Basic Issues of Islam
Source: Excerpt from a Book by Iqbal Kilani The basis for success on the day of judgement lies in the following two things:
1. Iman (Faith)
2. Good deeds
Iman means to have Faith in God i.e. Allah, to believe in all the Prophets sent by God, to believe in the day of resurrection, to believe in the Angels, to believe in all the Holy Books sent by God and to believe in destiny whether good or bad. According to a saying of the Holy Prophet, Iman has more than 70 branches and the most excellent one is to testify that " There is no god to be worshiped but ONE ALLAH ONLY " (Ref: Bukhari). So we come to know that the basis of Iman or Faith is the above saying.
Good deeds are those which are done in accordance with the Sunnah i.e. to do how the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) did or asked to do. Now both these factors i.e. Iman or faith and good deeds are important to save ourselves from Allah’s wrath. However, the concept of Tauheed i.e. Oneness of God is much more important than any other thing.
On the day of judgement, the outcome of a person with a pure concept of Tauheed is very bright, since his Tauheed was pure, he may get away with other sins that he had done. But no way that he is going to get away if he has a faulty concept of Tauheed, no matter how big and how many good deeds he has with him.
In Quran Allah says,
Surah Aali Imran (verse 91): " Those who disbelieve and die while they are disbelievers, the earth full of gold will not be accepted from one of them, though he should offer it as ransom. These it is for whom is a painful chastisement, and they shall have no helpers "
So not only that, their good deeds would be destroyed but because of the concept of Kufar, they would have to face a painful chastisement and no one would be able to help them.
In Surah Al-Anam after mentioning the names of The Prophet Ibrahim, Ishaq, Yaqoob, Nooh, Dawood, Sulaiman, Ayub, Yousuf, Musa, Haroon, Zakariya, Yahya, Ismail, Yasa`a, Younus and Loot (May Allah be Pleased with them all), Allah says:
Surah Al-Anam (verse 88): " This is Allah’s guidance where-with He guides whom He pleases of His servants. And if they had associated others (with Him), all that they did would have been vain "
Had they associated others with God, there deeds would have borne no fruits, and thus their mission would have been unsuccessful. This shows that no Prophet was guilty of Shirk (Polytheism) at any time in his life.
Some Other References from The Quran Regarding Shirk (Polytheism) are as under:
Surah Zumar (verse 65): " And certainly it has been revealed to you and to those before you, If you associate (with Allah), your work would certainly come to naught and you would be a loser "
Surah Shu‘ara’ (verse 213): " So call not upon another god with
Allah, lest you be of those who are chastised "In the above two verses Allah has very clearly mentioned that even if The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) associates anyone with Allah, then not only would his deeds be unacceptable but like other polytheists, would have to face Allah’s punishment.
Surah Maida (verse 72): " Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, Allah has forbidden to him the Garden and his destination would be Fire. And for the wrongdoers there will be no helpers "
Surah Nisa (verse 48): " Surely Allah forgives not that a partner should be set up with Him, and forgives all besides that to whom He pleases. And whoever sets up a partner with Allah, he devises indeed a great sin "
Now these two verses make it absolutely clear that there is no forgiveness for Shirk (polytheism). Apart from Shirk, we do not find any sin for which Allah has not approved forgiveness.
Allah has forbidden to even ask for forgiveness for anyone who dies as a polytheists. See below:
Surah Tawba (verse 113): " It is not for the Prophet and those who believe to ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even though they should be near relatives, after it has become clear to them that they are companions of the flaming Fire "
Now let us see this issue in the light of sayings of The Holy Prophet.
In the book of Ahaadith (Musnad Ahmed) we find that The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) advised Hazrat Muaz (r.a.u) about 10 things. The top most advice was that, " Don’t associate anyone with Allah even if someone kills you or burns you "
In Sahih Muslim we find a hadith in which the Prophet warned about 7 lethal things, which are:
- To associate anyone with Allah.
- Magic.
- To kill someone without any reason.
- To eat away from an orphan’s property with bad intentions.
- To take Interest (Usury).
- To run away from the battle field.
- To launch charge against innocent chaste women without any proof.
Musnad Ahmed:
Allah keeps on forgiving His people as long as ‘Hijab’ does not develop between them and Allah. The companions of Prophet asked him about what he meant by ‘Hijab’. The Prophet then said: Hijab means that a person is involved in polytheism, (shirk) right up till his death.
Now with these sayings of The Prophet and verses from the Holy Quran, we can easily make out that it is this polytheism (shirk) which is the underlying cause for destroying any person. Just a few examples now to explain the point,
In Tirmizi:
A person will appear before Allah with recorded proof of his deeds. Ninety nine of them would be all filled with sins. He would be very downhearted because of his sins. Allah will say: Today no one is going to suffer injustice, I (Allah) have got one good deed of yours which you did, so go to the place where deeds are going to be weighed. The Prophet then said that the sins of that person would be put on one side of the weighing balance and the only one good deed that he had, on the other side. Resulting in a situation that his only one good deed will become heavy over all the sins that he had brought along with him. That one good deed is to testify that there is No god but Allah and Muhammad (s.a.w.) is His servant and Messenger.
Ibne Kathir:
An old person came to Allah’s Apostle and said: I have spent my life doing sins, and there isn’t any sin which I have not done. My sins will cause the inhabitants of this world to suffer if they are divided amongst them. Is there a chance of any repentance in my case?
The Prophet asked: Have you accepted Islam ?
He replied: I testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad (s.a.w.) is His servant and Messenger.
The Prophet said: Go, Allah is forgiving and He is the one who converts sins into good deeds.
He then asked whether his sins and bad deeds were going to be forgiven? The Prophet replied in affirmation.
Now think for a moment that on one hand we have an uncle of a Prophet who helped the Prophet throughout his life but became a candidate for hell, since he did not accept the pure concept of Tauheed (Oneness of God). And on the other hand, we have a stranger who is not even related to the Prophet and admits about his sins himself, becomes a candidate for heavens only because he accepts and believes in the true concept of Tauheed.To summarize the above discussion, we come to know that on the day of judgement the criteria for success would be based upon the belief and faith of an individual. If the belief and faith is according to The Quran and Sunnah and of course based on the pure concept of Tauheed then the good deeds will be beneficial and the sins will be forgiven (Insha Allah). On the other hand if some one does not build a foundation of Tauheed for his deeds and presents himself as a Mushrik (Polytheist) then no matter how big his deeds are, they would not be beneficial.
