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CHAPTER V RESURRECTION |
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68th Question:
what is death, and why do all people fear it?
*Death is the decease of life in the body when the soul leaves it, and in spite that death looks an end and a conclusion of man apparently, yet in reality it is a window through which man over looks a new world. The prophet [p] said:
(you are made to survive not to decease, rather ye are transferred from an abode to another)[1]
This new world and abode is filled with happiness for the good and the (Walies) exclusively, mean while it is full of misery to those who are unjust and wicked.
Imam Al-Husain [p] in Karbalaa addressed his fellows and family saying:
(Be patient my gracious sons, for death is only a bridge that takes you away from misery and poverty to the wide paradises of eternal prosperity; which one of you abhors to be transferred from a prison to a palace? While to your enemies, death is similar to one who transfers from a palace to a prison of torment; my father related to me that the prophet [p] said:
This mundane world is a prison for the believer, and a paradise for the unbeliever, and death is the bridge that takes the former to their heaven and the latter to their hell)[2]
If this mundane world is the niche of the unbeliever’s aspirations having nothing beside it, so it is quite natural that he will fear death, rather he would tremble and shake horrified from it.
For some people, the fright from death is due to the fact that they are loaded with sins and transgressions so they have nothing to cherish them in the hereafter or, make them happy, though they do believe in the hereafter, thus death for them will be the end of happiness and the beginning of misery.
(Say: If the future abode with Allah is specially for you to the exclusion of the people, then invoke death if you are truthful 94 And they will never invoke it on account of what their hands have sent before and Allah knows the unjust 95).[3]
The case is reversed to the believers when they confront death, for they look forward to its arrival because they know that it will take them to heaven and paradise, and greater pleasures from Allah.
Imam Ali Ben Abi Tallib [p] said:
(By Allah; the son of Abi Tallib is more familiar with death than a baby is familiar with his mother’s breast)[4]
He said (May my soul be sacrificed for him when Ibn Muljim (His killer) stroke him on the head by his saber:
(I won by the Lord of Al-Kaabah)[5]
69th Question:
Everybody knows that Azraeel is the confiscator of the souls, but the Holy Qur’an attributes this act to Allah sometimes, others to Azraeel, others more to sent angels. What is the reason for this?
* There is no problem about attributing the acts to that who does them himself or to that who commanded others to do them. A ministry may achieve a project by means of one of its establishments; the latter-certainly-will achieve the project by means of its cadre and laborers; the project may be attributed to the ministry as being the summit of administrative supervision, or it might be attributed to the establishment concerned for its close concern about the project; else more the project may be attributed to the cadre and laborers who have done the job themselves.
Hence, the Holy Qur’an attributed confiscation of the souls to Allah the Exalted, for He is the cause of all causes; hence the (cause-effect) chain will end at Him.
In other cases the Qur’an attributes that act to Azraeel the angel for he is specially entrusted from Allah to confiscate the souls; else where the Book attributes this to the angels who are sent by God to fulfill this task.[6]
(Allah takes the souls at the time of their death)[7]say: (the angel of death who is given charge of you shall cause you to die , then to your Lord you shall be brought back). [8]
(until when death comes to one of you , Our messengers cause him to die and they are not remiss)[9]
70th Question:
What is the evidence that proves that man’s faith in the resurrection is natural?
* Anyone who traces the history of the former nations and the present ones may realize the essence of their belief in the resurrection and revival after death nothing to say about the particularities of this belief.
The archeologists proved this through the remains they discovered; they revealed that some nations used to bury with their corpses their personal things thinking that those things will serve them in the other world; rather, some nations used to bury with their kings their jokers so they might entertain those monarchs in the other life. Some other nations used to bury alive their mothers and fathers when they reach the age of forty, believing that if ever man dies at this age he would be more capable of doing the duties of that other world, for-according to them- the age of forty is the best stage during his life, in which his physical and mental powers reach their best. [10]
As long as the belief in the resurrection or doomsday has been and still is part of the code of faiths and interests of ancient and modern man, so we come to know that belief in the resurrection arises from the nature of man and his instinct, otherwise it would have disappeared from his life, whereas we can see that this belief still exists in man’s life up till today.
On the other hand, the court of our small conscience asserts the existence of the court of the day of judgment; for how can we accept the fact that our small conscience court judges our deeds being bad or good, without surrendering to the fact that the greatest court of justice which is Allah’s does observe our world with all of its millions of people and in those quarters we recognize tears, laughs, cheers and sorrows.
71st Question:
What is the importance of (the belief in resurrection) in man’s life? [11]
* Resurrection, in fact, is the safety valve for anybody who is concerned about his future aspiring a peaceful happy life in this world and in the hereafter.
He whose basic interest in life is trying to satisfy his lusts and answer his bohemian material tendencies, will do his best to get to this result that serves his substantial limited interests.
On the contrary the good, righteous, pious will do their best to serve the others, for such an action will be rewarded by Allah in the hereafter.
So why does man not exchange his rest for the rest of the others in this world as long as his deed will be rewarded by Allah?
Whoever brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it, and whoever brings an evil deed, he shall be recompensed only with the like of it. [12]
No doubt that man’s belief in the resurrection will leave important and good impressions on him as an individual, and on society as a whole; for this belief has certain graces that provides everybody with peace, potency, and resistance; such qualities are never attained in the societies that are governed by regimes who stick to mere material traditions and criteria.
Hence, belief in resurrection leaves a good influence on man’s march, an influence that leads this march through a right course shifting its direction to the proper way.
72nd Question:
What is the evidence that proves that man has a soul, which has its abstract existence beside the substantial existence of the body?
* Those who believe that man has a soul in addition to the body, depend on so many evidences some of which are quite accurate and sophisticated, hence we will survey the simple ones of them:[13]
1-Anyone of us , now and then, may forget his body and the pains which pricks it when he is mentally engaged in an important affair (like an essential visit to a friend).
Also, when man is lost into admiring a landscape, his hearing sense would miss even the loud voices that erupt close to the ears.
The reason for these cases is clear:
Man’s existence is not represented by his substantial body alone, rather, in addition to the material existence of the body, there is another existent which is represented by the soul which is the center of our sensations whereat our realization takes place.
2-The dreams which a sleeper may see may contain events that might come true in reality in the same minute details, descriptions and numbers that happened in the vision. This phenomenon may not have a material interpretation, unless we assume that there is something none-material beside the physical body which can forcast the future, namely it is the soul. The realization of the body is restricted to the five senses which can feel what takes place outside the body actually; these senses can never realize the future. [14]
3-Our brain and our brain cells can not comprehend something of a size that exceeds their size, like when we realize the vision of a landscape whose space takes tens of kilometers, without missing any fragment of it, thus, our center of realization must be situated in a place other than the eye so as to contain such a apace of vision, this unseen spot of realization is none but our soul.
What has been mentioned does not mean that we have to cancel the importance of the role of the nervous system of man with all of its brain cells and integral parts; rather we emphasize its importance that determines the realization of man; but its role is similar to the role of an equipment or a tool that carries the realization to the soul; just like the telephone set which is a tool that transports the sonic waves from a place to an other without realizing what these waves really are.
He who really realizes the meaning of these waves is the person who use the telephone set.
* * *
In addition to the reasonable evidences mentioned hereinbefore to assert the existence of the soul, there are some narration evidences that certify this existence; hereunder are verses from the Holy Qur’an in this respect:
It was said: Enter the garden. He said: O would that my people had known* Of what on account of which my Lord has forgiven me and made me of the honored ones * [15]
The fire; they shall be brought before it (every) morning and evening and on the day when the hour shall come to pass: make Firon’s people enter the severest chastisement.[16]
It is clear that the entrance of the believer to heaven in the first verse, and the entrance of firon’s people to hell in the second verse concerns their ethereal souls and bodies in the world of the isthmus that is inbetween this mundane world and the hereafter; for the day of judgment is not due yet, and the corpses of the dead are still inside our earth while their parts have turned into dust.
73rd Question:
What do you know about the isthmus?
* Lingually the item (isthmus) means (inbetween two things) or (a barrier between two things) [17] Idiomatically it means the world to which people are transferred after death and before the hereafter, i.e it is the world in between our earthly world and the world of the hereafter.
All Moslems agreed to the fact that the isthmus is a reality that nobody suspects, except some unmentionable exceptions.[18] Yet various sects of Moslems do differ about Some details of this world.
The reason for their agreement about the isthmus is the clear evidences that certify its existence, some of which are the following gracious verses:
And before them is a barrier until the day they are raised.[19]
And reckon not those who are killed in Allah’s way as dead; nay, they are alive (and) are provided sustenance from their Lord;[20]
The fire; they shall be brought before it (every) morning and evening and on the day when the hour shall come to pass: Make Firon’s people enter the severest chastisement.[21]
Comparing the last two verses mentioned hereinabove we realize that living in the isthmus dose not concern the martyrs (who are a class of the believers) exclusively, rather, the unbelievers too may live in the isthmus like (Firon’s people). The difference between their lives is that the life of the unbeliever is a life of torment and agony, while the believer there lives a happy life.
Other historical narrations give evidence about the life in the isthmus; some of which are as follows:-
[When the Battle of Badr ended and the Moslem’s enemies run away leaving their dead casualties in the battle field; some of those dead were thrown in a well; the prophet [p] came and stood near the well and said-addressing those who were killed then and thrown in the well:
You were bad neighbors to the Messenger of Allah [p], you threw him away from his house and his town then you gathered and fought him. I have found my God’s promise true; have you found your god’s promise true?
Omar said to him [p]:
O: Messenger of Allah, why should you address dead dry corpses?
The prophet [p] said:
O Ibn Al-khattab, how is that; By Allah you do not hear much better than they do especially that the angels are about to chain them with iron shackles, and they will do it the minute I turn my face away from them).[22]
There is another tale about Ameer Al-Momeneen [p], when he passed on the back of his horse through the ranks after the (Camel War) until he reached (Kaab Ben Surah) who was the judge of Al-Basrah appointed by Omar Ben Al-Khattab and he remained in his post during the reing of Othman too; when troubles started in Basrah, kaab hanged a Holy Book in his neck, gathered his family and sons and went to fight Ameer Al-Momeneen; he and his lot were all slaughtered; Ameer Al-Momeneen stood at his corpse and said:- Seat ka’ab Ben Surah.
The corpse was seated between tow corpses.Imam Ali [p] said:-
O ka’ab Ben Surah: I have found my God’s promise true, have you found your God’s promise true?
Then he said:- Lay down ka’ab.
The Imam [p] moved a little father and saw the corpse of Tallhah Ben Abdullah, he stood close to and said:-
Seat Tallhah
They seated him. He [p] addressed the corpse:
O, Tallhah, I have found my God’s promise true, have you found your God’s promise true?
then he said:
Lay down Tallhah
One of the followers of the Imam said, O, Ameer Al- Momneen why do you address two dead corpses who do not hear you?
he said:
O, man, By Allah they heard my words the way the dead of Badr who were in the well heard the word of the Messenger of Allah [p].[23]
In the isthmus the bad are tormented and the good are rewarded.
Ali Ben Al- Husain [p] said:
(The grave is either a garden from the gardens of heaven, or a ditch from the ditches of hell).[24]
The pressure of the grave is one of the torments that are inflicted to the bad in the isthmus.
The Messenger of Allah [p], while the corpse of Sa`ad Ben Ma`ath was being buried, said:
(Your fellow creature who has been buried has been pressured in his grave).[25]
Nobody ,who is meant to be pressured in his grave, is exempted from this even if he is hot buried in the soil. Imam Al- Ridha [p] was asked about anybody who is hung, is he pressured the way a buried man is pressured in his grave?
The Imam [p] said:
(Yes, Allah commands the air to pressure hi)[26]
Also, two angels may investigate man in his grave asking him about the origins of his religion, if he was an unbeliever he would not be able to answer so he would be tormented, thus, these two angle are called (Munkar) and (Nakeer) (the connotation of these two words in Arabic manifests carrying the bad news of torment to the dead.
If the dead was a believer he would easily answer the questions of the two angles, so they would promise him of heaven as a reward thus they are called (Mubashir) and (Basheer) (The connotation of these two words in Arabic manifests carrying the good and happy news to the dead.
As long as the soul in this mundane world was in need to accompany its soil body that would enable it to do its tasks; similarly it needs a (body) in the isthmus to achieve the same tasks. Thus the soul will embody a special guise that is called the (ethereal body)-which is very similar to the body that engulfs the soul in the world of visions; the body will maintain the same form and guise it used to have in his life on earth; Imam Al-Sadiq [P] described this body saying:
(If ever you see (the ethereal body”, you will say it is the same :body of the earthly life”) [27]
From the narrations that reached us we infer that the souls of the believers after their death occupy special place that differs from the abode of the souls of the unbelievers; the souls of the believers will reside in (Wadi Al-Salam) in (Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf) [28], the souls of the unbelievers will reside in the desert of (Barahoot) in Yemen
Ali [P] said:
No believer ever dies at any spot of the earth but his soul is commanded to reside in (Wadi AlSalam), it is really a piece of the gardens of Eden[29]
He [P] also said:
(The worst well in hell is Barahoot in which the souls of the unbelievers reside) [30]
74th Question:
what are the evidences that certify the resurrection and authenticate that it is a necessity?
* We can infer resurrection may take place through meditating nature around us and its transitions and changes. Winter takes off the leaves of the trees leaving them naked dry, so stagnancy and motionlessness replace growth and dynamism turning them into something very similar to a dreary graveyard where everything suggests death, until spring with all of its merriness and growth comes again to revive life, motion and wormth back into the trees, thus that cherish and flower again.
Be it possible to revive life and motion into the trees and the stagnant ground by the potency of Allah and his will, gracious be he, then why should some people negate the possibility of the revival of life back to a dead man whose corpse had turned into ashes and dust?!
And we send down from the cloud water abounding in good, then We Cause to grow thereby gardens and the grain that is reaped (9) And the tall palm- trees having spadices closely set one above another (10) A sustenance for the servants, and We give life thereby to a dead land, thus is the rising (11)[31]
And He it is Who originates the creation, then reproduces it, and it is easy to Him.[32]
Furthermore, why do some people do not believe in the day of judgment and the resurrection although the Holy Qur’an do Survey some examples of reviving the dead that took place in some ancient nations, in addition to the dead people that Jesus [p] revived:
Or the like of him (Uzair) who passed by a town, and it had fallen down upon its roofs; he said: when will Allah give it life after its death? So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then raised him to life. He said: How long have you tarried? He said: I have tarried a day, or a part of a day. Said He: Nay! You have tarried a hundred years; then look at your food and drink- years have not passed over it, and look at your ass; and that We may make you a sign to men, and look at the bones, how We set them together, then clothed them with flesh; so when it became clear to him, he said. I know that Allah has power overall things.[33]
And bring the dead to life with Allah’s permission.[34]
Resurrection as a (Must) is necessitated by the justice of Allah, for life daily witnesses various kinds of pain, injustice and oppressions which end without any chastisement for the oppressors. The oppressed- on their part- are too weak to pay back their oppressors, either because they lack the potency to do so, or because the guilty oppressors can always escape the law.
On the other hand; law and its legislations and penalties fail in so many cases to cope with so many crimes and violations both qualitatively and qualitatively, the utmost penalty a criminal may get is execution, which- in itself- does not equal tens of thousands of the crimes of some evil criminals.
The wisdom of Allah necessitates that man should be given a free will that will help him to attain perfection; but this free will of man sometimes causes great injustice leading man to confiscate the rights of the others.
This result does not connotate that Allah the Exalted is unjust; but it might connotate that Allah gave the reins to the oppressor to practice his oppression the way he likes without any deterrent from Him.
But if we shade- even- a rapid glance on all the things that comprise the universe, starting from the atom and ending with the galaxy we shall find evidences for the justice and wisdom of Allah every where; everything runs according to a law and a system depending on justice and equity and putting everything in its right place no more no less.
Here, we say, if everything is subject to the equity and justice of Allah, so is it reasonable that man is exempted from this grace without leading him to the right way, which is very uncharacteristic of the equity and justice of the exalted!
Then, there should be an appointed day in which people are brought forth to behold their deeds:
(On that day men shall come forth in sundry bodies that they may be shown their works 6 so, he who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it 7 And he who has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it 8)[35] The existence of such a day and such a court is asserted by assuming that Allah the exalted has bestowed on man a potency and a will of choice that enable him to make the good deeds or commit the evil ones)
(What! Shall We then make those who submit as the guilty? What has happened to you? How do you judge?)[36]
Or shall We make those who guard (against evil) like the wicked?)[37] Resurrection is the final stage of man’s perfection, for man knows no peace and tranquility from whence he is a semen until death forms the final chapter of his earthly life; he searches all the time chapter of his earthly life; he searches all the time about something he misses, his thirst of research is never extinguished by the pleasures of this mundane life, thus his restlessness is never quietened, for he does not find in those pleasures but a mirage in a desert, Which the thirsty man deems to be water; [38]
So there should be something else that extinguishes the thirst of man giving him stability which has never been attained even by the (Prophets) and the (Walies) [p]; but it can be attained in the resurrection to the hereafter; to this the gracious verse refers:
(O my people! This life of the world is only a (passing) enjoyment, and surely the hereafter is the abode to settle.)[39]
75th Question:
What is the nature of resurrection on doomsday? Is it physical or spiritual?
* Revising the Qur’anic, Islamic and narrative texts we conclude that the nature of the resurrection on doomsday is both physical and spiritual, i-e man on the day of judgment is resurrected by both dimensions, material, and spiritual, unlike what some people suggest that, resurrection is purely spiritual and unlike what others suggest that it is purely physical; hereunder is a survey for some of those texts.
The Exalted said:
From it we created you and into it We shall send you back and from it will We raise you a second time.[40]
And the trumpet shall be blown, when lo! From their graves they shall hasten on to their Lord.[41]
Ameer Al- Momeneen [p] said:
So when everything comes to its end, and the ages pass away, and resurrection comes by; God will set them (the people) out of the ditches of their graves, and out of the nests of the birds, and out of the holes of wild animals, and out of every abode of annihilation, hurrying to fulfill His command, hasting to meet Him like a herd of silent horses, or standing in rows that any glance from Allah would not miss any of them; standing thus they will hear anybody calling them, they look submitting, poor, and humiliated.
There, whereat there is no trick that might help, whereat there is no hope, whereat the hearts are bereft of their hope and merriness; hearts are silent for fright; and all the sounds turn into whispers)[42]
What we have proclaimed is manifested in the fact that Allah the Exalted has prepared a reward for the good in the day of judgment, whereas he has prepared a punishment for the transgressors.
Allah’s rewards and punishments are material, like paradise with its pleasures and hell with its pains, and moral, like the wrath of Allah on the unbelievers and his mercy for the believers.
Allah has promised to the believing men and the believing women gardens, beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them, and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetual abode; and best of all is Allah’s goodly pleasure- that is the grand achievement.[43]
Surely hell lies in wait (21) A place of resort for the inordinate.[44]
Surely they Shall have no portion in the hereafter, and Allah will not speak to them, nor will He look upon them.[45]
So, to bless man or torture him in the hereafter both materially and morally he ought to be resurrected in both dimensions, physical and spiritual.
76th Question:
Man after his death turns to dust and ashes to become part of the contents of the soil on which plants nourish sometimes, thus when the plant absorbs these elements they will become part of it, if any man chances to eat this plant the elements that came from the parts of the first dead will get into the eater’s body, thus arises the problem of the (eater) and the (eaten) which runs as follows:
If the first (dead) man was good and the second man (the eater) was bad, so how would the parts that moved from the first to the second be trailed by God?
Are they going to be tortured with the bad, or are they exempted from torment and blessed by the grace of the bliss that will befall the good? Else more, will these parts be resurrected with the (eater) or with the (eaten)?
* The center of human feeling and sensation is the soul, the body is nothing more than a means to attain them; on the other side, all the cells of the human body change every now and then, though we do feel that our personal integrity is still the same. This reveals that part of our existence has never experienced any change or shift; that part is nothing but our soul residing in the body. Thus we have no right to renounce a crime we had made when we were young on the pretext that the cells of a young body have changed into the cells of an old body.
Considering what we have presented, it becomes clear that the bliss or torment that befall man on the Day of judgment do not concern his body-regardless of the fact that this body is constant or transitional; for bliss or torment befall the soul which never transcendent into an other soul.
Furthermore, a united spiritual and physical resurrection does not necessitate the resurrection of the same body cells that were buried after death. Rather it is quite probable that a similar body to that of the deceased will be resurrected with his soul; hence, the same soul will be resurrected on the Day of Judgment accompanied by a body similar to ours; which represents the plea on which the Holy Qur'an relies in its argument with those who deny the Day of Judgment:
“Is not the One who created the heavens and the earth able to create the like of these men? Yes indeed He is able and He is the knowing creator of all and every thing, abundant in variety”[46]
77th Question:
Wat is our dogma in (The earthly revival)?
* The dogma of (the earthly revival) is part of the ideology of shiism. The Shiite believe that Allah the Exalted will revive some dead people after the appearance of Imam (Al- Mehdi) (M); so Allah will humiliate the perverts and reward the right.[47] The Shiite authenticated their dogma by the gracious verse:
And on the day when We will gather from every nation a party from among those who rejected Our communications, then they shall be formed into groups.[48]
There is evidence in the verse that signifies (the earthly revival), for the resurrection concerns a certain party exclusively which is not the thing that happens in the hereafter, for the resurrection in the hereafter is general and comprehensive and does not exclude anybody, as the Exalted said:
And We will gather them and leave not any one of them behind.[49]
Back to the first verse, the stylistic coherence between the verse that succeeds[50] it and the verse that precedes[51] it which describe doomsday, necessitates that the meaning of resurrection in the verse mentioned hereinabove- from Surah (The Ant)- signifies earthly revival.
Although the gracious verse signifies the earthly revival and resurrection of the vicious people exclusively but we may infer that the good too might revive, depending on the narration related by Imam Al- Sadique [p]:
The earthly revival is not a general state, rather it is a special one; a state that concerns the stratum of highly righteous believer or the stratum of highly wicked unbelievers)[52]
The earthly revival provides a precious chance for the believers to join the international reformative rise which will be led by the twelfth Imam of the twelve Apostolic Imams [p]; participating with him is considered one of the greatest glories, for it settles the right and demolishes the vice, as well as it is a chance to revenge the wicked who were extremely polytheists but were not punished before their death like the others who were their like.
This means that, the good end both on earth and in heaven will befall the good pious people , exactly as Allah has promised:
And the good end is for those who guard (against evil). [53]
This- in itself- is enough to push the people forward provoking them towards virtue, paving the way –meanwhile- for the ethical values to play their role getting into the hearts of the people; in addition to that, they reduce the rate of perversity, fornication, and atheism.
No place for suspecting the earthly revival remains after what we have said and after the evidence which have already introduced as well as the verses of the Holy Qur’an which narrate the narratives of the ancient nations. [54]
Imam Al-Redha [P] relates about his grandfather the gracious Prophet (Al-Mustafa) [p], when the Abbassi Caliph Al-Ma’moon asked him about the earthly revival; he answered:
It is right, and it has been in the ancient nations and the Qur’an revealed it, and the Messenger of Allah [P] said:
What will happen to this nation is quite similar to what happened in the ancient nations. [55]
78th Question:
What are the conditions to attain happiness or misery in the hereafter in the light of faith or disbelief?
* The happiness or misery of man in the hereafter are closely concerned either to his faith, or to his disbelief in the creation of man, the resurrection, reward, chastisement and the Prophets [p] and their Divine missions.
Faith is nothing but an inner phenomenon stemming from man’s knowledge of something, then his inclination towards it; it is not achieved without knowledge as well as there is no faith without inclination, it is not enough that somebody would claim belief in something without feeling inclined to it.
The Exalted said:
The dwellers of the desert say: We believe- say; You do not believe but say, we submit; and faith has not yet entered into your hearts. [56]
For, it is quite possible that man may know something and become sure of it, yet he is not inclined to it and his soul rejects it. The Exalted said:
And they denied them unjustly and proudly while their soul had been convinced of them.[57]
Anybody who realizes the existence of Allah-for example- yet his soul rejects this realization is called an atheist; this name too is given to anybody who denies the existence of Allah because of his personal ignorance; atheism is disbelief, whether it is caused by stubbornness and ungratefulness or ignorance.
If inclination to something is an essential factor that determines faith in it, act must go on with it, for it is meaningless to like something without doing its fundamental duties; rather salvation and happiness are conditioned by faith and good deed:
I swear by TIME,* Most surely man is in loss* Except those who believe and do good, and enjoin on each other truth, and enjoin on each other patience*.[58]
Faith is always calling act, thus anybody whose act decreases, his faith subsequently decreases, and anybody who has no act has no faith, and anybody who claims that faith is in the heart and has nothing to do with act, he is but lying.
We do not exaggerate if we say; a good deed may enforce faith, and a bad deed may enforce disbelief.
The Exalted said:
To Him do ascend the good words; and the good deeds lift them up; [59]
Then evil was the end of those who did evil, because they rejected the communications of Allah and used to mock them. [60]
Faith in Allah in reality is an approach to Him, and approaching Him means inspiring His abundance of perfection, beauty, and superior qualities, so man nourishes on them due to His closeness to the mercy and grace of Allah attaining thus eternal, heavenly happiness.
On the contrary , he who disobeys Allah getting far from His being and His qualities will be deprived from that happiness, for he chose to move away from the fountain of abundance and peace.
Therefore, it is meaningless that the inventors and the reformers should anticipate and expect a reward from Allah if ever they are removed from Him and do not have faith or belief in Him, and if their efforts and innovations in this world are not dedicated to Him; why, then, should they expect happiness in the hereafter?!
Yes, a good deed may decrease the chastisement of the unbeliever on Doomsday, qualifying him more to accept justice and surrender to it in this life.[61]
79th Question:
Why does Allah punish his servants if He is in no need of them? And why do the unbelievers and the atheists immortalize in hell although their vicious deeds were only temporary?
* Man naturally tends to rest, entertainment, and pleasures, if ever he is left to his own he will delude from the right way which Allah designed fro him by his own choice; and in order that Allah leads the people to His way He sent for them His Prophets promising the people of heaven and threatening them by the torments of hell, so as to provoke them to attain His reward and avoid His chastisement, gaining, thus the anticipated happiness.
Hence it becomes clear that the chastisement of Allah to man is not meant for itself, for His mercy preceded His wrath and vengeance; His punishment is a method to reform man and do him good in the earthly life and the hereafter, through his commitment to Allah’s commandments and his avoidance of Allah’s prohibitions. The Exalted said:
O you who believe! Answer (The call of) Allah and His Apostle when he calls you to that which gives you life.[62]
Concerning the other part of the question; the unbelievers and the polytheists and the atheists are immortalized into hell, for what they have done, as a chastisement from Allah who never does anybody injustice even the weight of an atom in earth and in heaven.
So, he who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it* And he who has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it*.[63]
Whatever wicked or evil deed man commits in this world no matter how limited it is, and no matter how short time does it take, its effect might be so vicious and ugly to the degree that its chastisement is made unlimited, thus nothing equals it but immortality in hell.
There is no wonder in this , for he who throws himself from a height will have to bear the sequences of what he has done for a much longer while than the while it took him to fall down from that height, thus he might spend the rest of his age retarded, or perhaps he might die for his act.
Allah by means of His prophets has told His servants of the subsequences of their deeds-on matter tiny or immense, good or evil they are- promising to reward the good and avenge the pervert.
Whoever brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it, and whoever brings an evil deed, he shall be recompensed only with the like of it. [64]
We conclude our answer saying that although Allah is the Most Merciful, yet –at the same time- His chastisement is severe, He is the Most Merciful when mercy and forgiveness are required, and remorselessly punishing when chastisement is required.
80th Question:
How does the Holy Qur’an picture the hereafter?
* The Holy Qur’an draws for us the destiny of earth; earthquakes shake its quarters, what is inside it is vomited outside, the seas boil, the mountains shake violently until they are leveled with earth.
The sun sets in an eternal fall; the moon loses her light, so is the light of the stars; the sky melts and cracks like books that are closed for ever.
If the trumpet is blown, giving the leave to the Death Angel to seize the souls, that mighty reaper will start his harvest collecting the souls who will be haunted by a horrifying terror and a terrible fear, so the bodies of the people will tremble-except those believers (momins) whom Allah chose- thus every creature on earth deceases.
The trumpet is blown for the second time to heraled the resurrection and the new revival; so people will start the march of eternity; the quarters of the earth will be lit by the light of God; people will huddle in a universal assembly standing at the presence of the Great Judge who will judge them by His libra of justice that never misses. Thence human beings have no escape, and nothing of this earthly life will serve their purpose, and no good luck will do; only their good deeds, good manners, and righteousness which they did in their first life will stand to assist them in that Holy Court.
Thence, all pleas will fail the people, for Lord of the universe, the Just, Supreme, Wholepotence is the Witness and the Judge… Allah, to fulfill His justice, will call for testimony in His Court of Justice other witnesses whose evidences can never be requited, thus every prophet will testify for his people, and all the senses and organs and evidences of their deeds will be called to witness for their owners, in addition to this earth which has been a silent witness watching what people do, all these will say their words in the presence of Great Judge, in addition to all that, the deeds of the people will be incarnated for them on the day of judgment, thus every spirit will find its history with all of its good and evil deeds standing a live in front of it.
Even the angels who are ordered to calculate whatever man does –be it tiny or immense- will stand to give their testimony; thence, nobody will lose his right- if ever he has such a right-; and every transgressor will be denounced; then the people will tread on a path that will take them to heaven, a path which is thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword blade, (crossing over the inferno); thus they will pass successively, every one with his deeds; some of them will pass so fast like the blink of an eye; others will jog like horses; others will cross the path creeping on four, others will pass very carefully, others will cling to it with great effort so the flames of the inferno will burn their bodies to toast some of them saving others; others, woe for others, will slip to fall down to the bottom of inferno.
There is a strong connection between the path of people in this earthly life with all of its calamities and the narrow path of the hereafter; those who have been good and done right in their mundane lives will run over the narrow path of the hereafter light like lightening, and vice versa, i. e the path of the earthly life does not differ in its narrowness, from the path of the hereafter; for striking to faith and commitment to the legislation of the Divine laws is no an easy task.
In another image of the Day of Judgment, we find a wall between hell and heaven, on top of it-which the Holy Qur’an calls (Al-Araf)- a well chosen elite who are better than the inhabitants of hell and those of heaven, are situated. Those righteous people are authorized to testify, mediate, command, and judge among the people; the narrations related that those are the prophets and Walies including the gracious Prophet [p] and his progeny [P], those whom the Gracious Book describes as:
And on the most elevated places there shall be men who know all by their marks.[65]
In a side of that universal assembly, stands Ameer Al-Mo’meneen [P] holding the brigade of praise on which is written (The successful are the winners) and moving by it to paradise followed by those successful winners who are good; Ameer Al-Mo’meneen [P] leads them to the pool of paradise- of which the gracious prophet [p] has promised people- and he let them drink from the Kauthar Water. [66]
Thus everything reaches its end, and everybody goes to his eternal abode which he deserves according to his deeds, the believers have shining merry faces, thus they are driven to the gardens of happiness in paradise, their light among them; the unbelievers have gloomy long faces, and they are driven to the inferno corronated by shame and humiliation, so the flames of the inferno toast their heads and faces, thus it will be their eternal abode.
81st Question:
What do you know about the intercession? And do why other sects no agree with us about it? And why do other sects not agree with us about it?
* Lingually speaking, (intercession) in Arabic is (Al-Shafa’ah) which means putting a strong individual close to a weak one in order to help him. [67]
All Moslems agreed that there is an intercession on Doomsday, and that the Prophet [P] will be the intercessor on the Day of Judgment relying on the two verses:
And soon will your Lord give you so that you shall be well pleased. [68]
May be your Lord will raise you to a position of great glory[69].
By saying that the connotation of (giving) in the first verse and the (position of great glory) in the second verse, is none but intercession.
Intercession in our dogma[70] means that the Prophet [P] or the good Wali mediates to Allah to push away the chastisement from the disobedients, bringing – on the other hand- Allah’s reward to the good on Doomsday.
Allah’s mercy, grace, and abundance dictate that He forgives and paradons, so He made repentance and intercession ways to get His grace. Allah’s mercy preceeds His wrath, His chastisement aims for the betterment of man, so why should not repentance and intercession substitute punishment as long as they get to the same result a chastisement may get.
Thus repentance and intercession will be windows of hope for the transgressors and the good to reach paradise and Allah’s pleasures.
Intercession may not take place only through certain conditions.
Repentance too, may not take place only through certain conditions, hereunder is a r’esum’e of these conditions as summarized by Ameer Al-Mo’menen [P] in six points:
Do you know what is (asking forgiveness)? (asking forgiveness) is a rank for the elevated; it is a name of six meaning; the first, repentance for the past; the second, determination never to return back to that past; the third, you must give all creatures their rights so as to meet Allah clean with no debt; the forth, you must do every religious duty you had missed; the fifth, you must melt by means of sadness your flesh which was fattened on prohibited taboos, until the skin sticks to the bones, and new flesh starts to grow between them; the sixth, you must make your body taste the pains of obedience the way you made it taste the sweetness of disobedience, then and only then, you can say O, Allah! Forgive me. [71]
Conditions for intercession are:
1-Allah’s permission for intercession:
who is he that can intercede with Him but by His permission?[72]
2-The intercessor must give a right testimony on the Day of Judgment:
And those whom they call upon besides Him have no authority for intercession, but he who bears witness of the truth and they know (him). [73]
3-The subject for intercession must have been faithful to Allah in his belief, believing in His qualities, His Prophets and His Books. The Prophet [P] said:
By the will of Allah, my intercession will include anybody who died pure of any polytheism.[74]
4-The subject for intercession must not cheat.[75]
5-The subject for intercession must not be an antagonist for the progeny of Muhammad [P]. [76]
6-The subject for intercession must not deny and falsify the prophet’s intercession [P]. [77]
7-The subject for intercession must keep his prayers, and feed the poor, and believe in the Day of Judgment; without these, inferno will be his abode:
What has brought you into hell?* They shall say: We were not of those who prayed;* And we used not to feed the poor;* And we used to enter into vain discourse with those who entered into vain discourses * And we used to call the day of Judgment a lie; * Till death overtook us * So the intercession of intercessors shall not avail them. * [78]
The Prophet [P] said:
Our intercession will not include anyone who makes fun of prayer.[79]
According to what has been said hereinbefore, intercession is a kind of mediation, thereby the prophet or Wali intercedes with Allah to push away the chastisement from the transgressors or to bring about the reward for the obedient; but this mediation is not similar to the mediations of some advocates who defend criminals that deserve punishment, supporting and encouraging them for their vice.
This intercession of the prophet means to better the subject of it, for he would have to cling to the conditions we have already mentioned to gain it; this intercession itself is a betterment for its subject; like what happens with the transgressor who intends to repent and ask forgiveness for his transgression if ever he makes up his mind to be worthy of forgiveness.
Intercession- unlike some misled people think- is not a factor that deludes the perverts encouraging them to disobey and suppress the others; rather it is a method for deterrent and betterment not for corruption and deterioration.
And if intercession by its conditions is accepted by Allah, why should people like (Ibn Taymiah) and (Muhammad Ben AbdulWahab) object about it, denying that the others should seek intercession from the Prophet by saying (O, intercessor with Allah! Intercede for us with Allah)- their plea for objection is what the Exalted said:
And that the mosques are Allah’s, therefore call not upon any one with Allah. [80]
They claim that demanding assistance and support from any body other than Allah is prohibited by this verse, for it is a sort of polytheism. Those ignorant people miss the fact that the alphabet of life depends on cooperation and alternate acts of kindness among the various parties; otherwise life will tarry in its march and its discipline will retard.
Yes, it is true that asking assistance from anybody other than Allah is polytheism, on condition hat he believes that the intercessor is a god who is free and independent to pardon or punish. But if he believes that the intercessor is only a way that leads to Allah, a mediator who is quite helpless without Allah, thence there will be no reason for hesitation, and it will be meaningless to issue such arbitrary accusations against those who seek the intercession of the prophets and Walies.
If the inference of those people was true, Jacob the Prophet [P] would have denounced his sons’ behavior when they asked him to intercede with Allah to forgive their sins, rather he accepted to be an intercessor between them and Allah so as to forgive their sins:
They said: O our father ask forgiveness of our faults for us, surely we were sinners * He said: I will ask for you forgiveness from my Lord, surely He is the forgiving, the Merciful* [81]
From what has been said erst, we come to know that Allah prohibited the people from praying to their idols or their artificial gods.
And they serve beside Allah what can neither harm them nor profit them and they say: These are our intercessor with Allah. Say: Do you (presume to) inform Allah of what he knows not in the heavens and the earth? Glory be to Him, and supremely exalted is He above what they setup (with Him).[82]
Concerning the request of intercession or mediation of the prophet, or the good Wali with Allah with the authenticated belief that they are only servants of Allah who can do nothing but through His will and potency; such a request has never been prohibited by Allah, rather He instigates people to it.
O you who believe! Be careful of ( your duty to) Allah and seek means of nearness to Him.[83]
It has been related that Omar Ben Al-Khattab narrated that, Adam [p] prayed to Allah by the name of prophet Muhammad [p] saying:
O God, By the name of Muhammad Thee I ask to forgive me. [84]
It is narrated, that a blind man asked the Prophet [P] to teach him a prayer that will heal his blindness, the Prophet ordered him to recite the following prayer:
O my Lord! I address and request Thee by the prestige of Thy Prophet; O Muhammad by thou I address Allah my Lord; may Him answer my request, O my Lord! Accept his intercession for me.[85]
Another narration told that, during the reign of the caliph Othman Ben Affan, a man who had a request came to the shrine of the Prophet, prayed there, and recited this prayer:
O my Lord! I address and request Thee by the prestige of our Prophet Muhammad [p], the Prophet of mercy, O Muhammad! By thou I address Thy Lord to answer my need.
After a short while his need was answered.[86]
* * *
Finally I address Allah the Exalted by the prestige of His prophet, the Prophet of grace, and his progeny and his Walies interceding them with Allah so that He might forgive me and my parents and every believer that enters my house as well as my teachers and my brothers in behalf, to whom I am indebted; asking Him to lead us the way of success and to better our future life both on earth and in the hereafter, He is to answer every prayer.
