Delivered by Mowlana Syed Aftab Haider on 11 June 2016 at Ahlul Bait (a.s) Islamic Centre, Ottery, Cape Town

In continuation of the root cause of the bad attitude of the non believers and mushrikeen, we saw that the main problem is that these people don’t like the concept of accountability.

Thus verse 11 says that they do not believe in the hereafter – in fact they reject the hereafter – i.e. after logically understanding its possibility.

And the next verses refer to Jahannam and give a description thereof as discussed in the previous post.

And this description of Jahannam is so harsh that it says those who are stuck in it should not just desire to die once to get out of it but should desire to die many times.

COMPARISON OF JAHANNAM TO JANNAH

After a brief depiction of the harsh reality of Jahannam, the verses compare it’s conditions to that of Jannah.

Verse 15 says:

قُلْ أَذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ أَمْ جَنَّةُ الْخُلْدِ الَّتِي وُعِدَ الْمُتَّقُونَ كَانَتْ لَهُمْ جَزَآءً وَمَصِيراً

“Say: ‘Is that better or the eternal garden which has been promised to the pious ones? That shall be a reward and a resort for them.”

Note that the first attribute about Jannah is that it is referred to as an “eternal” abode.

Verse 16 says:

لَهُمْ فِيهَا مَا يَشَآءُونَ خَالِدِينَ كَانَ عَلَي رَبّـِكَ وَعْداً مَسْؤُولاً

“For them there will be therein whatever they desire: they will dwell (therein) eternally. It is for your Lord a promise that must be fulfilled.”

Secondly, Jannah is said to be a promise of Allah that must be fulfilled.

Thirdly, Jannah is a place wherein you will get whatever you desire.

In this world you cannot get whatever you desire! Understand this!

If you chase everything you desire in this world, you will never be satisfied even if you reach it as this world is a temporary place and is a place wherein you have to compromise as ideals are only possible in Jannah.

Jahannam is a place you land in when one follows his desires in this world without restriction.

But Verse 46 of Surah A’raf indicates to us that:

وَبَيْنَهُمَا حِجَاب

                 “And between the two (groups in Paradise and Hell) there shall be a veil.”

This veil which is in effect a barrier between these 2 groups is in reality their control of their desires in this world – where the one group satisfied their desires within the restrictions placed by Almighty Allah, while the other group satisfied their desires in an unrestricted manner.

FALSE GODS REVEAL THE ROOT CAUSE FOR REJECTING THE HEREAFTER

The next few verses indicate a dialogue that Almighty Allah will have with the so-called false gods that people worshiped.

Verse 17 says:

وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ فَيَقُولُ أَأَنتُمْ أَضْلَلْتُمْ عِبَادِي هَؤُلآءِ أَمْ هُمْ ضَلُّوا السَّبِيلَ

“And (remember) the Day He will muster them and that which they worship instead of Allah, and He shall say: ‘Was it you who misled these My servants or did they themselves go astray from the way?’”

The worshipers and their gods will be brought together. Here the gods are said to be able to speak and thus Almighty Allah will be questioning them.

However, one wonders how this will be possible as the idols that people worshiped in this world could not speak.

Some Scholars say that for a short while on that day the idols will have some power to respond and will thus be able to speak.

The other possibility is that the gods are not all necessarily idols, but all the personalities whom people took to be their god.

Thus people like Prophet Isa (a.s) will be questioned as the Christians worshiped him.

Or the Angels will be questioned who some people considered to be their god.

Or Phirown will be questioned as his people took him to be their god.

And so on.

All of these will be brought to be questioned whether they instructed people to worship them.

Verse 18 says:

“Theقَالُوا سُبْحَانَكَ مَا كَانَ يَنبَغِي لَنَا أَن نَّتَّخِذَ مِن دُونِكَ مِنْ أَوْلِيَآءَ وَلَكِن مَّتَّعْتَهُمْ وءَابَآءَهُمْ حَتَّي نَسُوا الذّ‌ِكْرَ وَكَانُوا قَوْمَاً بُوراً

They will say: ‘Glory be to You! It did not behoove us that we take any guardians besides you; but You did provide them and their fathers to enjoy until they forgot the Message and they were a people in perdition’.”

Their response will be to absolve themselves from such a question!

BUT they will provide the real reason for rejecting the hereafter and that is that these people were given comfort by Allah in this world. And this comfort was given to their ancestors as well. They were born and bred into wealth and this caused them to lose their way in identifying with the idea of accountability.

Verse 19 says:

فَقَدْ كَذَّبُوكُم بِمَا تَقُولُونَ فَمَا تَسْتَطِيعُونَ صَرْفاً وَلاَ نَصْراً وَمَن يَظْلِم مِنكُمْ نُذِقْهُ عَذَاباً كَبِيراً

“(Allah will say to the idolaters:) ‘So they shall indeed belie you of what you say, so you shall not be able to avert (your penalty) nor (get) help, and whoever of you be unjust, We will cause him taste a great torment.”

And thus their final abode is clear.


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