Are You Looking Forward To Meeting Allah Subhaanahu Wa’taala?
بسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
هُوَ الَّذِىۡ جَعَلَ الشَّمۡسَ ضِيَآءً وَّالۡقَمَرَ نُوۡرًا وَّقَدَّرَهٗ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعۡلَمُوۡا عَدَدَ السِّنِيۡنَ وَالۡحِسَابَؕ مَا خَلَقَ اللّٰهُ ذٰلِكَ اِلَّا بِالۡحَـقِّۚ يُفَصِّلُ الۡاٰيٰتِ لِقَوۡمٍ يَّعۡلَمُوۡنَ
He is the One who has made the sun a glow and the moon a light, and determined for it stages, so that you may know the number of the years, and the calculation (of time). Allah has not created all this but for something right. He thus elaborates the signs for a people who understand. [Maariful Quran 10:5]
اِنَّ فِى اخۡتِلَافِ الَّيۡلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَمَا خَلَقَ اللّٰهُ فِى السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالۡاَرۡضِ لَاٰيٰتٍ لِّـقَوۡمٍ يَّتَّقُوۡنَ
Surely, in the alternation of night and day and in what Allah has created in the heavens and the earth, there are signs for a people who are God-fearing. [Maariful Quran 10:6]
For those who want to meet Allah, His signs are everywhere
There are signs in the coming of the night after the day and the day after the night, and in everything Allah has created in the heavens and the earth. These are open proofs (of the Oneness of Allah and the inevitability of the Hereafter) for those who fear Allah.
That they are proofs of the Oneness of Allah (Tauhid) is not difficult to see. He has the power to make things happen. He makes things as no one can. He creates everything without the help of materials, personnel and prototype, and has the mastery to operate them under a system that never breaks or must be replaced.
Proofs of the Aakhirah and Accountability
And they are proofs of the ‘Akhirah (Hereafter) because Allah is a great creator. He created, in His infinite wisdom, objects of such pro-portion and efficiency for the benefit of human beings. Then, He made them follow a remarkably stable system. Now, it is not possible that He would have created human beings, who are the served ones in this universe, just for nothing, or just to eat and drink, or in some other nonchalant manner without assigning any duties to them.
In this World a criminal can be afforded more luxuries than a righteous servant
When it stands settled that some restrictions must apply to the served one of this universe, it also becomes necessary that those who observe or do not observe these restrictions should face an accounting of what they have done, sometime, somewhere. Naturally, those who do observe these shall be rewarded and those who do not shall be punished. Then, it is also obvious that things do not work like this in the present world of our experience. Here, reward and punishment do not follow that pattern. It is quite likely that a criminal here may be living better as compared to someone God-fearing, righteous and innocent. Therefore, it is necessary to have a day for the accounting of deeds, rewards and punishments. This is what Qiyamah (The Last Day) and ‘Akhirah (Hereafter) are.
اِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ لَا يَرۡجُوۡنَ لِقَآءَنَا وَرَضُوۡا بِالۡحَيٰوةِ الدُّنۡيَا وَاطۡمَاَنُّوۡا بِهَا وَالَّذِيۡنَ هُمۡ عَنۡ اٰيٰتِنَا غٰفِلُوۡنَۙ اُولٰٓٮِٕكَ مَاۡوٰٮهُمُ النَّارُ بِمَا كَانُوۡا يَكۡسِبُوۡنَ
As for those who do not believe in meeting Us and are happy with the life of this world and are quite satisfied with it, and those who are heedless to Our signs, they are the ones whose abode is the Fire because of what they used to earn for themselves. [Maariful Quran 10:7-8]
Commentary
In the previous verses, by mentioning the heavens and the earth and the Moon and the Sun, prominent manifestations of Allah’s perfect power and wisdom, the belief in the Oneness of Allah and the Hereafter was proved eloquently. The first three of the present verses tell us that, despite such open signs and evidences spread out in this universe, human beings split up in two groups.
Which category do you fall into:
One of the two groups was of those who paid just no heed to these Divine signs, failed to recognize their creator and master and failed to recognize even themselves. It never occurred to them that they were no animal like other animals. They never discovered that their Almighty Lord had blessed them with intelligence, reason and commonsense in a degree much higher than that of the animals. Their Lord had put the entire resources of Divine creation at their doorsteps. Everything was as if commissioned to serve them. This should have made them realize that there has to be something their Lord would want them to do, some duty or obligation or charge. If that had to be the case, they would have to account for whatever they had been asked to do. And for this it would be necessary that there should be a day fixed for ultimate reckoning and recompense – known as the day of Qiyamah or al-Hashr (Doomsday, Resurrection) in the terminology of the Qur’an. But, such people did nothing like that, instead, preferred to live their lives at the level of common animals. In the first two verses, after giving the signs and marks of these people, the text mentions the punishment they would receive in the Hereafter. The first thing the text tells is that such people did not think that they would meet their Lord. They have forgotten all about the inevitability of their life in the Hereafter and have become pleased and content with their worldly life alone.
Then, they are sitting there, so satisfied and so content, as if they just do not have to go anywhere else from here. This, to them, was the end of the line and this was where they have to live forever. It never occurs to them that everyone has to bid farewell to this world. This is so open a truth that no one can go about doubting it. And when going away from here is certain, then, some preparation has to be made for the place one is going to.
And then, they are continuously heedless to Allah’s verses and signs. Had they pondered over the marvel of the heavens and the earth and what was created in between them and, for that matter, over what was in the their own person, they would have understood the reality behind everything and they would have thus come out of their fatal negligence.
The punishment of people whose signs have been given above is the fire of Jahannam that waits for them in the Hereafter – and this punishment is nothing but the outcome of their own deeds.
A Fitting example of our own present day example
How regrettable that the signs of disbelievers and deniers pin-pointed by the Qur’an are no different as far as our own present condition as Muslims is concerned. By looking at our way of life and the pattern of our activities and thoughts, no one can come to the conclusion that we have some other concern bothering us except the concerns of this world under our noses. Yet, despite all that, we sit comfortably believing that we are Muslims, as staunch and true as they come. The hard reality is that the kind of staunch and true Muslims our worthy forbears were has become unimaginable for us. They were the ones a look at whose faces would remind one of God and transmit unmistakably that they feared someone above them and their hearts throbbed with the concern of being accountable to Him. Not to say more about these wonderful people, even the Holy Messenger (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) despite being protected from sins (ma` sum مَعصُوم), lived his blessed life in that state. It appears in Shama’il al-Tirmidhi that the Holy Messenger (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) looked sad and concerned fairly often.
