The System of Divine Punishments & Rewards
“It may be that your
Lord will have mercy on you, but if you repeat (your crime) We shall repeat
(the punishment), and remember that We have made hell a prison for the
disbelievers.” (Bani Isra’il 17:
9).
There is disgrace,
humiliation for those who cause trouble in this temporal life and in the
Hereafter; this humiliation as well as the punishment that Allah will give to
these types of people will be much more humiliating and painful than all the
earthly punishments that you can ever think of.
The Message of the Holy Quran is addressed to all of you. Those who have faith and demonstrate this faith in their intentions and actions, they will surely get their spiritual reward which is a reward that is beyond any earthly reward that a person can ever conceive.
Allah established this system of punishment and reward in order to give all souls what they deserve. Good intentions followed by good actions deserve a reward, and it is only Allah Who knows the state of hearts and knows with which intention someone has accomplished a good deed. Meanwhile, there are also people who do good deeds but with bad intentions, and Allah knows the quality of their deeds. Those deeds [done with evil intent] are empty of all spiritual fragrance.
When Allah gave man,
the human race free will, it was with the intention to test all the people
through this. Had Allah willed, all of them would have become believers all at
once. Besides, before coming to earth all souls were perfectly submitted to
Allah.
So, this life on earth
is only a test that all people have to go through and do their best to pass so
that they are recognized as sincere servants of Allah.
In the system of
punishments and rewards, in the middle there is also what we call forgiveness,
where Allah has the power to forgive a person, erase his sins and admit him to
His mercy. It depends on the person who repents, on how intensely he repents
and with what sincerity he does it.
Those who exceed all
limits on earth and do not reform their conduct, where they take pleasure in
all their crimes, in all their sins that they commit, it is not possible for
them to escape with their punishment. Man in his ignorance or his haste takes
evil for good and desires what he is not able to acquire. The soul that is wise
and educated [that has true intelligence] takes patience and does not place his
own desires above the wisdom of Allah. He receives with contentment the favours
of Allah, and he prays to be well guided in his desires and requests.
Allah clearly says in
the Quran that the soul will not bear the burden of others. Each one has to
bear its own burden of sins. Innocents will not pay for the crimes of
criminals. But in the world that we live in, what do we find those in power do?
They try to hide their sins and put the blame on the innocent. But in the sight
of Allah, evildoers will never be able to reach salvation if they attack the
innocent and trouble them.
Allah is a Just Lord,
Judge, and Creator. In His justice, He does not condemn the innocent for the
sins of others. We find this only in this temporal world where big criminals
avoid their punishments and turn judicial cases in their favour - so that they
become innocent in the eyes of the law of the land. But what they don’t realize
is that this world is only temporary. True life is after death, it will be an
eternal life, and those who have exceeded all limits on this earth will undergo
eternal suffering in the other world if they do not repent for their sins and
reform themselves before it is too late for them.
And moreover, our Lord
is a merciful and just Lord. Allah never sends down His wrath and punishment on
a person or nation before He sends a clear warning to that person or nation.
And in the global context of this world, in the context of Islam as the
universal religion of Allah, then Allah does not send punishment to mankind
until He sends them warnings through His Chosen Warner so that the latter may
transmit His message to the people. This Warner is a Messenger of Allah, a
Prophet.
The mercy of Allah
grants all the opportunities to the wicked so that they repent. When a person’s
wickedness exceeds all limits, then his punishment becomes inevitable, and even
then, we find the mercy and justice of Allah in action because, if we look
closely, when Allah gives wealth and power to people, and gives them
intelligence, thus, they cannot say that Allah has wronged them and that they
did not understand anything of His decrees. A person’s wealth or high position,
or his talents give him opportunities to understand and obey the divine
instructions, but unfortunately, he does not understand. When he does not understand
and persists in his ignorance, then before Allah punishes him, He sends His
Warner to warn him, so that he gets the chance to repent. If he reforms his
conduct, it will be good for him, but if he transgresses again, then Allah will
go ahead and send His punishment upon him. In that case, such people cannot
plead with Allah that they did not know anything, that they were ignorant. The
commandment of Allah, i.e. His punishment falls on them, and thus when this
divine punishment befalls them, it consumes them.
This punishment is in
two phases: One temporal (in this present world), and the other one eternal.
There are several situations that occur when a person has received his
punishment on earth, but then he acknowledges his mistake and his sin and he
reforms his behaviour and asks Allah for forgiveness. When this happens, the
punishment that he earns becomes an opportunity for reform for him, and that
kind of person can earn the mercy of Allah in the eternal life.
But there is another
type of person who is stubborn in his sin, and who defies Allah in his conduct
and persists even to the point where he loses sight of the fact that the day
shall surely come when he must return to Allah and account for his sins. That
person is really wrong. Despite the fact that Allah sent to him His Messenger,
he continued in his ignorance and his sin and mocked the Messenger and did not
take into account the warnings and even went further ahead to plot against the
Messenger. This kind of people will reap hell as reward because they did not
fully understand the true worth of the reform [which Allah made them undergo]
and they refused to obey the Messenger and thus debarred themselves from
acquiring divine forgiveness and reaching the state of repentance that could
have granted them divine mercy. These kinds of people do not know the value of such
warnings, because the warnings of a Messenger of Allah are filled with divine
mercies.
If those who exceed the
limits of the earth and do not reform try to deviate from the believers, then
the believers should not have any fear, but put their trust in Allah and keep treading
on their righteous path, the path of the accomplishment of good deeds. Despite
the plots of the wicked, it is they who will triumph because they have the Hand
of Allah (i.e. the divine protection) upon them.
A believer should not
despair when he goes through the fire of trials. His trust in Allah can make
him overcome these trials and like for Hazrat Ibrahim (as), the fire of trials
will bring coolness to him [will be cooled for him]. Allah knows all that
people do openly and secretly. He knows the extent of their faith and He knows who
are those who are sincere, as well as those who are not sincere and thus deserve
punishment.
A person who has bad
intentions will never succeed in his bad intentions. He can think for a short
time only that despite his bad intentions, nothing will happen to him, but
Allah has prescribed a date, a precise hour for his punishment. The wickedness
of criminals, of those who exceed the limits in their conduct on earth – by
committing wrong and harming people – does not go unnoticed in the sight of
Allah. Allah takes everything into account and sees everything. He knows all
the hidden intentions and thoughts of all people, and He does not need any
other evidence because He knows all their hidden secrets. His Knowledge and Sight
are enough to mete out justice.
People do not realize
that they are nothing before the greatness and majesty of Allah. Allah has
created us all, the human race out of nothing. And Allah has the power to
re-create us in another form - in the afterlife, and not reincarnation on this
very same earth as some think, where when we die, our soul can return to this
earth. No! Only one death has been prescribed for us in this world. And after
this death, there will be another life for us, but not during this time on
earth. This world of trials is temporary for us, while it is the eternal life
that is the reality that Allah and all His messengers from the creation of the
earth and the heavens have taught us.
When a person dies,
with time, he becomes bones and dust, but it is his soul that will be
accountable for his actions, not the body that was created with earth. Allah
has the power to resurrect the dead in this way, and give the soul another
spiritual body, and make it aware of all its past actions [which it committed
during its stay on earth].
Whatever your spiritual
capacity be in this temporal world, the “new creation” you will be in [that we
all will be in] shall open your eyes on the truth. No one will remain in the
dark concerning the reality of Allah, and all of them will be forced, by their
new situation, to recognize the truth and to praise Allah. And all of you will
be surprised that it was only for a short period of time that you ended up
staying on earth. So, when the Judgement of Allah will come, all the things you
have done on earth will be evaluated and you will win the things you deserve as
a consequence of what you have thought and done on earth. No injustice shall be
done to you.
Allah says in the same
chapter [Bani Israel 17: 54] that: “Tell My
(believing) servants to say only what is best. Satan certainly seeks to sow
discord among them. Satan is indeed a sworn enemy to mankind.”
This verse seeks to
make us understand that even to our enemies and to the enemies of Allah, we
must always be just and speak correctly. Because, who are we to judge other
people? Judgement belongs to Allah alone because it is He Who knows His
creation best, that is, all humanity, and the personal knowledge of man is very
limited compared to the knowledge of Allah. And Satan will always try to divide
humanity. So people - between them - whether it’s a believer towards another
believer, or a believer towards a non-believer, he always has to say the right
thing and to say it politely, according to the best words that people can say
and express.
A false or wicked word
can destroy all your efforts to build unity, because there are forces that are
trying to break this unity and those forces are greater in number than those
who fight for unity. Man should never think, even for a single second, that he
is wiser than Allah. Wisdom and perfect knowledge belong to Allah, and no one
can fool Allah on the secrets of his heart.
If Allah grants mercy
to some whom you consider as wicked or He gives punishment to some whom you
consider as righteous, then here it is your own knowledge or your own deductions
that are faulty, not the righteous plan of Allah! Even Men of God are not sent
to arrange or dispose of the affairs of people, but only to teach the message
of Allah. If the messengers of Allah themselves have not been granted
permission from Allah to judge others [unless Allah informs them of what they
do not know through divine revelations], then who are the people [other than
the prophets who judge based on Divine Revelations] to judge others -
especially concerning the faith? It is Allah’s will and His judgement that have
the upper hand, not the limited knowledge of people!
Between the good and
the bad, there is a demarcation. Allah clearly says in the Quran that Satan
does not have the power to force anyone to follow him. He only advises you to
follow him, and then those people who misuse their free will, and who despair
of Good, they follow Evil and become part of Satan, while those who put their
trust in Allah alone and serve the Cause of Allah with devotion, then it is
those who do not allow themselves to be tempted by evil and they do not use their
free will in a bad way. For them, Allah is sufficient to light their path and
remove them from all darkness, and to make their affairs work well for them,
whether it is on earth, and also in the life to come.
Thus, Allah sent the
Quran and His guides to explain His Quran with the truth. This Quran is not the
word of a weak person. It is the word of the Living and Almighty God, and Allah
has sent it with the truth. It has not been falsified or corrupted by the hands
of those who received it, and it was taught in its original text to the others.
If there are different Islamic thoughts today, it is only in the interpretation
of the Book of Allah. So, this is why it is necessary that from time to time
Allah sends His prophets and reformers to explain His Quran and put aside
interpretations that do not interpret correctly what He says in His Quran.
Thus, blessed are those who listen to the Quran and put it into practice, and follow its teachings and follow the guides that come from Allah, who come with the Ruh’il Quddus [Holy Spirit] to give them the best interpretations of His Holy Book. Allah wants His servants to pray to Him everywhere and use the free will that He has given them to trace their path to Him alone and that they do not allow themselves to be tempted by Satanic attractions so that they gain salvation and His Mercy par excellence. Those who follow the path of Allah like it should be followed, Allah will never abandon them, and He will make them succeed in reaching their goals, a blessed goal, a purifying goal, Insha-Allah. Ameen.
----Friday Sermon of 09 June 2023~ 19 Dhul-Qaddah 1444 AH delivered by Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (aba) of Mauritius.