world, they are primarily those who have amassed a money. But if you look at the best of worldly pleasures, you know that what is of benefit one day, is harmful the next day. Joys are tainted with grief and our wishes never cease. Death will certainly overtake us though we have many more aspirations remaining.

Allah says: “Yet still you prefer the life of the world, when the hereafter is better and longer lasting.” (Qur’an, 87: 16 -17)

So, why do so many choose to run frantically after this life? Because rewards are seen and experienced on earth. If we perform our duties well, we are promoted or given a pay rise. Imagine if we were told that $10,000 await us every time we do an Umrah, we may try to go everyday, regardless of the hardship.

The reward in the everlasting life cannot be experienced here. For instance, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said if we knew how great the reward for praying in the first row of the Masjid was, we would compete with each other to do that. But let the first row aside, do we even attend the prayer in the Masjid?

Charity is one of the big deeds that will help us in the hereafter. The best charity is the one when we give so discreetly that our left hand doesn’t know what our right hand gives. But when the time for charity comes, our bills suddenly become very important. We get reminded of our rents and other expenditure.

As Muslims, our goal should be the pleasure of Allah. Our destination should be In Sha Allah Paradise. This does not mean we must sit in the Masjid all day. No. Instead, we should make everything we do in this life a means to make us successful in the hereafter.

The world looks up to celebrities as role models. But what happens when they lose their luster? What happens when they become old and weak?

They’re all reduced to a bunch of memories. Of what use one may wonder?! If you ponder and seek guidance from the Qur’an, you will realize that the only thing that truly matters at the end of the day is the way we have lived our lives – how many good deeds we have done and how less sins we have committed. This is the test for which the world has been created.

Hasan Al-Basri, who was a famous Tabi’ee (student of the Sahabah), described the world as being only three days. The day that has passed by and so there is no hope in it.

The day you are living in and so it is proper that you should make the most of it. The day that is to come, about which you don’t know if you will be a part of it.

Good Deeds And Pure Intentions

By way of explaining how the Prophet (peace be upon him) used every possible method to explain to his audience the concepts of Islam, its moral standards and values, and how people should conduct their lives in order to practice what they believe, we referred to his method of telling stories.

Any story the Prophet told was short, to the point and had an obvious lesson for us to learn.

We gave an example of a story the Prophet related to stress the importance of good deeds and how they benefit the person doing them. The story tells of three people seeking refuge in a cave, but as they were in, a large rock fell off the mountain and landed at the cave entrance, blocking it completely so that they could not even see the sky. They counseled each other to remember some of their good deeds and pray to God to help them in their difficulty. The first one spoke of his dutifulness to his parents, the second mentioned how he refrained from committing adultery with the woman he loved so dearly, and the third spoke of how he took care of the wages of a laborer he had hired until they multiplied manifold and then he handed all the proceeds to the laborer who came back to demand his wages.

Each of these deeds was done purely for God’s sake. The first man, who came home late to find his elderly parents having slept before he could feed them, did not disturb their sleep and did not feed his children before his parents. He realized that dutifulness to parents was paramount. Had he fed his children, he would not have committed a sin, but he would have fell short of the standard of dutifulness he wished to maintain. The second man loved the woman so much that he was prepared to go to every length in order to give her what she wanted so that she would yield to his desire and sleep with him. When she reminded him of God and told him to fear Him, he just left off, knowing that he could have had her and she could not have prevented him. The third man invested the laborer’s wages and managed to achieve very high returns that instead of a small sack of rice, he was able to give the laborer several cows and their feed. He could have kept the wages safe until the man came back. When he achieved such a high rate of return, he could have retained some of it as his commission. But he wanted nothing of this. He gave it all up to the laborer.

In each of these stories, the moral is the purity of intention. The good deed was done purely for God’s sake. There was no immediate benefit for the person concerned. All that the men hoped for as a result was that God would record the deed as done for His sake. None of these acts involved any great sacrifice. None meant much effort, but the point is that they had that great element of purity of intention. Hence they were accepted by God.

We know that God rewards a good deed ten times its value. But this is the basic rate. The Prophet mentioned that it could be raised to 700 times the value of the deed. That is certainly a much higher return, but the Prophet also left the door open to any multiple God may choose to grant. In the case of these three men, it meant their safety from a situation that was bound to end their lives.

They could not remove the large rock no matter how hard they tried. Only an act of God could achieve that. To ensure it, they had to pray to Him on the strength of their good deeds.

– by Adil Salahi

The Wrath of Allah On Those Who Disrespected The Holy Prophet Muhammed Sallalaahu Alaihi wasallam

Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 56, Number 814:
Narrated Anas: There was a Christian who embraced Islam and read Surat-al-Baqara and Al-Imran, and he used to write (the revelations) for the Prophet. Later on he returned to Christianity again and he used to say: “Muhammad knows nothing but what I have written for him.”

Then Allah caused him to die, and the people buried him, but in the morning they saw that the earth had thrown his body out. They said, “This is the act of Muhammad and his companions. They dug the grave of our companion and took his body out of it because he had run away from them.”

They again dug the grave deeply for him, but in the morning they again saw that the earth had thrown his body out. They said, “This is an act of Muhammad and his companions. They dug the grave of our companion and threw his body outside it, for he had run away from them.”

They dug the grave for him as deep as they could, but in the morning they again saw that the earth had thrown his body out. So they believed that what had befallen him was not done by human beings and had to leave him thrown (on the ground).

Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 56, Number 814:

Those who disrespected the Holy Prophet Muhammed Salalaahu Alaihi wasallam faced the Divine wrath of Allah

 

Every Muslim Should Have Knowledge Of Shariah

A Muslim has to know the rulings pertaining to the purification of the body, salah, zakah (if he is rich), and fasting. He must also know the rulings related to what is lawful and unlawful regarding kinds of food and drinking, dressing, adornment, and so on.

A Muslim can obtain this knowledge through tapes, videos, contemporary books [on the relevant subjects], and the Internet. But he must make sure that the scholars he receives knowledge from are qualified, trustworthy and truly religious. This is to say, scholars are to be knowledgeable about Fiqh and Ahadith, and must be aware of the objectives of the Shariah in general. They are to have wide knowledge about the different schools of the righteous predecessors and those who followed them and are to be flexible with regard to giving fatwas, especially if there is sufficient evidence to support their views.

A Muslim must know the rulings of Islam pertaining to the obligations and teachings he has to adhere to in his life. He must know the rulings related to purification of the body, the prescribed five daily prayers, and Friday prayer. He has to know the basics in these respects; he is not required to go into the details and complex questions which concern scholars more.

A Muslim must know the rulings of Islam pertaining to the obligations and teachings he has to adhere to in his life…. A Muslim must also know what is lawful and unlawful.

The same goes for fasting, zakah, and Haj. A Muslim should learn the rulings he is to abide by to perform these obligations. As for zakah, if a Muslim has sufficient wealth (which is stipulated in the Shariah), he is to know the amount of zakah he must pay concerning the kind of wealth he possesses. If he is a merchant, for example, he is to study the zakah on trade, and he is not required in this case to acquire knowledge about zakah on animals or plants. Also, if he can afford to perform Haj, he is to learn the rulings regarding it.

A Muslim must also know what is lawful and unlawful regarding matters of daily life like eating, drinking, dressing, adornment, household, work, family and community. (I have tackled this in my book The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam). Every Muslim must also learn the rulings relevant to his roles in life: a ruler must know the rulings regarding leadership, a merchant has to learn the rulings pertaining to trade, a doctor must know the rulings related to medicine, spouses and parents have to learn the rulings concerning their duties and rights, and so on.

Concerning ethics, a Muslim must learn the kind of behavior that he should adhere to. He is not to deviate from the orders that Almighty Allah has ordained, nor is he to commit any prohibition He, the Almighty has forbidden. [In a word], a Muslim is to abide by virtue and shun vice.

A Muslim can obtain knowledge in the above fields by one (or both) of two ways: attending lessons given by trustworthy scholars who are both qualified and broad-minded, or by means of personal reading.

Receiving knowledge at the hands of scholars is the most useful way for illiterate people to acquire knowledge. A Muslim in this case is to be careful when choosing a scholar to receive knowledge from. He is to differentiate also between the scholar who gives admonitions and reminds Muslims of the importance of remembrance of Almighty Allah, and the one who is knowledgeable about the Shariah and gives lawful rulings. Not all Muslim preachers have a great influence on Muslims, or are eloquent, nor are all scholars qualified enough to give fatwas.

Allah the Almighty has distributed skills and capabilities in the field of acquiring knowledge among people, and there are few who have comprehensive knowledge about all fields of the Shariah. Unlettered Muslims, and even many literate ones, are not aware of this fact. They regard any one giving them admonitions [in mosques] as a knowledgeable scholar who they can resort to and inquire about the rulings of the Shariah. These Muslim preachers often answer the questions they receive according to their limited knowledge which often causes them to give incorrect answers. If those preachers were fair they would say to the people who direct questions to them concerning Shariah: “Ask qualified scholars about this. I cannot give you answers on these matters.” There is an agreed upon Hadith that warns against asking people who give answers not based on firm knowledge and thus deviate from the right path and lead people astray too.

Another means of acquiring knowledge is through listening to audio cassettes and watching videos about religious matters. This is an important and effective means. One may use an audio cassette in his car or shop, and women may use it while doing household chores. Religious programs broadcasted on television and radio are also beneficial. At the same time, Muslims are to be careful when choosing cassettes and videos. Not all tapes recorded on religious subjects are dependable or worthwhile listening to. Some tapes of this kind, in fact, do more harm than good, for they are not based on authentic sources or reliable evidence from the Shariah. Also many of these tapes focus on implanting fear, in an exaggerated way, in people’s hearts about the punishments in the grave and the Hereafter. Thus they make things difficult for people rather than easy, and adopt an approach that intimidates rather than calls people to do good. This goes against the instruction of the Prophet (peace and be upon him) that teaches Muslims to make things easy, not difficult and to give people glad tidings rather than develop feelings of aversion in them.

Once a man told me that his daughter would wake up at night feeling terrified after she had listened to a tape about the punishment that will befall sinful people in the grave.

When seeking knowledge through reading books, Muslims should choose books that were written by knowledgeable scholars.

The Internet is also a good source for obtaining knowledge about Islam. In fact, the written word will remain the most valuable and effective source of obtaining knowledge and culture. Muslims are to be careful when choosing reading material, and especially regarding religious subjects, they should take into account that not all books are trustworthy sources of knowledge. A wise scholar once said: “Tell me what you read, and I (will) tell you who you are.”

Whatever means the Muslim uses to acquire knowledge about Islam, he is to be careful regarding the authenticity of the source. Not any piece of information about Islam or any person talking about it is a dependable source. Muslims are to bear in mind that there are many books [and Internet sites] that contain distorted information about Islam.