Divine Punishments & Rewards

  

The System of Divine Punishments & Rewards

 عَسٰی رَبُّکُمۡ اَنۡ یَّرۡحَمَکُمۡ ۚ وَاِنۡ عُدۡتُّمۡ عُدۡنَا ۘ وَجَعَلۡنَا جَہَنَّمَ لِلۡکٰفِرِیۡنَ حَصِیۡرًا ﴿۹

 

“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.

Divine Message and Our Choices- 2

Guidance & Misguidance: Rewards & Punishments: Part 2

 

“Those who reject Allah and hinder from the Path of Allah, for them will We add penalty to penalty, for that they used to spread mischief.” (An-Nahl 16: 89)

 

Allah has established the system of reward and punishment as the result of the deeds and intentions of mankind on earth. The rewards are doubled and multiplied much more - to a larger extent, more than one can imagine - for the true believers who recognise, accept and follow His Messenger whenever He sends one to this world.

 

As for those who harbour hatred and hinder people from the way of Allah, by restricting them from listening to the prophet of Allah and to believe in the Divine Message he has come equipped with, therefore such people invite upon themselves penalty upon penalty because not only have they disbelieved but they have also contributed to a larger extent to the ruin of the faith of others, lying as barriers in their path to forbid them from the way of Allah.

 

Hell is a place made by Allah to punish the evildoers in the hereafter. Paradise and Hell each has seven levels. The concept of stages or levels in Hell is based on the extent and weight of the sins committed by the sinner and those levels are associated with different kinds of punishments that are both physical and spiritual in nature.

When Ramadan Arrives

 

Alhamdulillah, Muslims around the world are entering into the holy month of Ramadan, observing fasting from dawn to dusk and also channelizing their time and inner resources for the contemplation of the Divine, in devotional worship and supplications to the Lord of Mercy, Summa Alhamdulillah. Ramadan is also a time to reform our impulses by getting rid of greediness and covetousness, and enlarge one's moral compass by standing up for the promotion of the common good, through pious works and charitable deeds that empower the indigent and other less-fortunate ones in society. Along with good deeds, the believers seek to gain the bounties of Divine blessings and favours of special nearness through sincere worship and fervent supplications throughout the Holy Month. Reproduced below are the Qur'anic commandments and Prophetic Traditions (Ahadith) on fasting in the month of Ramadan, forming the foundational values of the Muslim devotional practice and spiritual expectations of Divine approval and sublime rewards, Insha Allah, Aameen.           

Qur’an on Fasting 

In Surah Al Baqarah, Allah (swt) says: 

'You who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may be mindful of God. 

Fast for a specific number of days, but if one of you is ill, or on a journey, on other days later. For those who can fast only with extreme difficulty, there is a way to compensate– feed a needy person. But if anyone does good of his own accord, it is better for him, and fasting is better for you, if only you knew. 

 

It was in the month of Ramadan that the Qur’an was revealed as guidance for mankind, clear messages giving guidance and distinguishing between right and wrong. So any one of you who is present that month should fast, and anyone who is ill or on a journey should make up for the lost days by fasting on other days later. God wants ease for you, not hardship. He wants you to complete the prescribed period and to glorify Him for having guided you, so that you may be thankful.

Ramadan: Training for True Life

The Departure of Ramadan 

The rules governing fasting are clearly defined. They must be applied with diligence and respect within the prescribed framework. Any trend beyond the prescribed limits must be discouraged and abandoned.

In fact, the real purpose of the fast, its meaning, and the spirit that animates it must dominate the heart during this sacred month. In few days, our special guest will bid us farewell. For believers, these are very sad moments because our special guest will leave us with great sorrow and sadness. Those who have benefited from this entire blessed month are very fortunate, as no one knows if next year how many of us will welcome this blessed month again.

In this month of Ramadan most of the believers have benefited enormously from these blessings by putting into practice all the Ibadat (acts of worship) prescribed by our Creator. So the month of Ramadan is a period of intense training for the next eleven months (Insha-Allah). Our hearing, sight, tongue, mind, all are subject to rigorous testing. Those who did not pray five times a day do so now. Those who did not wake up in the latter part of the night to offer prayers [Tahajjud & even Fajr], learn to do so. This discipline, practiced for a whole month, serves as a model for the next eleven months.

Divine Message and the Fate of Choices

Acceptance & Rejection of the Divine Message

The Holy Quran makes religious progress dependent upon revolution. It says: And in no way do We send the Messengers except as bearers of glad tidings and as Warners. So those who believe and reform themselves, upon them shall come no fear nor shall they grieve. But as for those who reject Our signs, punishment will touch them for their defiant disobedience. (Al-Anam 6: 49-50).

That is, whenever We send a Messenger, he always proclaims two things: (i) he condemns the existing order to death; (ii) and in regard to the system he originates himself he proclaims, without ambiguity that it would be established in the world in its purity, without change or adjustment under any pressure to make it acceptable to this or that people. Those who submit to the system, and mould themselves in conformity with its requirements, survive and prosper, but those who do not do so, they gradually fade out of existence.

When a revolution occurs in the religious sphere, in Islamic terminology it is called 'Qiyamah'. Another expression used for it is Khalq-us-Samawat-i-wal-Ardh, i.e. the creation of a new earth and a new heaven. Still another name for it in the language of the Holy Quran is Al-Sa'ah.

The word 'revolution' which is roughly translated from the Arabic term 'Inquilab' and described in the context which I just mentioned, refers primarily to the moral and spiritual reformation of oneself, not a political revolution to overthrow a government as may be popularly thought these days by the use of the word.

Hence, when a group of individuals or a society have reformed themselves, a revolution in the noble character of man and his dealings with other people and with God is observed. Thus, a condition in the world existed in which the reformation of oneself was demanded to set things right in the affairs of man.

Surah At Tin: A Commentary- II

Commentary on 'Surah At Tin': Second & Final Part 

In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful; By the Fig and the Olive, And the Mount of Sinai, And this City of security; We have indeed created man in the best of moulds, Then do We reduce him to the lowest of the low, Except for those who believe and do righteous deeds, for they shall have a reward uninterrupted; Then what can, after this, contradict thee, as to the judgment (to come)? Is not Allah the Best of judges?” (And at the end, we reply: Bala! Wa ana ala Zaaleka minash Shahideen - “Indeed, I am among those who testify to this). (At-Tin 95: 1-9).

By the grace of Allah, I continue my sermon today on the same subject as last Friday, i.e., on Surah At-Tin (Chapter 95). Last week I expounded on the first verse, on the Fig and the Olive and today I shall give you an explanation on the rest of the verses of this Surah.

3.Wa Tuuri siiniina

And the Mount of Sinai

It is on Mount Sinai that Hazrat Musa (as) received the Torah (the divine laws) - most particularly the ten commandments - which had been revealed for the Jews. That exceptional moment when he received those revelations, Allah manifested Himself to Hazrat Musa (as) in the form of an Extraordinary Bright Light. But the Jews did not remain true to the commandments of Allah and they disobeyed Him. They thus had to pay for the consequences of their acts and they shall still suffer like this because of the disobedience which they show before Allah. 

This is indeed a lesson for all of you that, whenever Allah sends His commandments for us - i.e. to revive the teachings of the Holy Quran in particular - and His reformer to revive (or bring back) those lost teachings, therefore you should never leave that clean path which leads to the salvation of our souls, for otherwise, if you disregard this and take the wrong path and turn your backs to the divine manifestations, signs and commandments of Allah, your consequences shall be grievous (before Allah).

God's Approval as Spiritual Reward

The spiritual training of Ramadan

Alhamdulillah - by the grace of Allah - we have spent the month of Ramadan in a very good way, and all that which we have been able to do during that month must be continued for the rest of the eleven months to come, Insha-Allah. If we have succeeded in putting into practice that which we did during the month of Ramadan, then we need to say Alhamdulillah Summa Alhamdulillah that the Ramadan has brought for us loads of spiritual blessings and benefits. These benefits touched our physical bodies as well as our souls, and they helped us in putting into practice the divine commandments, with hard striving and much effort. We also asked of Allah to help us to put these instructions of His into practice despite the weaknesses which are found in us.

Now, if you have been able to do so much effort during (such) a month, it is with the help of Allah that you have been able to do so. You have done all these to reap the pleasure of Allah and His forgiveness, and you even strived to get Allah (swt) Himself as your reward. Ramadan has left us (be it in Mauritius and the rest of the world) and went after 29 or 30 days of spiritual training; such training which would enable us to preserve and do all the more good deeds for the rest of the eleven months to come (before the next Ramadan).

Beyond Ramadan: Sustain the Jihad against Satan  

If you are not careful, then you can lose all these (blessings) and even lose Allah (swt) and return back to the olden days when Satan was once your intimate friend. Then to what avail would be the benefits of Ramadan to us? Lots of sacrifices in that blessed month, but when it went away, our good deeds which we did when it was among us have also gone away along with it, and we return back to the unislamic practices like before? If so, then the Ramadan that you fasted and preserved diligently to seek the pleasure of Allah and to seek Allah Himself as your reward would come to naught. And like Allah (swt) says in the Holy Quran, it is the acts you did that led you to your lost. (If Ramadan was not of any benefit to you) You have instead attracted the wrath of Allah upon you, for your attachment to the attractions of this world led you far from the paths of good deeds and led you to the path of divine punishment. In other words, you did not succeed in doing a Jihad (holy war) against Satan and you did not succeed in bringing about his great defeat and to convert him to Islam and making him a sincere believer and Muslim.

If after the passage of Ramadan, we (i.e. all Muslims) return back to the rusted vices we used to indulge in, this means that we have not benefited anything from the month of Ramadan. Therefore, you people (i.e. those who have let go of the spiritual blessings after Ramadan) have lost the valuable rewards you once obtained from Allah (swt) during Ramadan. A sincere believer who loves Allah a lot must know that for each good deed he does, there is a reward which the divine law has promised him/ her. And that reward is not a simple reward. The value of that reward is measured according to the one who gives that reward. The gift of a common person and that of a king is different, and we need not mention it here (for we all know about it).