THE HELL

 

 Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society

Recapitulation:  

Having made the above clarification, we may now state that the description of Heaven in the Holy Qur’an contains the following basic elements:

1.       Immortality; 

2.       Peace ;

3.       Absolute Purity of the Will enjoyed by all; 

4.       Social Harmony and Love;

5.       Companionship of the Blessed Servants of God;

6.       Light;

7.       Beauty; 

8.       Truth;

9.       Direct Experience of Reality;

10.   Holiness;

11.   Happiness.

No. 1 forms the basic human yearning in connection with the realisation of all human ideals.

Nos. 2 to 5 form the ideal of Morality. 

Nos. 6 and 7 form the ideal of Aesthetic Enjoyment. 

Nos. 8 and 9 form the ideal of Knowledge. 

No. 10 forms the ideal of Religion. 

No. 11 forms the ideal of the Sentient Self.

 

Thus the realisation of all healthy human yearnings and ideals has been affirmed in the Qur’anic conception of Heaven.

 

Re-stating this fact in other words: The form of human personality—its constitution—will be changed in the next world. It will exist in a different dimension—on a different plane,—with all the grossness and carnality of its earthly physical existence removed. Thus the individual will enjoy all that he desires here in respect of physical happiness, but he will enjoy it in a sublimated form, i.e., without the grossness and other limitations of physical existence. It will not be physical happiness but beatitude, i.e., heavenly happiness—happiness of the highest kind, all spiritual delights, having been figured forth from parallel experiences in our present life.

 

He will also enjoy the aesthetic pleasures, but those pleasures shall be free of all morbidity and grossness, experienced as they will be on the non-physical plane. 

Thus the ideals of physical happiness and aesthetic enjoyment will be realised in Heaven to the full but on a higher level—the level of holiness,—and all that as a reward of moral effort and the maintenance of true relationship with God in this earthly life.^[1]

 

And not only that. Man’s moral effort and his trials and sufferings in the Way of God—in the Path of God-orientated Righteousness—shall culminate in Heaven in the perfect realisation of the moral ideal, i.e., the attainment of Moral Bliss and Social Bliss.

 

The reward, however, will not end there. The recipients of heavenly life shall be blessed with the direct knowledge of the Reality of the Cosmos. Then, even beyond that: they will be blessed with the direct Vision of God, the Really-Real, the Source of all that exists.

 

And they will be blessed not only with the direct Vision of God, but will live in Divine Presence and will be fed by Divine Pleasure eternally—increasing qualitatively in holiness and employed happily all the time, each individual in accordance with his individual taste, calibre and destiny.^[2]

THE HELL:

As regards Hell, it has been mentioned in the Holy Qur’an as punishment for the rejectors of Truth (2:24; etc.) and the wrong-doers (50:25; etc.), wherever Heaven has been mentioned as a reward for the righteous,—and it has been described as a contrast of Heaven. Its symbol is the Fire (2:24; etc.), in contrast to the Garden, which is the symbol of Heaven. “(It is) the Fire of God (namely, having come into existence under the command of God) kindled (to a blaze), which rises above the hearts: It shall be made into a vault over them, in columns outstretched” (104:7-9). 

In other words, the hell-fire originates within the hearts of those who reject the Source of Goodness, namely, God, and the Pattern of Goodness, namely, the Prophet of God, and nurture evil in their breasts. They will be those “to whom God will not speak, nor will He look at them on the Day of Judgment; nor will He purify them (on that Day)” (2:77). And because on the hearts of those who earn Hell in this life “is the stain of the (evil) which they do, verily, from (the Light of) their Lord, that Day, will they be veiled” (83:14-15), becoming thus deprived of all the Blessings which will flow to the inmates of Heaven from the Bounties of God. 

 

The life of the inmates of Hell will, indeed, be a life of roasting in agony (4:56; 14:17; 25:13-14; 25:55; 32:20). They will be held in bondage to the punishment brought on them by their evil beliefs and evil deeds (32:19-22; 69:30-37). Their faces will be covered with humiliation (88:23-26), and their surroundings will be pervaded by ugliness and darkness “in the shades of Black Smoke: nothing will there be to refresh, nor to please: for that they were wont to indulge, before that, in wealth (and luxury), and persisted obstinately in wickedness supreme!” (56:43-46). Their life will be a life of horrible misery, even in respect of their “foods” and “drinks” which will be of the most painful type (14:17; 14:49-50; 37:62-67; 44:43-48; 55:43-44; 56:52-55; 78:21-25). 

In short, the conditions of life in Hell shall be the exact opposite of those we have described in detail in connection with Heaven. Life in Heaven being the life of Fulfilment, life in Hell will reflect the Agony attendant on Frustration, in the onward march towards the realisation of Human Destiny. The nature and the measure of punishment will vary in respect of the denizens of Hell, even as reward will vary in the case of the inmates of Heaven (6:132).

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[1] The Holy Qur’an has stated this fact clearly and beautifully in verses 3:14-

[2] That there are numerous degrees in good and evil, in respect of the deeds and motives of human beings, and that, consequently, there will be degrees in respect of rewards and the respective spiritual positions of the recipients of heavenly life, has been affirmed in the following verse of the Holy Qur’an: “For all (morally-responsible beings) will be degrees (of rewards) in accordance with that which they did.” (6:132).

Source

to be continued . . . . . 

Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times

What is the Forbidden Tree?

 

Dajjal (Anti-Christ), the Qur’an and the Beginning of History

What is the Forbidden Tree?

 

A tree has no free will, and hence cannot exhibit ‘conduct’. It should therefore be quite apparent that the Lord-God has used the ‘tree’ as a symbol to represent something quite reprehensible. 

 

We learn something about the symbol when Iblis, i.e., Satan, sought to seduce them to approach the tree while claiming that they would become like unto Angels who live eternally, i.e., for a very long period of time. The objective which he was pursuing in disclosing this information to them was to inject into their spiritual heart a form of lust, i.e., the lust to live forever. Such lust, like its sexual counterpart, i.e., sexual lust, destroys spiritual innocence and reduces one to a state of (spiritual) nakedness:  

(Qur’an, al-An’am, 7:20)

Satan whispered unto both Adam and his wife Hawwa, or Eve, with a view to making them conscious of their nakedness, of which hitherto they had been unaware; and he said: Your Lord-God has but forbidden you this tree lest you two become as angels, or lest you live forever.  

 

Iblis went on to reveal more about the symbol of the forbidden tree when he disclosed that it was not only the tree of immortality, symbolizing ‘eternal life’ (angelic style), but also ‘eternal rule’. His objective in disclosing this information to them was to inject into their spiritual heart another form of lust, i.e., the lust to rule forever or eternally. In order to achieve eternal rule they would have to establish a ruling State that would rule eternally. The lust for such eternal rule, like the lust to live forever, and sexual lust, destroys spiritual innocence and reduces one to a state of spiritual nakedness:  

(Qur’an, Ta Ha, 20:120)

Satan whispered unto (only) Adam, saying: O Adam! Shall I lead thee to the tree of life eternal; and thus to a kingdom that will never perish or decay? 

Iblis succeeded in deceiving them, in consequence of which they both tasted the tree, i.e., they allowed their hearts to lust for that which the tree symbolized. As soon as that lust entered their hearts, i.e., the lust to live and to rule eternally, they lost their spiritual innocence and became conscious of their nakedness. They then sought, symbolically so, to cover themselves with leaves from the trees of heaven:  

(Qur’an, al-An’am, 7:22)

And thus Satan led them on with deluding thoughts, guile and deception. But as soon as the two had tasted the fruit of the tree, they became conscious of their nakedness; and they began to cover themselves with pieced-together leaves from the garden. And their Lord-God called unto them: Did I not forbid that tree unto you and tell you, Verily, Satan is your open foe?  

 

Since they lost their spiritual innocence, they no longer qualified to dwell in heaven. This is so because heaven is reserved for those whose hearts are Salim, i.e., sound, healthy and innocent:

(Qur’an, al-Shura, 26:88–89)

On Judgment Day neither wealth nor children will be of any benefit, rather, only he will automatically qualify for heaven who comes before Allah Most High with a heart which is Salim, i.e., sound, healthy, and innocent, and hence free from the lust for life and the lust to rule. 

 

We learn from the passage below that both Nabi Adam ʿalayhi as-salām, and his wife were expelled from heaven and sent to reside on earth, as soon as they tasted the forbidden tree: 

(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:36) 

But Satan caused them both to stumble therein, and thus brought about the loss of their erstwhile state of spiritual innocence. And so Allah Most High said: Down with you, and experience the plague of enmity and hostility for one another as the lust for life and for rule corrupts you; and on earth you shall have your abode and your livelihood for a while! 

 

They responded by seeking Allah’s forgiveness, and He, in turn, forgave them:

(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:37) 

Thereupon Adam received words of guidance from his Lord-God, and He accepted his repentance: for, verily, He alone is the Acceptor of Repentance, the Dispenser of Grace. 

 

The order of expulsion from heaven was maintained despite that Divine forgiveness. However they were informed that adherence to Divine guidance which would come to mankind from time to time, was the necessary condition for life on earth, and for efforts to establish Pax Dei that would be free from fear and grief: 

(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:38)

For although Allah Most High did say, Down with you all from this heavenly state, there shall, none the less, most certainly come unto you guidance from Me: and those who follow My guidance need have no fear, and neither shall they grieve.

 

The same event is described in the Torah quite differently. We quote the Torah at length:

 

Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

 

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ”For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

 

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

 

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

 

and he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

 

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

 

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

 

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 

So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

 

To the woman he said: I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.

 

To Adam he said: Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return.

 

Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said: The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis: 3–4 NIV

 

This book concludes with a warning to those who lust for life, seeking to live for as long as possible, and who also lust to rule over others with eternal rule, that such are a morally and spiritually naked people whose nakedness will increasingly become clearly visible to all of mankind (who have eyes with which to see) as Truth is proclaimed in the world. This book, which introduces the subject of Dajjal or the Anti-Christ, is written to assist readers to be able to see and to understand the reality of the world today in which events which are ominously unfolding, have a parallel in a forbidden tree in Awwal al-Zaman.

 

The Qur’an has exposed the Jewish lust for life:

(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:96)

And thou wilt most certainly find that they, the Jews, cling to life more eagerly than any other people, even more than those who are bent on ascribing divinity to other beings beside Allah: every one of them would love to live a thousand years, although the grant of long life could not save him from punishment in the hereafter: for Allah sees all that they do.

 

There is also ample evidence of a Jewish lust to rule the world eternally which, also, is a part of the forbidden tree. Consider Rabbi Emanuel Rabinovich’s declaration:

 

“We will openly reveal our identity with the races of Asia and Africa. I can state with assurance that the last generation of white children is now being born. Our Control Commissions will, in the interests of peace and wiping out inter-racial tensions, forbid the Whites to mate with Whites. The White Women must cohabit with members of the dark races, the White Men with black women. Thus the White Race will disappear, for the mixing of the dark with the White means the end of the White Man, and our most dangerous enemy will become only a memory. We shall embark upon an era of ten thousand years of peace and plenty, the Pax Judaica, and our race will rule undisputed over the world. Our superior intelligence will easily enable us to retain mastery over a world of dark peoples” Rabbi Emanuel Rabinovich's summation of the progress of his tribe, the Modern Tribe of Jews, toward their goal of the One World under Jewry. 

Emergency Council of European Rabbis

in Budapest on January 12, 1952 

 

We have attached the full text of his speech as an Appendix 3 to this book.

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