All of mankind was created by Almighty God. Before giving us worldly
life, He took a covenant from each of us. The implication of this pledge
is that all human beings are born inherently aware that the One God is
their Lord, Creator, and Master and that to deny that by either denying
God or setting up other God’s beside Him will be the ultimate treachery.
This covenant is as follows:
And when
your Lord took from the children of Adam and their descendants a
covenant and made them testify, saying to them ‘Am I not your Lord’?
They (mankind) replied, ‘Yes. We testify’. (This testimony) is lest you
would say on the Day of Judgment ‘Surely we were unaware of this’. Or
lest you should say, ‘It was our forefathers who associated with You in
worship (or didn’t believe in you) and we were just their descendants.
So would you destroy us for the lies they (our forefathers) spread’. (Al-A`raf 7:172)
Not only does this covenant explain the natural faith in a Supreme
Creator that we are all born with, it is also rejects allowing one’s
family’s religion to be adopted and followed as a culture in most cases.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) expounds upon this meaning:
“No child is born but upon Fitra. It is his parents who make him a Jew
or a Christian or a Polytheist.” (Muslim)
Life Is a Test
The reality is that we will all inevitably die. So, what is the
purpose of life? Mainly about recognizing and nurturing the pure
monotheism, life is a test of our loyalty to God. This test can be
explained in two verses:
Everyone
will taste death. We will test you with the bad and the good as a trial
upon your patience and to us you will be returned for judgment. (Al-Anbiyaa’ 21:35)
One part of the test is to be patient when afflicted with
difficulties and thankful when blessed with the good things in life like
health, beauty and wealth etc. The other part of the test is to seek
God’s guidance and apply it. The more one applies the guidance of the
Almighty, the more he/she becomes a good person performing good works
for the wellbeing of his or her self and society. The Qur’an illustrates
this for us:
He is the One who created death and life to test you as to which of you is best in deed. (Al-Mulk 67:2)
This guidance is generally known by our inherent nature, but only
clearly and comprehensively known through the message sent with a
Prophet of God as previously mentioned. Here, the question may arise;
Muslims believe that all of the previous Prophets’ messages were
corrupted by the priests and rabbis, so what about the people who lived
an honest decent life, but throughout their life they didn’t have access
to the correct message of Islam as taught by the Prophet who was sent
to their nation? The Prophet Muhammad answered this for us” “There are
four people who will come forth on the Day of Judgment put forth their
argument as to their excuse for not following God’s guidance. They are a
deaf person, a retarded or mentally challenged person, an old man who
was called to Islam and was senile so couldn’t comprehend, and someone
who lived their whole life in a time and place that didn’t receive the
pure message. All of their excuses will be deemed valid and God will
send them an angel and tell these groups that this angel is His
messenger and to follow him. The angel will kindle a blazing fire and
command the people to enter. Whoever enters it will go to heaven and
whoever doesn’t then they will have brought upon themselves the
punishment of Hell. (Al-Bayhaqi)
The way to protect ourselves is through seeking the knowledge of divine guidance.
The Afterlife
The Hereafter has different phases. We will summarize the main points
of the Hereafter according to the book of God and the Sunnah of His
final Messenger (peace be upon him). The Hereafter begins when we die.
When anyone dies, they will remain in their grave (or final resting
point) and experience visions of their final abode whether it be heaven
or hell. They are waiting for the appointed day when God will call for
the destruction of the universe and beginning of the Day of Judgment.
After the universe is destroyed, only God and what He exempts will
remain. God will then recreate the earth and some other celestial
bodies. He will then resurrect all people from their graves in the
physical form they died in. Then, He will give everyone’s book of deeds.
Everyone will now await their judgment which depends upon the weight of
their good deeds against their bad deeds. In the end, all of the people
in history will either go to Heaven or Hell. Heaven is the land of
peace where the believers will live eternally indulging in their desires
as they wish and other delights and pleasures which they never
imagined. The most blessed thing they will have is the sight of their
Maker. The Almighty says:
(It will be
said to them) “Enter it in peace. This is the day of Eternity.” They
will have whatever they desire therein and We have more for them (or
something extra special – as the authentic texts tell us we will see
God). (Qaf 50:34, 35)
Those are
the companions of Paradise. They will abide therein eternally. And we
will remove from their hearts any jealousy or resentments. (Al-A`raf 7:43)
This authentic hadith gives us detail: “(Upon entering
Paradise) A caller calls “You are to be healthy and never to get sick
again, you are to live and never to die again, you are to be young and
never to be old again, and you are to feel happiness living in pleasure
and you will never feel miserable or sad again.” (Al-Bukhari) The one
guaranteeing factor which will lead one to paradise is that they believe
in the Oneness of God and followed the message sent with a given
Prophet and repented after having sinned. The one factor which
guarantees one a place in Hell is to deny God (i.e. Allah) or to worship
other than him after being called to the pure monotheism. The Almighty
Allah says,
Indeed God
does not forgive that you associate with him in divinity or worship, but
He forgives all other sins to whom He wills. And He who associates
others with God has indeed fabricated a tremendous sin. (An-Nisaa’ 4:48)
Those who die while rejecting God or while worshipping other than Him
are doomed to Hell for eternity. This is for indulging in the greatest
treachery to the one who not only created us, but provided us with
innumerable blessings throughout life. There are also many believers in
the Oneness of God who worshipped him exclusively but will go to Hell
for a time to pay for the evil they committed. They will go to Hell
because their evil deeds, innovations, insincerity and neglect to follow
God’s guidance, that exceeded their good deeds. Hell is the worst thing
that could happen to anyone. The Almighty warns us about straying from
the straight path that He made for us,
Those who
reject Our guidance, We shall soon cast into the Fire; as often as their
skins are roasted, We will replace them with fresh skins, that they may
feel the Punishment: for God is Exalted in Power, All-Wise. (An-Nisaa’ 4:56)
If they
implore relief they will be granted molten brass that will scald their
faces: What a dreadful drink! What a horrible abode! (Al-Kahf 18:29)
(In their
immense thirst) they will be given water from a boiling spring. (In
their hunger) There will be nothing put poisonous thorny plants. (Al-Ghashiyah 88:5, 6)
The Prophet described the extent of the horrors of the Hell-Fire:
“The least tormented man in hell on the Day of Judgment is a man who has
coals put under the sole of his feet which are so hot that the blood in
his brain begins to boil”. (Al-Bukhari) Although, before our death, the
door of repentance is wide open even for atheists and polytheists:
Say, ‘O My
servants who have transgressed against themselves by sinning, do not
despair of the Mercy of God. Certainly, He forgives all sins. Indeed it
is Him who is The Forgiving and The Merciful. (Az-Zumar 39:53)
That’s why God Almighty commands us:
O you who believe, protect yourselves and your families from the Hell-Fire… (At-Tahrim 66:6)
The way to protect ourselves is through seeking the knowledge of
divine guidance and purifying our hearts by pondering on its wisdoms and
applying it in our daily lives. This will create a change in us and we
will truly become spiritual beings and not just claim to be believers in
God based upon our own assumption without weighing that against the
example laid out by the noble Prophets of God (peace be upon them) and
their devout followers.
_________________________
The article is an excerpt from the author’s book “The Foundations of Islamic Faith”, Islam Presentation Committee (IPC), Kuwait (2008).
All of mankind was created by Almighty God. Before giving us worldly
life, He took a covenant from each of us. The implication of this pledge
is that all human beings are born inherently aware that the One God is
their Lord, Creator, and Master and that to deny that by either denying
God or setting up other God’s beside Him will be the ultimate treachery.
This covenant is as follows:
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