According to Islamic teachings, all humans will be tortured in
hell, and before that, in their graves. Muslims are included in
this mass torture orgy, but they have the advantage eventually to
settle in paradise. There are only two tough ways to avoid being
tortured:
* Be a prophet
* Become a martyr
Certainly, there is another easy way out. This simple method is
not to believe in this non-sense. Nevertheless, I am quite sure
most Muslims will not use this process. It simply does not strike
in their mind that the Islamic schemes of torture, either in hell
or in grave are just fibs. Muhammad stole this idea from the
ancient Jewish scriptures so that he could effectively paralyse
Muslims’ mind with paranoid of fear.
Practicing Islam is similar in many ways to managing a bank
account, where the acceptable currencies are called hasanat and
sayaat. Hasant refers to the good deeds, which Muslims accomplish
during their lives. Sayaat refers to their sins. Muslims strive to
keep their accounts positive, or in credit, to use the banking
jargon. In other words: they must accumulate more hasanat than
sayaat. Any negligence in this might result in sayaat becoming
heavier than hasant with the disastrous outcome in the after-life.
The terms and conditions of the account are set in the Quran and
ahadith. There are no monthly statements and Muslims are kept in
the dark regarding the current states of their accounts, which is
only revealed to them on the judgment day. And what a big day that
is! All humanity will be crammed in one place in front of Allah;
each will wait for his/her own trial. The Quran is not clear about
the venue of such a big gathering, but one thing is sure- it is
going to be a very crowded place. It is so crowded that Allah
calls it the crowded day (yawm alhashr). Muslims believe they will
appear on that day, presumably naked, uncircumcised and in a state
of extreme devastation. The Quran describes these dramatic events
in a number of places like this one from surat Abasa:
(Q.80: 34- That Day shall a man flee from his own brother. 35- And
from his mother and his father. 36- And from his wife and his
children. 37- Each one of them, that Day, will have enough concern
(of his own) to make him indifferent to the others)
The day of Islamic Judgement starts by sounding a massive whistle,
which is so loud that it wakes up the dead. Allah, the merciful,
starts the interrogation process of humans while they are in such
a state of mind. Allah’s other creations, such as animals and
plants and rocks, will be on standby as witnesses. Allah will use
a special scale to weigh hasanat and sayaat. Surat Al Quaria
(Q.101) describes this in this manner:
(Q.101: 6- Then, he whose balance (of good deeds) will be (found)
heavy.7- Will be in a life of good pleasure and satisfaction. 8-
But he whose balance (of good deeds) will be (found) light. 9-
Will have his home in a (bottomless) Pit. 10- And what will
explain to thee what this is? 11- (It is) a Fire Blazing
fiercely!)
Those Muslims whose hasanat are heavier will be handed their
documentation papers (account books) in their right hands (Q.69:
19-21, Q.84: 7-9), and sent to Paradise after a temporary stay in
hell-fire (Q.19: 71). Those Muslims whose sayaat are heavier than
others will be handed their account books in their left hands,
behind their backs (Q.69: 25-32, Q.84: 10)—a sign that they will
spend a long time in hell.
The Quran states clearly that all Muslims will taste the hell
fire, no matter how good they where during their temporal lives.
Let us read about this from surat Maryam:
(Q.19: 71) Not one of you but will pass over it: this is, with thy
Lord, a Decree which must be accomplished.
It seems that the question is not whether a Muslim will go to hell
or not, but a question of for how long the unremitting grilling
will last.
It may seem bizarre that Allah will treat Muslims in this way even
after they had assiduously performed all those prayers and fasting
during their time on earth. This weird mindset of Allah will
become clear once we know what is defined as a sin (haram) in
Islamic teachings. Let us briefly recount the daily sins which
Muslim indulge with very little or no concern. These sinful acts
include: watching television, listening to music, looking at
women, taking a photograph, congratulating non Muslims during
Christmas, dressing or behaving like non-Muslims, eating with the
left hand, eating on a dining table, eating with fork and spoon,
not licking the palm after eating and lack of concentration during
prayers. Mind you, I just listed a few examples of how easily
Muslims can gather sins. Therefore, Muslims have to do something
to counterbalance that huge heap of sayaat. Performing Islamic
duties, known as furuds, such as prayers, pilgrimage and fasting
does not earn Muslims any extra points, although any negligence in
this area is catastrophic because it counts as a major sin. It is
reported that Mohammed once said ‘if a Muslim doesn’t fast a day
in Ramadan without a valid excuse then life-long fasting is not
enough to make up for the sin!’
In a religion where the rules are so strict, no wonder that
Muslims are always in a state of fear. But here comes the role of
Mohammed and the advantage of following his example. Mohammed
introduced for the Muslims the system of working overtime, Muslims
call this system sunna, which is basically extra ibadat that earn
extra hasant. This is exactly like working extra hours and being
paid by extra hasanat instead of extra money.
Muslims can perform sunna by doing extra ibadat such as: extra
prayers or extra fasting or extra hajj. Mohammed was keen on
performing these extras himself, possibly he felt guilty about his
behaviour during his legendry space journey, known as al mirage.
Mohammed claimed that the angel Gabriel escorted him through a
marvellous sight-seeing tour to some important landmarks of the
universe like Hell and Paradise, as well as meeting with all the
previous Prophets, and then meeting with Allah himself. During
that meeting, Mohammed used his influence to make Allah change his
mind and reduce the number of obligatory daily prayers from fifty
to only five. The unbelievers take this incidence out of context
as it indirectly suggests that Mohammed had wisdom than Allah
himself. With hindsight, we know that Allah was unrealistic in his
initial demand for fifty prayers, which would leave Muslims with
no time to do anything else, not even to learn about Islam!
Unlike what many non-Muslims seem to think, Allah is truly the
most merciful and most generous. His generosity is clear in the
system He introduced fourteen hundreds years ago, to help Muslims
to reduce the torture they will suffer in the next life. This
simply means every hasana earned by a Muslim will be counted as
ten, which should serve as an incentive to Muslims to do more of
the good work. In addition to this ‘do one get nine free’ offer,
there are other promotions too: like the long-night prayers on the
27th of Ramadan (lailat al qadr), and fasting on the 9th of Dul
huja… and many others.
This Islamic account keeping system is very precise, accurate,
just and efficient. It is immune to mistakes and cheating although
it uses only basic technology. This technology works in this
manner: There are two angels sitting on top of the two shoulders
of each of us. These two special angels constantly monitor our
activities. One angel records hasant and sits on top of the right
shoulder while the other sits on top of the left shoulder and
records the sayaat (Q.50: 17,18), both records are kept safe until
the judgement day.
However, Mohammed seems to think that Allah cannot wait all this
time until the judgment day to start torturing his creatures. To
avoid this boredom, Mohammed told his followers that Allah started
the fun already in what is known as the ‘grave’s torture’. As a
welcome to new comers, two angels make a visit to the graves of
Muslims who had just died. These angels then torture the dead
person in the darkness of their graves. Mohammed did not give an
explanation about the reasons behind such a rude reception, or the
reason in torturing people before their trial. However, the good
news here is that the grave’s torture will be automatically
deducted from the final torture bill to be paid in hell. Who
knows? It may work out better this way, besides it helps to
introduce Muslims slowly and ‘gently’ to the new life-style of
constant Islamic torture.
The above description of practicing Islam may look like a comic
story. The sad news is that it is not. This is an absolute reality
and all Muslims are aware of it, and they live in permanent fear
because of it. This fear explains why Muslims work hard to reduce
their ‘grave-torture’ and shorten their stay in hell to the
possible minimum.
Muslims also know another secret about Islam. They know of the
only way to avoid all the above nightmare altogether, with no
worry about the grave torture or ever seeing hell at all. This is
a sure-footed method—become a martyr!
That is true because according to Islam, martyrs are not dead at
all. They join the fast lane straight to paradise (just like
prophets) regardless of their sins or the state of their hasanat/
sayaat account balance (Q, 2.154, Q.3.169- 170).
Does anyone still wonders why so many Muslims want to become
suicide bombers?
Quranic References( translations: Yusef Ali):
Q. 69: 19. Then he that will be given his Record in his right hand
will say: "Ah here! Read ye my Record!
Q. 69: 20. "I did really understand that my Account would (One
Day) reach me!"
Q. 69: 21. And he will be in a life of Bliss,
Q.74: 39. Except the Companions of the Right Hand.
Q.84: 7. Then he who is given his Record in his right hand,
Q.84: 8. Soon will his account be taken by an easy reckoning,
Q.84: 9. And he will turn to his people, rejoicing!
Q.69: 25. And he that will be given his Record in his left hand,
will say: "Ah! Would that my Record had not been given to me!
Q.69: 26. "And that I had never realized how my account (stood)!
Q.69: 27. "Ah! Would that (Death) had made an end of me!
Q.69: 28. "Of no profit to me has been my wealth!
Q.69: 29. "My power has perished from me!"...
Q.69: 30. (The stern command will say): "Seize ye him, and bind ye
him,
Q.69: 31. "And burn ye him in the Blazing Fire.
Q.69: 32. "Further, make him march in a chain, whereof the length
is seventy cubits!
Q.84: 10. But he who is given his Record behind his back,
Q.50: 17. Behold, two (guardian angels) appointed to learn (his
doings) learn (and noted them), one sitting on the right and one
on the left.
Q.50: 18. Not a word does he utter but there is a sentinel by him,
ready (to note it).
Q.2. 154. And say not of those who are slain in the way of Allah.
"They are dead." Nay, they are living, though ye perceive (it)
not.
Q.3. 169. Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead.
Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their
Lord.
Q.3. 170. They rejoice in the bounty provided by Allah. And with
regard to those left behind, who have not yet joined them (in
their bliss), the (Martyrs) glory in the fact that on them is no
fear, nor have they (cause to) grieve.
rawandi@googlemail.com
