The Day Of Judgment Is Approaching
And the Hour is coming without any doubt, and Allah will raise up all those in the graves. (Surat al-Hajj, 7)
Death is coming closer by the day. Whether you are young or old, death is a little closer to you every day, even every minute. You cannot resist time or prevent death’s approach. Nothing you do can change the fact that you and those close to you are only “temporary” beings. Like every other living being, you are advancing toward the Day on which your life will end.
Humanity is not the only part of creation that is subject to death. All other creatures, Earth itself and the whole universe have a day of death fixed for them. The Day of Judgment is a day of terror and unimaginable fear. But at the same time, it is the most wondrous. Everything on Earth will be flattened, the stars will be extinguished and fall in rapid succession, and the Sun will be wrapped up in darkness. All human beings who have ever lived will be gathered and made to witness this Day. This Final Day will be dreadful for the unbelievers, and its Lord will be Allah, Who owns all that exists.
The Day of Judgment, contrary to many people’s beliefs, is approaching; it is not in the distant future. When it arrives, Earth and everything belonging to it will be destroyed. Ambitions, desires, anger, expectations, lusts, enmities, and pleasures will cease. Plans made for the future will become meaningless, for those who had forgotten that they will be returned to Allah, preferring this world over the eternal life and its misleading wealth, beauty, and pleasures, will have met their end. On this day, everyone will witness clearly Allah’s existence and will come face to face with the death that they had tried so hard to forget. Their attempt to forget Allah and the Hereafter is finished, and a new beginning, one which will be eternal and bring no happiness to the unbelievers, is awaiting them. From the very first moment of this eternal life, the punishment is so fearsome that those who experience it will beg for “death” and “annihilation.” The beginning of this life is the Day of Judgment and, “the Hour is coming without any doubt.”
Life On Earth Is Temporary, And Death Is A Certain Reality
From your earliest childhood onwards, you head for certain goals or are guided by others. You probably will have a family and a job, try to earn more in order to have a better life, educate your children, and hope that they will have a better life than you did. Once a week you meet the other members of your extended family. You take vacations, go to work, and spend the rest of your time at home. Except for a few hiccups on the way, your life progresses orderly and you usually encounter nothing outside the ordinary.
Everything in your life seems to be premeditated, and everyone’s life is like everyone else’s. You need to work to realize these goals, and you need to have a family to continue your lineage. According to this worldview, what else could you possibly want besides “a good job” and “a nice family?” Having achieved these goals, you expect to lead a happy life. In this way, everything is wonderful and you will live happily ever after.
However, some important changes are happening in your body and environment. Many cells with diverse functions fulfill their purpose and die. As you age, it becomes harder to replace them. Your body is aging visibly, as seen through your illnesses and weaknesses. Time moves fast, and the impossibility of reversing it becomes clearer every day. Thinking that you were going to live happily and comfortably forever, you are nevertheless nearing death. Thus, this worldly life can never give the sense of contentment and peace you expect. When this “satisfying” life ends, you will come face to face with the real truth.
Given this fact, none of your life ambitions should become your true purpose in life. This life is a temporary trial to separate the righteous from the evildoers. Allah reveals this reality in the following verse:
He Who created death and life to test which of you is best in action. He is the Almighty, the Ever-Forgiving. (Surat al-Mulk, 2)
The true purpose of life is not a decent job and a nice family. Rather, everybody has been created for one purpose: to serve Allah. We become attached to our children, rank, and status but with the first instance of death, these worldly pleasures lose their value and importance. Everybody knows this, but many choose to ignore it. And so such things should not be the ultimate goal of life. We must reflect carefully and realize what is the real purpose and the true gain. Allah reveals the true purpose of our creation, as follows: I only created jinn and man to worship Me. (Surat adh-Dhariyat, 56)
Only by fulfilling this responsibility can we expect the gifts of the Hereafter. Most people have some unfounded expectations and comfort themselves with them. But this is a great error. If one has nothing to expect from the Hereafter, there is only one possibility left: To become nothing with death, a possibility that is scarier than all the others. The unbelievers develop various methods of forgetting this possibility because they fear it so much.
Among these methods are not talking about, discussing, or remembering death, even though it is a certainty for everyone. Everybody acts as if it does not exist. That most people behave in such a way might be reassuring to some extent, but in reality, they are all misguided. People know about death, the Last Day, and the Hereafter, but refuse to ponder them. They are satisfied with this worldly life or at least make themselves believe that they are. However, Allah reveals that death will find everyone:
Say: “Death, from which you are fleeing, will certainly catch up with you. Then you will be returned to the Knower of the Unseen and the Visible, and He will inform you about what you did.” (Surat al-Jumua, 8)
The universe and all of its contents, not just humanity, will die on the Day of Judgment, for on that Day the trial will end. Many people will recognize its coming by its signs, and the events leading up to the universe’s death will be literally hair-raising. Finally, on that Day, Allah will raise up all those in the graves and all people on the Earth will be called to account. Those who did not expect to experience such a Day will no longer be able to deny it, and so will bow to Allah’s will whether they want to or not. Allah has prepared a spectacular end for the universe, and despite most people’s attempts to deny this reality, the Day of Judgment will come at its appointed time.
Fittrat Say Bagawat Ka Natija
Halfway Through Ramadan
RAMADAN is already half over. I know what almost every one of us will be saying, “It just started a couple of days back, 15 days can’t be over already?!!” That’s the reality, that’s time, and it passes by really quick.
The question is are we still stuck up with starting troubles for Ramadan? Have we utilized the days of fasting to earn reward and the blessed nights to cry to Allah for our forgiveness?
Angel Jibraeel (Gabriel) cursed the one who let the blessed month of Ramadan pass by without gaining forgiveness and our Prophet (peace be upon him) said Aameen. (Hakim and Bayhaqi)
Jibraeel cursed! – the mighty angel who brought down revelations to prophets. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) pronounced Aameen! – the seal and leader of all prophets. Can such an invocation go without being accepted? All is not lost, 15 days remain. The most virtuous – last ten days of the month – have not passed us by. Layl-at-Al-Qadr (Night of Decree), the night whose worship is better than the worship of a thousand months, remains.
Past cannot be undone, we do not know if we will live to see the future, it is the present that we can make the best use of.
Are we going to stay wondering how the 15 days left us or are we going take the next 15 days head-on?
Shan e Risalat Maab
Hell
1. Hell is so deep that if a stone were to be dropped into it, it would travel for 70 years before reaching the bottom.
2. The breadth of each of the four walls around Hell is equivalent to a distance covered by a walking journey of 40 years.
3. Hell has 7 gates.
4. Hell had been lit for one thousand years until its flames became red. Again it was heated for another thousand years till its colour became white. Still again it was burnt for further thousand years and its white colour flames turned pitch black.
5. Even the most fierce fire of this world is 70 fold cooler than the fire of Hell.
6. The lightest punishment in Hell would be the wearing of ” Fiery Shoes ” which would cause one’s brain to boil.
7. Hell in infested with venomous snakes and scorpions of the size of donkeys and if they were to bite a person then he/she will suffer pain for 40 years.
8. For food, the dweller of Hell would be given Zaqqum which is a prickly tree, so bitter, that even if a single molecule of it were to spill onto this earth it would make all the foodstuff of the world bitter and unpalatable.
9. For drinking, the denizen of Hell would be provided with hot, boiling pus mixed with blood, matter, urine and tears etc. of the dwellers of Hell. If a bucket of this foul liquid were to be spilled onto this earth, the entire world would be upset and disrupted by its most foul stink.
10. Boiling water would be poured over Jahannami’s head and this will cause their internal organs to melt and leak out through their feet.
11. The inmates of Hell would be lashed with heavy clubs of iron. If one such club were to be placed upon this earth, the combined strength of all the human beings, as well as all the Jinns, would fail to lift it; and if a mountain is struck with one of these clubs it would cause the whole mountain to disintegrate.
12. The dwellers of Hell would be burnt daily for 70 thousand times. Every time, after the skin and flesh are burnt, they would be restored to life so that they can continuously taste this punishment.
13. A drunkard will be given blood, pus, sweat, filth, etc. to drink in Hell.
14. All the haughty people will be gathered in the Hereafter and driven towards Hell but their bodies would be reduced to the size of ants and they will be given to consume the excretions of the dwellers of Hell.
15. Some sinners would be made to climb ” SAUD ” which is a mountain of fire in Hell, and then dropped from its peak and this process would continue forever and ever.
16. The dwellers of Hell would be pound in chains which would be greater in length than the distance between the sky and the earth.
17. The clothes of sinners in Hell would be highly inflammable.
18. Besides physical torture, the dwellers of Hell would also be subjected to mental harassment through the taunting by the guardian of Hell who will remind them of their misdeed on earth and remark: Now taste the fire, etc.”
19. The sinners and disbelievers would be humiliated to such an extent that besides their revolting ugliness and pitch-black faces, their upper lips would be touching their foreheads and the lower lip dangling around the navel.
20. The dwellers of Hell would weep so much and shed so much of tears and blood that furrows would be formed on their cheeks.
21. The tongues of Hell-inmates would be so long and protruding from their mouths that others would trample and step on them.
22. Shaitaan will also rebuke the denizens of Hell.
23. The dwellers of Hell would display their rage and fury on those who led them astray.
24. The inhabitants of Hell would appeal to the guardians of Jahannam to intercede on their behalf in the court of Allah but their pleas would be rejected. They would make direct supplication to Allah but their prayers would not be granted.
25. They will then abide forever in Hell, continuously lamenting and braying like asses.
O, Allah! Save from punishment of Jahannam and grant us all the high stations of Jannah without reckoning. Ameen.
Mushkil Waqt Mein Asaani ki Dua
Those Saved From The Punishment Of Hell Fire
[ALLAH’S Quran – 3:16-17] “Those who say: Our Lord! Lo! we believe. So forgive us our sins and guard us from the punishment of Fire; The steadfast, and the truthful, and the obedient, those who spend (and hoard not), those who pray for pardon in the watches of the night.”
The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) has said:
[Bukhari, Book #46, Hadith #693] “Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Whoever frees a Muslim slave, Allah will save all the parts of his body from the (Hell) Fire as he has freed the body-parts of the slave.” Said bin Marjana said that he narrated that Hadith to ‘Ali bin Al-Husain and he freed his slave for whom ‘Abdullah bin Ja’far had offered him ten thousand Dirhams or one-thousand Dinars”
[Bukhari, Book #13, Hadith #30] “Narrated Abu ‘Abs: I heard the Prophet saying, “Anyone whose feet are covered with dust in Allah’s cause, shall be saved by Allah from the Hell-fire.”
[Bukhari, Book #76, Hadith #547] “Narrated ‘Adi bin Hatim: The Prophet said, “There will be none among you but will be talked to by Allah on the Day of Resurrection, without there being an interpreter between him and Him (Allah). He will look and see nothing ahead of him, and then he will look (again for the second time) in front of him, and the (Hell) Fire will confront him. So, whoever among you can save himself from the fire, should do so even with one half of a date (to give in charity).”
[Muslim, Book #009, Hadith #3605] “Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: A Muslim who emancipates a Muslim (slave). Allah will save from fire every limb of his for every limb (of the slave). Sa’id b. Marjana said: When I heard this hadith from Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him), I went away and made a mention of it to ‘Ali b. Husain and he at once emancipated the slave for which Ibn ja’far was prepared to pay ten thousand dirhams or one thousand dinars.”
Hazrat Abdullah-Bin-Salam
Taqwa: Valuable Fruit Of Fasting
THE Islamic fast is unique and different from other types of fasting observed in other religions. It is obligatory, for a specific period of time from dawn to dusk, and in a specific lunar month called Ramadan.
It involves a voluntary renunciation of all appetites and desires of the flesh during that month for defined hours, with cheerful and willing acceptance of this beneficial divine mandate.
Sunset signifies the achievement of one s victory over himself during the day.
This blessed month of Ramadan inculcates a spirit of fortitude and gratitude. The atmosphere of the month is such that positive thoughts are automatically invoked on a 24-hour basis. Such thoughts, which wish the welfare of one and all, Muslims as well as non-Muslims, including those who have wronged us!
A stable monotonous environment of eating three times daily tends to produce stereotyped reactionary patterns. Fasting gives a variable environment with rigid strategies and sufficient degrees of freedom to cope with the changing conditions.
Some of us may be habituated to a particular type of vice or wrong-doing – e.g. gambling, smoking, drinking, backbiting, fraud, hot temper, domestic violence, etc.
Whatever foul we are habituated to, becomes our routine and it becomes difficult to resist. Fasting helps to overcome such habits either gradually for some of us or immediately for those with stronger will power, especially if supported by constant supplications seeking Allah s assistance. The usual antidote is to put an entirely opposite thought in the mind to displace the negative trend.
This act of self-restraint in Ramadan strengthens the will and hence, the will power. This extra will power helps to overcome obsessions and addictions. In fact, fasting also reduces a criminal’s urge to commit dangerous crimes.
During the Islamic fast, every organ in the body that has been given to us as a trust by Allah is put to a critical test.
A hunger strike is not an Islamic fast. We must not see evil, hear evil, utter evil nor act evil. This is a training session for us to develop Taqwa (God-consciousness) and piety, as well as to show gratitude for the great favor of the revelation of the Holy Qur’an during the month of Ramadan in the night called Lailatul-Qadr.
Taqwa is the most valuable fruit of fasting. Just as plants have their own season of flowering, so is Ramadan the season of the year for blossoming of goodness, virtue and piety in the Muslim ummah (nation). Not one, but millions of people jointly water the garden of virtue in the same lunar month, all over the world.
The purpose of the Islamic fast is to obey Allah’s command. Through this exercise, Muslims can develop a balanced personality and a strong sense of a community of believers. It trains all those who volunteer for service to Allah, before allowing them to take on the job of His vicegerency and establish Allah’s message of mercy on Earth.
The fasting Muslim is continuously tied with rules and regulations for one full month and then released for 11 months to see whether the training has been adequate and effective and if not, any deficiency found in the personality and will power could be corrected and made up in the following year s refresher course, in the Ramadan program. This is because Allah wants us to make the choice and behave well when left alone and unattended. The personality develops when a person is free to do any wrong as he would like, but does not do it under unrestricted conditions; e.g. during the 11 months following the Ramadan fast.
If we have passed this first part of the examination, then as Muslims who adhered to the five pillars of Islam and fasted, we are entitled to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr (Feast of breaking the fast), also called Eid Al-Saghir (the Minor Feast).
Then Allah gives us two months and 10 days to prepare for Eid Al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice), also called Eid Al-Kabir (the Major Feast).
The Minor Feast will entitle us to climb up the ladder one step toward becoming mu’mineen (believers), because we must now learn to sacrifice our time, money, leisure, pleasure, skill, along with other talents, God-given gifts, and bounties, then be prepared to share them with our fellow human beings.
As believers adhering to the seven branches of iman (faith and belief) we must not only think of but actually perform good deeds.
This, in turn, will now prepare us for the second examination of higher spiritual achievement. And, if successful, we will be entitled to celebrate the Major Feast as believing men and believing women then go up one more rung on the ladder up Sirat Al-Mustaqim (the Straight Path).
During Ramadan, we get up for suhoor before dawn, then stop eating and drinking at the break of dawn, abstain from such and such actions during the day and take Futoor (break the fast) in the evening, at the exact time of sunset. This is precise timing. The month of fasting teaches us to respect the time and be precise in our dealings and timings and to be punctual at all times.
The exact timing of initiating of the fast at the break of dawn and breaking it at sunset with the right countdown to the last minute, teaches us the limits between right and wrong, between halal (permitted) and haram (prohibited), which is so essential for the elevation of the soul to a higher level on the spiritual scale.
A person who can rule his/her desires and make them function as he likes, has attained true moral excellence! A 425-hour of intensive study in any particular subject of one’s choice in any university would qualify one in that particular subject.
Similarly, 425 hours of intense devotion in Ramadan should certainly uplift a practicing Muslim to a state of higher spiritual achievement and earn him a reward from Allah.
During Ramadan, we also learn to inculcate in ourselves the art of patience. This, together with lessons and reminders to forgive all those who wronged us, add their own quota of enhancing our personality and outlook on life, with multiple benefits, not only in this life but also in the Hereafter.