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The Day of Judgment


Muslims believe that when a person dies two angels called Nakeer and Munkar visit him in his grave. They question him about his Faith, if he is found a believer his tomb is widened 70 cubits square (each cubit is one foot six inches) and it is illumined. Then he is told to go to sleep like a bridegroom until the day of resurrection when Allah raises him up to reward him. But if he is found a "hypocrite" they order the tomb to squeeze him until his ribs are crushed.

Quran says that at the Day of Judgment, the heaven is split asunder (Q.84:1) and it will heave with (awful) heaving (Q.52:9), the sun is overthrown (Q.81:1), the Earth is shaken with her (final) earthquake (Q. 99:1),  the moon is eclipsed (Q.75:8) and “the angel Israfil will sound the trumpet and all living creatures, mankind, angels and jinn then living, will die. Another blast and all will be raised to life. Allah's throne will appear in the clouds, carried by 8 angels. Believers will receive a book of their deeds in their right hand, and unbelievers in their left hand. The books will be opened and men's works weighed on scales (mizan). In fear, men will look for someone to plead with Allah. They will go to Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, but find no help. At last they will turn to Muhammad” 

“Muslims also believe that there is a bridge across Hell, named Sirat, which is sharper than the edge of sword and thinner than a hair. Faithful Muslims believe that they will cross over it in the "twinkling of an eye" and enter Paradise. Other Muslims may fall into Hell, but will later be released. Unbelievers will fall into Hell and remain forever.” 

No one knows the exact time for the Day of Judgment but it is going to be a Friday 10th of Muharram. At that time Allah will resurrect all the dead. He will collect their dispersed dusts and call them to visit him. And people will see Allah as clear as seeing the sun in a not cloudy day. Then he will judge them based on their beliefs. Those who did not associate any other God with Allah, irrespective of what crimes they have committed will go to Paradise. There are verses in Quran that speak of good deeds like this one, 

[Al-Imran 3:30] On the Day when every soul will find itself confronted with all that it hath done of good and all that it hath done of evil (every soul) will long that there might be a mighty space of distance between it and that (evil).

But actually the evil for Muhammad did not mean what we usually think of it. By evil he meant disbelief. This is clear from the following verse. 

[Ibrahim 14:44] And warn mankind of a day when the doom will come upon them, and those who did wrong will say: Our Lord! Reprieve us for a little while. We will obey Thy call and will follow the messengers. (It will be answered): Did ye not swear before that there would be no end for you? 

For Allah nothing is more abhorrent than disbelief and once you believe all your sins are forgiven and your place in paradise is guaranteed. In a Hadith noted by Bukhari the importance of belief over good deeds is emphasized. 

Bukhari Volume 4, Book 54, Number 445:
Narrated Abu Dhar:
The Prophet said, "Gabriel said to me, 'Whoever amongst your followers die without having worshipped others besides Allah, will enter Paradise (or will not enter the (Hell) Fire)." The Prophet asked. "Even if he has committed illegal sexual intercourse or theft?" He replied, "Even then."

 But for disbelievers there is no salvation.

 [al-Ma'idah 5:36] As for those who disbelieve, lo! if all that is in the earth were theirs, and as much again therewith, to ransom them from the doom on the Day of Resurrection, it would not be accepted from them. Theirs will be a painful doom.

[al-Kahf 18:106] That is their reward: hell, because they disbelieved, and made a jest of Our revelations and Our messengers.

[Ta Ha 20:100] Whoso turneth away from it, he verily will bear a burden on the Day of Resurrection,

What about those who have loved others? We humans put a great emphasis on loving and helping each other and on charitable works, but for Allah all that is irrelevant. 

[al-`Ankabut 29:25] The love between you is only in the life of the world. Then on the Day of Resurrection ye will deny each other and curse each other, and your abode will be the Fire, and ye will have no helpers. 

Those who did not accept Allah will easily be recognized because they will have their faces “blackened”. 

[az-Zumar 39:60] And on the Day of Resurrection thou (Muhammad) seest those who lied concerning Allah with their faces blackened. Is not the home of the scorners in hell? 

If another person said the above politically incorrect statement, it would have offended the blacks, but strange as it is the blacks are the ones who are flocking towards Islam, as if they are completely unaware of the prophet’s low opinion of their race. 

This stereotyping is reaffirms in another place.   

[Al-Imran 3:106] On the Day when (some) faces will be whitened and (some) faces will be blackened; and as for those whose faces have been blackened, it will be said unto them: Disbelieved ye after your (profession of) belief? Then taste the punishment for that ye disbelieved. 

Of course the absurdity of this belief is self-evident and needs no clarification. However Muslims are unable to ask themselves simple questions like what is the use of a wide and illumined grave to a deceased? Has anyone seen a widened and illumined grave?

Islamic Paradise is a physical place. That is why Allah has to collect all the dust of the dead people to punish or reward them. That makes even less sense when we know that we constantly renew the elements that compose our body..

It seems that the prophet had no idea of the spiritual reality of man that is independent from the material world. Allah's rewards are hoories, wine, honey, gardens, mansions, cloths with gold embroidery and other material objects. These are all material rewards. What is the use of all these for human spirit? His punishment is also physical: fire. Heaven, in Islam, is the place where believers will be reclining under the shade of the trees, eating and drinking exquisite wines, and engaging in sex with virgins.

 [Surah 55:54-46]"They will recline on carpets whose inner linings will be of rich brocade: the fruit of the gardens will be near. In them will be (Maidens), Chaste, restraining their glances, whom no man or Jinn before them has touched (virgins)." 


Good deeds have no merits; Belief in Allah and his messenger is the only requisite to inherit this materialistic paradise. Even Christians will not be spared. 

In one place one is lead to believe that the people of the scriptures, i.e. the Jews and the Christians are saved, 

[al-Hajj 22:17] Lo! those who believe (this revelation), and those who are Jews, and the Sabaeans and the Christians and the Magians and the idolaters - Lo! Allah will decide between them on the Day of Resurrection. Lo! Allah is Witness over all things. 

Then again, this is contradicted by another verse. 

[al-Ma'idah 5:14] And with those who say: "Lo! we are Christians," We made a covenant, but they forgot a part of that whereof they were admonished. Therefore We have stirred up enmity and hatred among them till the Day of Resurrection, when Allah will inform them of their handiwork. 

The same is said of the Jews (Q.10:93).  So don't be surprised to see Mother Theresa burning in the Hell while Khomeni and Saddam Hussein who believed in Allah and his messenger sitting under the shade of a tree with a pretty hoory at their right side and another at their left, sipping from the chilled wine in Paradise.

The concept of the life after death in Islam is very much similar to the Jehowa's Witnesses' concept of the other world. Jehowa Witnesses believe that after the death, the deceased has no consciousness until the last day when he is risen from death and if found a believer would inherit the Earth and would live in a terrestrial Paradise forever. This is how Quran and Hadith explain the life after death. However, this subject is foggy for most of the Muslims. They have their personal ideas about it that often contradict the above what Quran and the hadithes teach about the life after death.

 

By Ali Sina

 

 

 

 

 

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