Saturday, December 24, 2011

Why Were We Created?



Not just Muslims, but every single human being has to answer the most fundamental question at some point in his or her lifetime: “Why was I created? Why am I here? What am I doing in this world? Why did God create me?”

These questions are questions which each and everyone of us reflects on at some point during their life. We have some answers, which are given generally but usually these answers don’t satisfy us – seeming somewhat simplistic. So, we still wonder: “Why me? Why here?”. I know all of you (Muslims), are saying, “To worship Allah, khallas (finish). What more is there to say? Why do we need to have a big long talk on why we were created when we all know it is to worship Allah?!”

But wait. If this is presented to a non-Muslim, the next logical question would be, ”Why does Allah want us to worship Him?” Then your stuck, which can only mean that in our own minds it is not really clear. Why did Allah create us to worship Him?

Addressing the question, “Why did Allah create us?”, we have to understand how to deal with those people we live with (in the West). Those who don’t consider there to be any purpose in man’s creation, firmly believing that they are just a product of evolution and that the forces of nature. Just as we don’t have apes, dogs or cows thinking about why they are here, then we also don’t have to think about it either. Following from this belief being the basis of the philosophy of Western society (that man is without purpose), the whole issue of government, morality, etc. has no basis for them in Revelation. The product of this attitude is, of course, the corruption that we are living in.

When a Muslim addresses this topic, we have to find our understanding from Divine Revelation and not human speculation. Because human speculation has no bounds; we can imagine all kinds of things and if any of you has studied philosophy of religion, you will know how many opinions there are about the creation of man and existence. Because of the variety of philosophies which are out there, no one can say this one is correct or that one is incorrect, because there is no guidance behind it. No Divine Revelation. It is only from Divine Revelation that we can determine the reality of our creation, because it is Allah who has created us and so He knows the purpose of our creation. We can hardly understand it ourselves, much less trying to understand the essence of things. So it is for Allah to inform us through the revelation in the Qur’an and the Sunnah (the Prophetic traditions) which were brought to us by His Last Messenger and the Messengers before him.

Now if we are to look initially into revelation, to determine why was man created, there is a deeper question that we should be asking before that: ”Why did God create?”. This before we even get to man because man is not the greatest act of creation. Allah says:

“The creation of the Heavens and the Earth is indeed greater then the creation of mankind; yet, most of mankind know not.” [Surah Ghafir, verse 57]

Man is not the greatest act of creation, this universe is far more complex and far more magnificent than man. So the issue of creation should then go to, “Why did God create?”, as opposed to simply, “Why create man?”.

Fundamentally, we can say that the creation is the natural consequence of the attribute of creator. Allah is the creator. That is one of his attributes. That is what he has informed us. That being his attribute, the creator, the natural consequence or the product of this attribute is his creation.

A painter, if we are to draw a similitude on a lower level, who tells you that he is a painter, if you ask him where are his paintings and he replies I don’t have any. What kind of painter is this? The concept of a painter who doesn’t paint, there is some thing not quite gelling together here, of course Allah is beyond this. But if we are to understand on the simplest level, the two go together. The perfection of a painter lies in his paintings. His quality and his ability to paint, is manifest in his paintings. And Allah, beyond all that, as creator, this quality of creation is manifest in the creation itself. Allah didn’t create out of a need. No, the fact that he is the creator, is manifest in the creation.

Furthermore, consider the act of creation, this act, with regards to Allah is unique. Though we use the term i.e. So and so created a table etc, actually it is in a limited sense. Human beings don’t really create, they manipulate, because they can only ”create” what already exists. When we make a chair or a table, we didn’t create the wood, we had to take it from a tree, we didn’t create the metal, which makes the screws etc, we had to melt down rocks and take the metal out. So we are not creating from nothing. We are manipulating things which Allah has already created in to different shapes and forms which are useful to us. We call it “creation” but the real act of creation, is creation from nothing, and this is unique to Allah alone.

This is a concept, which many people in ignorance, because they couldn’t grasp the idea of creation from nothingness, it lead them to conclude that the world is Allah. Those who say“inside of each and every atom is Allah.” And you have people, who call themselves Muslims saying this. Non-Muslims have said this before and there are Muslims who claim this. ThatAllah is inside each and everything, because Allah is the reality and everything else is fake in their interpretation. That means then, that the creation is Allah, and Allah is the creation. Very, very dangerous concept, which leads some of those who make this claim to say that you don’t have to worship outside of yourself. Ibn Arabi, was famous for this statement, he is considered to be one of the saints, amongst the so called Sufi religion. Ibn Arabi said ”There is no need to worship one outside yourself, you are Allah. It is sufficient to worship yourself.” This is Shirk.

This concept of Allah being within his creation, no distinction the creation and Allah, it leads them to this shirk. Because they are unable to accept the uniqueness of Allah’s creation, they compare the act of creation by Allah to human creation. That is, just as we manipulate, Allah took pieces of himself and made the earth and the universe. Others will say that all human beings have inside of themselves Allah, that there is a part of Allah inside each and everyone of us. The whole essence, the purpose of life is for us to realize that we have part of Allah inside of ourselves, remove the material blocks which keep us from Allah and again become one with Allah in what they call “fana”. This is again a teaching of the Sufi religion.

Becoming one with Allah, returning back to Allah in this sense. But this is in fact part of the teachings of shirk. Shaytan (Satan) has deluded man into this imagination. It is part of the belief of the Hindus. Nirvana, the concept that when you die, you are reborn again, and you move up in stages, each time, if you are a good boy or good girl, you go up higher and higher, until you get to the top. You know you have reached the peak, because when you die the next time you become one with the universal soul, Nirvana. That is the end of rebirth. So your whole purpose is to return and become one with God again. This is all, as I said, a product of the inability to understand the concept of creation from nothingness, which is unique to Allah. Allah says:

“There is nothing like him, and he is the hearer and seer of all.”

So when we try to interpret Allah’s creation like the way we create, then we have made Him like his creation and it leads us ultimately to those aspects of shirk which I have mentioned.This is quite common amongst the Muslim world today, because when you look into the various branches of the Sufi religion, where they have prescribed various acts of purification, they call it dhikr, exercises to torture the body through spinning and dancing. What is the purpose of this? They will tell you, to liberate the soul from this earthly body and to achieve that state of “fana” or “itihad”, a variety of names they have for it.

It is this concept, which lead al-Hallaj, many centuries ago, when he was promoting this idea, and he was put before a panel of judges questioning these concepts, which he was expressing. When they asked him to recant, to take this stuff back, he stood up, opened up his cloak and said “There is nothing inside this cloak except Allah”. So they executed him. And of course, those in the Sufi religion, they have stories that when they cut his head off, it rolled around saying “Allah, Allah, Allahu Akbar etc”. It might have, that is Shaytan may have entered and said these things, as happened with the calf of the Isrealites, when the Prophet Musa (Moses) let Egypt and the people, after crossing the red sea, had a desire to have a god that they could see, so they made a golden calf which they began to worship. This calf was saying “moo” like the calves do. This is what convinced them that this was the real thing. We know it wasn’t the calf saying this. The evil jinn can enter the in to physical entities, make sounds and give these impressions. So there is no problem for us to say ok, maybe when they cut of al-Hallaj’s head that it said these things, because this was part of a test. If we are clear in terms of creator and creation, this is no problem for us.

Allah is the creator and everything besides Him is His creation, which He created from nothing. It is not Him, nor is He it. This is the pure concept as taught by the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, his companions, and the early generations of righteous scholars, the students of the companions and those who came after them. The best of generations. That is how they understood this matter. There was no confusion in their minds. It wasn’t until Islam spread to areas like Egypt, India and Persia, areas where the Christians had already gotten into deep philosophies, trying to explain how Jesus was a man and god at the same time. When they came in to Islam they brought it with them. This is the reality. It is not something we should necessarily condemn them for or feel is unusual. It is natural, when a person reverts to Islam, that they will carry with them what they believed before. What has been clarified for them, of the basic principles, they accept, and they reject things, which obviously contradict. But it doesn’t mean that every last thought that they have, and everything that was wrong in their philosophies, ideology and concepts will be erased. They will carry these things in with them. This is why in the later part of the Prophet’s sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam life, prior to his death, when he was coming back from one of the battles, his companions asked him to set aside a tree for them, that they could hang their weapons on, like the way the pagans would hang their weapons on trees, believing that when they hung the weapons, it became super-powerful, as if some power was coming from the tree, that their shields would now block steel and their swords would cut through the enemy. Some of the companions who had newly accepted Islam, asked the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam to designate one for them, a special one, an Islamic one. They understood that what the pagans had, this was wrong. These were the companions of the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and he had to clarify it for them. He said: You are like the companions of Musa who asked to have the calf built. And he clarified for them that all of this is shirk and there is no place for it in Islam. So if it could happen to some of the companions, then we cannot blame the generations who have come after them, who come into Islam and carry with them some of their old ideas. What it is for us to do is to clarify.

So what we have in front of us then, is that Allah created this universe out of nothing, and everything that is in it was created. For example:

“Allah created all things, and he is the agent, upon which, all things depend.” [Surah 39, verse 62]

This is the reality. This is stressed for us, in order for us to realize that ultimately, all good, all evil, that takes place in the world, only takes place by the permission of Allah. Therefore we should not seek any other channels to protect ourselves from evil, or to gather for ourselves good, as people commonly do today. They will go to fortunetellers, this is big business today, all the magazines have various forms of fortunetellers like dial a horoscope etc. in a society that has lost touch with Allah, this is what is open to them. Allah has stressed for us that no calamity will befall us except by Allah’s permission;

“Nothing is taking place in this world except by the permission of Allah.”

And the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam further emphasized this principle by saying;

“If the whole of mankind gathered to do some thing to help us, they could not help in anything which Allah had not already written for us. And if the whole of mankind gathered together to harm us, then they would not be able to harm with anything which Allah had not already written for us.”

Therefore what is required of us is to depend on Allah, put our trust in Allah. This is what we have to draw out of this attribute of Allah being the creator. This creation exists because of that attribute. Its practical significance to us lies in putting our trust in Allah.

There is another aspect, besides the fact that the creation exists because Allah is the creator. We can also see from what the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam has informed us, that in the creation there is manifestation of Allah’s attributes of mercy, forgiveness, kindness etc etc. Allah created man in paradise, they disobeyed Allah, but Allah had taught them how to repent, how to turn back to him and seek his forgiveness, then he would forgive them. Having done that, they were forgiven, Adam became the first prophet, and mankind was absolved of that sin. The story of Adam and Eve is the story of human existence. Human beings are given a consciousness of Allah. When Allah created all human beings, as he states in the Qur’an, he took from Adam (Adam) all of his descendents, and made them all bear witness that Allah is their Lord. So we are all born with that consciousness. He has also given us a consciousness of what is right and what is wrong.

“We have inspired each and every soul to an awareness of corruption and righteousness.”

Allah gave revelation through his commandments, not to eat of the tree. However, human beings forget. And when they forget Allah then they fall into sin. We can absolve ourselves of that sin by means of repentance, and Allah forgives us when we repent sincerely. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said;

“The one who repents is like the one without sin.” “If you did not commit sins and turn to Allah seeking his forgiveness, then he would replace you with another people who would sin, ask Allah’s forgiveness and he would forgive them.”

So in our sinning and asking Allah’s forgiveness, the attribute of Allah’s mercy and forgiveness becomes manifest. Allah knew what we were going to do before he created us, he knew that he was creating a species who would sin. If he didn’t wan t them to sin, if it was not his intention to permit them to sin, then he could have created angels, more angels. But the had already created angels, so he chose to create a being, that would disobey his commandments through forgetfulness or just simple disobedience, but would turn back to him in repentance, and his attribute of forgiveness would become manifest. Similarly, his mercy;

The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is quoted as saying that when Allah created the universe, He made an obligation on Himself, recorded in a document, kept by Him, that “My mercy precedes my wrath.” He sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam also was reported as saying;

“Allah created mercy with a hundred parts. One of which was sent down upon the jinn and human beings and other living creatures. It is out of this one part that they love each other, show kindness to one another, and even the animals treat their offspring with affection. Allah has reserved the remaining ninety-nine parts for his true worshippers on the Day of Judgment.”

This is the mercy of Allah manifest in his creation. What is also manifest in creation, in the act of creation, the creation of man, is his attribute of justice, fairness, which comes out as the judgment at the end of this world. I am sure we have all read the ahadith in which the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said:

“Allah created some people for hell and some people for paradise.”

For allot of people, this is something very heavy. And the companions, they asked the prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam then what is the point in doing good deeds? If Allah created some for heaven and some for hell then what is the pin in doing anything? It has already been decided. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said:

“Each one of you will find it easy to do what he was created for.” So if you choose the evil way, you find it easy and you carry on in that way, then that was what you were created for. But ultimately it is your choice. You choose hell. The fact hat Allah has recorded, before anything was created, who would be in hell and who would be in heaven does not change the fact that it is we who choose. The judgment is only to manifest to those who go to hell, that they deserve to be in hell. It is only for them basically. Because if Allah created you, and put you in paradise, with all that is in paradise, and you see those people in hell suffering, are you going to ask Allah, why did you put me in paradise? No. your going to say “all praise be to Allah!” you don’t want to question or to wonder, all you will be is ecstatic that you are of those in paradise. So the judgment is not for you, it is for those who are going to hell. If you happen to be amongst those who were created for and put in hell, you would say, why me? Why did you put me in hell? And Allah would say; because you would have done so and so in your life. But you would say; no, no I wouldn’t. If you give me a chance I would do good deeds. You would not give up arguing. So Allah has allowed us to live out our lives. So when we stand before him, our book of deeds is spread before us, we know without a shadow of a doubt, that we chose hell. That Allah’s judgment is just. There is no injustice in it, in any way shape or form. Allah says he oppresses no one. We will know that we chose hell. And the only thing that remains for us, and I pray that it is not in fact us, who are going to hell, is to beg Allah for another chance. Allah says;

“If you could only see when the sinners will bow their heads before their lord, saying; O Lord, we have now seen and heard, so send us back and we will do righteous deeds. Verily, we now believe with certainty.”

This is the only response, which will be left for them. Or as Allah said;

“And those whose light scales of good deeds, they ruined themselves and they will be in hell eternally. The fire will burn their faces, and they will grin with disfigured lips, I will say to them; Were My Verses not recited to you, and you rejected them? They will reply; Our Lord, our misery overcame us and we were a people astray. Our Lord, bring us out of this, and if we ever return we will truly be unjust.”

When we die, there remains behind us a barrier, the Barzakh, none of us will come back, it is a one-way ticket. Those poor individuals who think they will get another chance, this is the new age religion, they think it is new, but it is just plain old Hindu delusion, that when you die, you get another chance to come back again. The effects of this actually, among Hindus, where I am in the UAE, there are a lot of Hindus here, everyday in the news paper you read about a Hindu man or woman who ties a rope to a ceiling fan, which is found in many of the homes, put it around their neck, kicked away the chair and passed out of this world. Suicide is common amongst them. Why? Because they think they have another chance. It will be a rude awakening for them when they meet the angel of death and find themselves in the next life, realizing that there is no coming back. In the creation of man is manifest the grace of Allah. This is a particular point which all of us should reflect on and be thankful to Allah for. His grace, and Christians, they like to refer to us Muslims as those who don’t believe in the grace of God, we are those who look at God’s judgment and it is just about deeds, you do good then you go to heaven, you do bad and you go to hell, that is it, no grace there at all. For them the grace of God is there for all those who accept that he became a man, and was crucified by man, to provide salvation for human beings who’s sins had become so great that they could not remove that sin through any act themselves. So it was with the spilling of the “Blood of God” that we could be absolved of our sins. For them, if you accept that God spilt his blood for mankind’s salvation, then you have earned the grace of God. Does not matter what you do as long as you have accepted this belief in the grace of God. Muslims also believe in the grace of God. Actually it plays a major and significant role. Often it is not stressed but it is important for us to realize how the grace of Allah is manifest in our creation. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said;

“Observe moderation, but if you fail, try to do as much as you can moderately and be happy. For none of you will enter Paradise only because of his deeds.” Of course when the companions heard that they said; “O messenger of Allah, not even you? And the prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, not even me. Were it not that Allah wrapped me in his mercy. And bear in mind that the deed most loved by Allah is one done constantly even if it is small”

What does this mean? It means that God’s grace is manifest in our lives in that were He to call us to account, one good deed, one evil deed, equal to each other, then we would not enter paradise, not even the prophets of Allah. But Allah through his grace and mercy has multiplied the value of the good deeds. Allah says;

“Whoever brings a good deed, shall the value of ten like it. And whoever brings an evil deed will be punished with one like it. And they will not be wronged.”

[Surah Al-'Imran, verse 160] This is Allah’s grace. Good deeds erase evil deeds. One good deed will erase at least ten evil deeds. Allah’s grace is not arbitrary, simply because you say I believe you have his grace, no matter what you do, no. The more good you do, the more of his grace is manifest in you. If you chose evil and reject the good, then you don’t receive His grace, it doesn’t matter what you say. If you say, I am a Muslim, I believe, but really you don’t believe, it is just some words you are saying, them you will not be subject to the grace of Allah. So the creation is a manifestation of Allah’s attribute of being the creator. In the creation of man within the scheme of things, there is manifest Allah’s attribute of mercy, his attribute of justice and this is the reason for the creation of man from the point of view of Allah. From human perspective, why did God create man in terms of for what purpose? Then this is the one we all know and are familiar with;

“We did not create the jinn and men except to worship us” [Surah adh-Dhariyyat, verse 56)

So relative to Allah, we were created in a means or a way in which Allah has chosen to manifest his attributes of creation, mercy, grace etc and he could have chosen another one. But relative to us as human beings, we know that our purpose is to worship Allah. As we said, Allah does not need our worship, a Allah didn’t need to create. When he created us to worship him, he didn’t create us, out of a need for our worship, because Allah has no needs. In a famous hadith qudsi in which Allah says; If all of you, jinn and mankind, were to worship like the most righteous amongst you, it would not increase the dominion of Allah in any way shape or form. And if all of us, jinn and mankind … Therefore when we look for the purpose of worship, we have to look into man. Allah created us to worship him, because we need to worship him. It is something he has given us as a means of benefiting ourselves. We are the ones who benefit from it. Worship has been established, fundamentally for the growth, the spiritual growth of man. This growth takes place through the remembrance of Allah. When you look at all the different aspects of worship, you will see the core of it is focused on the remembrance of Allah. ”Establish the prayer for My remembrance.” This is the essence for the consciousness of God. Allah says that he has: ”…prescribed for us fasting, as he prescribed it for those before us, so that we may fear him.”Worship is there for us to remember Allah. And it is in the remembrance of Allah, that we achieve that consciousness. Because it is when we forget Allah, that Shaytan causes us to disobey Allah and fall into sin. So it is only in His remembrance that we can attain salvation. All of the various acts of worship from saying “Bismillah” when we eat is to help us remember Allah in order to grow spiritually. Allah has said that he has created us to test us, to see which of us is best in deeds. He is not testing us to know, in the sense that he doesn’t already know, but this world is a test for us in order again that we can grow spiritually. We cannot develop this spiritual characteristic of generosity unless some of us have more then others and then we are required to give of the wealth we have. When we give, we grow. Similarly, if we were not in a position where others had more then us then we wouldn’t have the ability to develop the higher spiritual quality of contentment, patience, satisfaction in what Allah has given us. So it is all there in order to bring out the higher spiritual qualities, which enable us to attain the state, which makes us suitable and eligible to return to paradise. The paradise from which we were created, we were created in paradise and for paradise. Through our choices we have left, in this life, a field of testing, where we can grow to a state where we deserve paradise. The purpose of this life is the worship of Allah, this life is a test. A test for us, will we worship Allah, or will we forget Him. This is where our focus has to begin.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

THE PEOPLE OF SABA DESTROYED AS MENTIONED IN QURAN


FROM THE QURAN THE AAYAHS:
34. The City of Sabá (Sabá)

Revealed before the Hijrah. This chapter has 54 verses.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

1. Praise be to Allah, to Whom belong all things in the heavens and on earth: to Him be Praise in the Hereafter: and He is All-Wise, All-Aware.

2. He knows all that goes into the earth, and all that comes out thereof; all that comes down from the sky and all that ascends thereto and He is the Most Merciful, the Oft-Forgiving.

3. The Unbelievers say, "Never to us will come the Hour": Say, "Nay! but most surely, by my Lord, it will come upon you;- by Him Who knows the unseen,- from Whom is not hidden the least little atom in the heavens or on earth: nor is there anything less than that, or greater, but is in the Record Perspicuous:

4. That He may reward those who believe and work deeds of righteousness: for such is Forgiveness and a Sustenance Most Generous."

5. But those who strive against Our Signs, to frustrate them,- for such will be a Chastisement,- of painful wrath.

6. And those to whom knowledge has come see that the (Revelation) sent down to thee from thy Lord - that is the Truth, and that it guides to the Path of the Exalted (in Might), Worthy of all praise.

7. The Unbelievers say (in ridicule): "Shall we point out to you a man that will tell you, when ye are all scattered to pieces in disintegration, that ye shall (then be raised) in a New Creation?

8. "Has he invented a falsehood against Allah, or is he afflicted with madness?" - Nay, it is those who believe not in the Hereafter, that are in (real) Chastisement, and in farthest error.

9. See they not what is before them and behind them, of the sky and the earth? If We wished, We could cause the earth to swallow them up, or cause a piece of the sky to fall upon them. Verily in this is a Sign for every devotee that turns to Allah (in repentance).

10. We bestowed Grace aforetime on David from Us: "O ye Mountains! Sing ye back the Praises of Allah with him! and ye birds (also)! And We made the iron soft for him;-

11. (Commanding), "Make thou coats of mail, balancing well the rings of chain armor, and work ye righteousness; for be sure I see (clearly) all that ye do."

12. And to Solomon (We made) the Wind (obedient): its early morning (stride) was a month's (journey), and its evening (stride) was a month's (journey); and We made a Font of molten brass to flow for him; and there were Jinns that worked in front of him, by the leave of his Lord, and if any of them turned aside from Our command, We made him taste of the Chastisement of the Blazing Fire.

13. They worked for him as he desired, (making) arches, images, basons as large as wells, and (cooking) cauldrons fixed (in their places): "Exercise thanks, sons of David! but few of My servants are grateful!"

14. Then, when We decreed (Solomon's) death, nothing showed them his death except a little worm of the earth, which kept (slowly) gnawing away at his staff: so when he fell down, the Jinns saw plainly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in the humiliating Chastisement (of their Task).

15. There was, for Sabá, aforetime, a Sign in their home-land - two Gardens to the right and to the left. "Eat of the Sustenance (provided) by your Lord, and be grateful to Him: a territory fair and happy, and a Lord Oft-Forgiving!

16. But they turned away (from Allah), and We sent against them the Flood (released) from the dams, and We converted their two garden (rows) into "gardens" producing bitter fruit, and tamarisks, and some few (stunted) Lote-trees.

17. That was the Requital We gave them because they ungratefully rejected Faith: and never do We give (such) requital except to such as are ungrateful rejecters.

18. Between them and the Cities on which We had poured Our blessings, We had placed Cities in prominent positions, and between them We had appointed stages of journey in due proportion: "Travel therein, secure, by night and by day."

19. But they said: "Our Lord! Place longer distances between our journey- stages": but they wronged themselves (therein). At length We made them as a tale (that is told), and We dispersed them all in scattered fragments. Verily in this are Signs for every (soul that is) patiently constant and grateful.

20. And on them did Satan prove true his idea, and they followed him, all but a party that believed.

21. But he had no authority over them,- except that We might test the man who believes in the Hereafter from him who is in doubt concerning it: and thy Lord doth watch over all things.

22. Say: "Call upon other (gods) whom ye fancy, besides Allah. They have no power,- not the weight of an atom,- in the heavens or on earth: no (sort of) share have they therein, nor is any of them a helper to Allah.

23. "No intercession can avail in with Him, except for those for whom He has granted permission. So far (is this the case) that, when terror is removed from their hearts (at the Day of Judgment, then) will they say, 'What is it that your Lord commanded?' They will say, 'That which is true and just; and He is the Most High Most Great'."

24. Say: "Who gives you sustenance, from the heavens and the earth?" Say: "It is Allah. and certain it is that either we or ye are on right guidance or in manifest error!"

25. Say: "Ye shall not be questioned as to our sins, nor shall we be questioned as to what ye do."

26. Say: "Our Lord will gather us together and will in the end decide the matter between us (and you) in truth and justice: and He is the One to decide, the One Who knows all."

27. Say: "Show me those whom ye have joined with Him as partners: by no means (can ye). Nay, He is Allah, the Exalted in Power, the Wise."

28. We have not sent thee but as a (Messenger) to all mankind, giving them glad tidings, and warning them (against sin), but most men know not.

29. They say: "When will this promise (come to pass) if ye are telling the truth?"

30. Say: "The appointment to you is for a Day, which ye cannot put back for an hour nor put forward."

31. The Unbelievers say: "We shall neither believe in this scripture nor in (any) that (came) before it." Couldst thou but see when the wrong-doers will be made to stand before their Lord, throwing back the word (of blame) on one another! Those who were deemed weak will say to the arrogant ones: "Had it not been for you, we should certainly have been believers!"

32. The arrogant ones will say to those who had been despised weak: "Was it we who kept you back from Guidance after it reached you? Nay, rather, it was ye who transgressed.

33. Those who had been deemed weak will say to the arrogant ones: "Nay! it was a plot (of yours) by day and by night: Behold! Ye (constantly) ordered us to be ungrateful to Allah and to attribute equals to Him!" They are filled with remorse, when they see the Chastisement: We shall put yokes on the necks of the Unbelievers: It would only be a requital for their (ill) Deeds.

34. Never did We send a warner to a population, but the wealthy ones among them said: "We believe not in the (Message) with which ye have been sent."

35. They said: "We have more in wealth and in sons, and we cannot be chastised."

36. Say: "Verily my Lord enlarges and restricts the Provision to whom He pleases, but most men know not."

37. It is not your wealth nor your sons, that will bring you nearer to Us in degree: but only those who believe and work righteousness - these are the ones for whom there is a multiplied Reward for their deeds, while secure they (reside) in the dwellings on high!

38. Those who strive against Our Signs, to frustrate them, will be given over into chastisement.

39. Say: "Verily my Lord enlarges and restricts the Sustenance to such of His servants as He pleases: and nothing do ye spend in the least (in His cause) but He replaces it: for He is the Best of those who grant Sustenance.

40. On the Day He will gather them all together, and say to the angels, "Was it you that these men used to worship?"

41. They will say, "Glory to Thee! Thou art our Protector - not them. Nay, but they worshipped the Jinns: most of them believed in them."

42. So on that Day no power shall they have over each other, for profit or harm: and We shall say to the wrong-doers, "Taste ye the Chastisement of the Fire,- the which ye were wont to deny!"

43. When Our Clear Signs are rehearsed to them, they say, "This is only a man who wishes to hinder you from the (worship) which your fathers practiced." And they say, "This is only a falsehood invented!" and the Unbelievers say of the Truth when it comes to them, "This is nothing but evident magic!"

44. But We had not given them Books which they could study, nor sent messengers to them before thee as Warners.

45. And their predecessors rejected (the Truth); these have not received a tenth of what We had granted to those: yet when they rejected My messengers, how (terrible) was My punishment!

46. Say: "I do admonish you on one point: that ye do stand up before Allah,- (It may be) in pairs, or (it may be) singly,- and reflect (within yourselves): your Companion is not possessed: he is no less than a warner to you, in face of a terrible chastisement."

47. Say: "Whatever reward do I ask of you, it is yours: my reward is only due from Allah. And He is witness to all things."

48. Say: "Verily my Lord doth cast the Truth,- He that has full knowledge of (all) that is hidden."

49. Say: "The Truth has arrived, and Falsehood showeth not its face, and will not return."

50. Say: "If I am astray, I only stray to the loss of my own soul: but if I receive guidance, it is because of the inspiration of my Lord to me: it is He Who hears all things, and is (ever) near."

51. If thou couldst but see when they will quake with terror; but then there will be no escape (for them), and they will be seized from a position (quite) near.

52. And they will say, "We do believe (now) in the (Truth)"; but how could they receive (Faith) from a position (so) far off,-

53. Seeing that they did reject Faith before, and that they cast (conjectures) with regard on the unseen from a position far off?

54. And between them and their desires, is placed a barrier, as was done in the past with their partisans: for they were indeed in suspicious (disquieting) doubt.


THE PEOPLE OF SABA AND THE ARIM FLOOD
picture shows Ruins of the Temple of Ma’rib


The Ma’rib Dam (shown in the pictures above and to the side) was one of the major works of the people of Saba. The dam collapsed in the flood of Arim, mentioned in the Qur’an, and the Sabaean state was weakened economically and eventually collapsed.


Many centuries ago, the community of Saba was one of the four biggest civilisations which lived in South Arabia.
Historical sources relating to Saba usually say that this was a culture akin to that of the Phoenicians. It was particularly involved in commercial activities. The Sabaeans are recognised by historians as a civilised and cultured people. In the inscriptions of the rulers of Saba, words such as "restore," "dedicate" and "construct" are frequently used. The Ma'rib Dam, which is one of the most important monuments of this people, is an important indication of the technological level this people had reached.

The Sabaean state had one of the strongest armies in the region and was able to adopt an expansionist policy thanks to its potent army. With its advanced culture and army, the Sabaean state was without question one of the "super powers" of the region at the time. This extraordinarily strong army of the Sabaean state is also described in the Qur'an. An expression of the commanders of the Saba army related in the Qur'an, shows the extent of the confidence this army had in itself. The commanders call out to the female ruler (Queen) of the state:

… "We possess strength and we possess great force. But the matter is in your hands so consider what you command." (Qur'an, 27:33)

Because of the Ma'rib Dam which had been constructed, with the help of quite advanced technology for that particular era, the people of Saba possessed an enormous irrigation capacity. The fertile soil they acquired by virtue of this technique and their control over the trade route permitted them a splendid lifestyle, full of well-being. However, instead of giving thanks to Allah for all this, the Qur'an informs us that they actually "turned away from Him." Furthermore, they refused to heed the warnings and reminders issued to them. Because of these poor moral values, they merited punishment in the sight of Allah and their dams collapsed and the flood of Arim ruined all their lands.
The capital city of the Sabaean state was Ma'rib, which was extremely wealthy thanks to its advantageous geographical position. The capital city was very close to the River Adhanah. The point where the river reached Jabal Balaq was very suitable for the construction of a dam. Making use of this condition, the Sabaean people constructed a dam at this location at the time when their civilisation was first established, and they began irrigation. As a result, they reached a very high level of economic prosperity. The capital city, Ma'rib, was one of the most developed cities of the time. The Greek writer Pliny, who had visited the region and greatly praised it, also mentioned how green this region was.232

The height of the dam in Ma'rib was 16 metres, its width was 60 metres and its length was 620 metres. According to the calculations, the total area that could be irrigated by the dam was 9,600 hectares, of which 5,300 hectares belonged to the southern plain. The remaining part belonged to the northern plain. These two plains were referred to as "Ma'rib and two plains" in the Sabaean inscriptions.233 The expression in the Qur'an, "two gardens to the right and to the left," points to the imposing gardens and vineyards in these two valleys. Thanks to this dam and its irrigation systems, the region became famous as the best irrigated and most fruitful area of Yemen. The Frenchman J. Holevy and the Austrian Glaser proved from written documents that the Ma'rib dam existed since ancient times. In documents written in the Himer dialect, it is related that this dam rendered the territory very productive and was the heartbeat of the economy.

The dam that collapsed in 542 led to the flood of Arim and caused enormous damage. The vineyards, orchards and fields cultivated for hundreds of years by the people of Saba were completely destroyed. Following the collapse of the dam, the people of Saba appear to have entered a period of rapid contraction, at the end of which the Sabaean state came to an end.

When we examine the Qur'an in the light of the historical data above, we observe that there is very substantial agreement here. Archaeological findings and the historical data both verify what is recorded in the Qur'an. As mentioned in the verse, these people, who did not listen to the exhortations of their Prophet and who rejected faith, were in the end punished with a dreadful flood. This flood is described in the Qur'an in the following verses:

There was, for Saba, aforetime, a Sign in their home-land-two Gardens to the right and to the left. "Eat of the Sustenance [provided] by your Lord, and be grateful to Him: a territory fair and happy, and a Lord Oft-Forgiving!" But they turned away [from Allah], and We sent against them the Flood [released] from the dams, and We converted their two garden [rows] into "gardens" producing bitter fruit, and tamarisks, and some few [stunted] Lote-trees. That was the Requital We gave them because they ungratefully rejected Faith: And never do We give [such] requital except to such as are ungrateful rejecters. (Qur'an, 34:15-17)

In the Qur'an, the punishment sent to the Sabaean people is named as "Sayl al-Arim" which means the "flood of Arim." This expression used in the Qur'an also tells us the manner in which this disaster occurred. The word "Arim" means dam or barrier. The expression "Sayl al-Arim" describes a flood that came about with the collapse of this barrier. Islamic commentators have resolved the issue of time and place being guided by the terms used in the Qur'an about the flood of Arim. For example, Mawdudi writes in his commentary:

As also used in the expression, Sayl al-Arim, the word "arim" is derived from the word "arimen" used in the Southern Arabic dialect, which means "dam, barrier." In the ruins unearthed in the excavations made in Yemen, this word was seen to be frequently used in this meaning. For example, in the inscriptions which was ordered by Yemen's Habesh monarch, Ebrehe (Abraha), after the restoration of the big Ma'rib wall in 542 and 543 AD, this word was used to mean dam (barrier) time and again. So, the expression of Sayl al- Arim means "a flood disaster which occurs after the destruction of a dam." "… We converted their two garden [rows] into gardens producing bitter fruit, and tamarisks, and some few [stunted] Lote-trees" (Qur'an, 34:16). That is, after the collapse of the dam-wall, all the country was inundated by the flood. The canals that had been dug by the Sabaean people, and the wall that had been constructed by building barriers between the mountains, were destroyed and the irrigation system fell apart. As a result, the territory, which was like a garden before, turned into a jungle. There was no fruit left but the cherry-like fruit of little stumpy trees.234

After the disaster of the Arim flood, the region started to turn into a desert and the Sabaean people lost their most important source of income. Their lands, which had been agricultural havens of prosperity and financial strength, disappeared. The people, who had not heeded the call of Allah to believe in Him and to be grateful to Him, were in the end punished with this disaster.

TAKEN FROM THE MIRACLES OF THE QURAN READ MORE CITIES DESTROYEDhttp://www.miraclesofthequran.com/historical_index.html

WHAT DO MUSLIMS BELIVE


1) Belief in Allah subhana na wa ta'ala

Our belief is that there is only one God (Allah subhana wa ta'ala) and Allah subhana wa ta'ala is present at all time. He existed before time and will exist after time ends. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has no relations or family what so ever, meaning he has no mother, no father, no brother, no sister, no son or daughter. He is totally self-sufficient. He is not dependent on any thing or anyone but the whole universe depends on Him. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) does not get tired or have any need for sleep. He is free from all needs. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) does not oppress anyone.

Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has ninety nine beautiful attributes to him which a few are; He is the Most Merciful and does not lie. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is the Most Powerful. He does not get tired or falls asleep He is free from all needs. He can do whatever He wants. He created the skies and the earth and created everything that came before them. Everything dies by His command and He will make everyone come back to life on the Day of Judgement (to account for his or her deeds).

Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is One and has No partners. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is alone in His rule over the universe. All movements in the universe are Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)'s creation. No leaf can move without His permission and blessing. Every order of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has to be obeyed whether we understand it or not. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) alone is the Most Worthy of worship. Nobody is allowed to worship the idols, Sun, Moon, trees, water, Angel or prophet's etc.

2) Belief in Prophecy

A prophet is a man whom Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has sent with orders to guide the people onto the right path. Miracles accompany him to show that he is indeed a messenger of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala). The greatest miracle that came with our prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is the living miracle which we have with us today - the Holy Qur'an. The first prophet was Hazrat Adam (alayhi salaam) and the last prophet Hazrat Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

Altogether the number of prophets that were sent to this world were approximately 124,000. Out of all the prophets 313 were messengers, from whom there were five messengers known as the 'resolute' messengers. The difference between a prophet and a messenger is that a messenger received a scripture or a book of revelation. Every messenger is a prophet, but not all prophets are messengers. In the Holy Qur`an, only a few of the prophets and they stories are mentioned. Even though the other prophets names are not mentioned in the Holy Qur`an, we still must believe that they were prophets and the things that they taught, and preached, to the people was the truth.

Prophets are free from all sins. None of the prophets committed any sin, neither big nor small. Jews and Christians believe that prophets could commit sins. But Muslims believe that a prophet has never committed a sin neither before nor after he was announced as a prophet. A prophet can see Jinns, Satan, Angel and other things that are invisible to our eyes. Prophets can communicate with animals, plants and other things, which are incapable of communicating with humans.

Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) informs them the knowledge of the past and future as they need it. A Prophets decision is safe from errors, but even with all these skills prophets still need the guidance of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala). Even if a miracle appear from a prophet's hands, it is only able to appear with Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)'s command and will. A prophet cannot be disabled in any form, i.e. have one eye. A person cannot become a prophet by just worshipping Allah (subhana wa ta'ala), only those people whom Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has chosen can be prophets, and that is why whoever was a prophet was born a prophet.

Usually prophets announce themselves to the people at the age of 40, but Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) (Jesus) announced his prophecy when he was a baby. All the prophets have been men, none of them have been women. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) gave revelation to His prophets in different ways. Sometimes the Angel brought it to them and sometimes Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) put it directly in to the prophet's heart, or sometimes in their dreams or when they were awake. Prophecy started in line from Prophet Adam (alayhi salaam) to Prophet Isa (alayhi salaam), but when Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) sent Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) prophecy finished. If anyone claims and says that, "I'm a prophet after Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam)" he is a liar and a non-believer, whoever says and believes that this person is a prophet then that person also becomes a non-believer himself.

3) Belief in Angels


Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) created Angel from light. We can't see or hear them in their actual form. They are free from sins. They come in any form or shape they wish. They always obey Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) orders. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has given them different duties for example: Two Angel stay with every person, one on the right and one on the left. The Angel on the right side writes down the good deeds that the person performs, and the Angel on the left side writes down all the bad deeds that the person commits. There is no place in the universe where there are no Angel. Nobody knows how many Angel there are except Allah (subhana wa ta'ala). From amongst the Angels there are four that are well known these are:

Hazrat Jibraeel (alayhi salaam) (Gabriel) is the chief of the Angel. He has got 70, 000 wings and his job was to carry messages from Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to His prophets.

Hazarat Mikaeel (alayhi salaam) (Michael) distributes the food and controls the weather.

Hazarat Israfeel (alayhi salaam) will blow the horn. When Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) orders him to blow it, It will destroy the whole universe before the Day of Judgement begins.

Hazarat Izraeel (alayhi salaam) He is the "Angel of Death", who extracts the peoples soul at the time of death.


4) Belief in the Books


Muslims faith is that all the books and scriptures sent by Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to his messengers are true. From amongst them the books and scriptures which have been sent down there are four well known:

Towrat (Original Torah). This book was revealed by Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to prophet Musa (alayhi salaam) (Moses).

Zaboor (Original Psalms). This book was revealed by Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to prophet Dawoud (alayhi salaam).

Injeel (Original Gospel). This book was revealed by Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to prophet Isa (alayhi salaam) (Jesus).

The Holy Qur'an. This book was revealed by Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

The Holy Qur`an is Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)'s last book and everything inside it is true, nothing has been taken out and nothing new has been added. It will remain perfect until the Day of Judgement. It is Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)'s last perfect book and Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) promises in the Holy Qur`an that He will never let anyone change it.

With the Torah the Psalms and the Gospel we have to believe that at the time that these books were revealed, everything in them was true, but after some time, people have taken verses out of those books and added new verses of their own. Now if we see anything in these books which the Holy Qur'an verifies then we believe in that. And if we see anything which is in contradiction to the Holy Qur'an or Ahadeeth we have to reject it. If we see something which is not mentioned in the Holy Qur'an or Ahadeeth, we cannot say anything about it except that "Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) knows best".

Apart from these four books Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has sent other books and scriptures to the messengers and although we don't know the details of these books and scriptures we must believe that at the time they were revealed what was written in them was true.

5) Fate


One of the beliefs of a Muslim is to believe in Fate (Qadr). Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has the knowledge of everything, He knew everything before He created us and He has given us free will to make our own decisions in life, for example to choose the right or the wrong path. We will be judged by our intentions.


6) Death


Death comes in different forms to every human being, for example death for a good believer will be peaceful and the soul will leave the body easily. For a non-believer death, is very difficult and the soul struggles, trying not to leave the body.


7) Death of a Muslim


When the time of death for a Muslim is close the Angel, Hazrat Izraeel, comes down with a thousand other Angels the faces of whom shine like the sun. They come and sit next to him. With them they bring silk clothes from Heaven and Heavenly perfumes for the person who is close to his death. Hazrat Izraeel (alayhi salaam) comes closer to the person and says:

" Oh soul come out of that body, your lord is pleased with you."

Shortly after that the soul leaves the body, the Angel dress the soul in Heavenly silk clothes and put on the perfumes. The Angel then take the soul to the sky, and the groups of Angel which they pass them will know that it is a soul of a good believer, they will say to the soul "Welcome holy-soul you have been obedient to Allah and Allah is pleased with you."

Meanwhile the Angels take the soul to the first level of the sky and knock on the door and the Angel inside ask. "Who is it?" The Angel outside reply: "We have brought a good person's soul."

The Angel inside open the doors to welcome the soul. The soul is then taken to the second level of the sky, and the in the same manner the soul keeps travelling with the Angel until it reaches the seventh level. The Angel then leave the soul on the seventh level where it goes to a place called Il-li-yeen. Illiyeen is the place where all good Muslim souls are gathered after death. The soul is asked questions by the souls who are already there, they ask about their families back on earth: "How are they? What are they doing?" Some old souls will ask about such and such a person, the new soul will say, "Hasn't he come to you?" The old soul replies, "No, he must have been thrown into Hell."

After all the talking one of the old soul says: "Let him rest now he is very tired". The soul returns to his body at the time of burial, then the Questioning starts.

At the time of burial, the soul of the dead person is going to be in Illy-yeen or in Sij-jeen. After the body has been buried, the soul returns to the body in the grave. Two Angels, called Munkar and Nakeer, arrive at the grave to question the dead person their first question is:

"WHO IS YOUR LORD"?
"MY LORD IS ALLAH (SUBHANA WA TA'ALA)" replies the believer.

"WHAT IS YOUR RELIGION"?
"MY RELIGION IS ISLAM" replies the believer.

Then the dead person is shown the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and the two Angel ask: "WHO IS THIS MAN"? The believer will reply "THIS MAN IS PROPHET MUHAMMAD (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam)"

The Angel will then ask "HOW DO YOU KNOW"? "I READ THE BOOK OF ALLAH (SUBHANA WA TA'ALA) AND ACTED UPON IT".

A voice will be heard: "This person is a true believer." At this point the person's grave bed will widen as far the eye can see. Light will appear in the grave and fresh air and heavenly perfume will come in the grave from a window opening into heaven. The person will be dressed in clothing from heaven and the Angel will order him to sleep. The person will rest in his grave until Yawm-ul-Qiyama (the day of judgement).

Then a handsome man, with clean clothes and with beautiful smells will come saying: "Be happy, This is the day Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) promised you." The dead person will ask: "Who are you?" The man will say: "I am your good deeds".

When all the questions have been asked the soul will be free to go back to Illiyeen. You must remember that every soul has contact with its body in the grave. A small example of that would be: If a person passing by the grave says salaam, the dead person answers the salaam even if he is in Illiyeen.

The Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said that when a person's body is buried, he wakes up by rubbing his/her eyes. He/she will feel as though the sun is setting and say, " leave me I want to read Asar Salaat." Then the questioning will start.

The grave is not a pit into which dead bodies are thrown, but it is a door to a world where people go after death (Barzakh). It is the stage between death and the Day of Judgement. After death every soul is alive. Non-believers will stay in imprisonment and will get punished, but a good Muslim's soul is free and it could go anywhere he/she likes. For example can perform Hajj, can appear in dreams of people who are still alive and can give them news and also go to people's houses, however they are invisible.

8) Death of a Non-Believer


When a non-believer is close to death, Hazrat Izraeel and thousands of other Angel come with darkened faces. They will have Clothes from hell and dirty smells from hell. Angel Izraeel will approach the non-believer and say:

"Oh corrupt soul come out, Allah is angry with you". The soul with great difficulty leaves the body and will be dressed in the clothes from hell and the dirty smells of Hell will be put on him. The soul is then taken to the sky and on the way all the Angel who go past, curse it. When the Angels knock on the door of the first level of the sky, the Angel in side reply "Throw him in SIJJEEN" (Sijjeen is a place under the seven skies where all the soul of non-believers wait). The soul is thrown into Sijjeen and the souls who are already there can not talk, because they are in their own punishment. The soul is then taken back to his body at the time of burial and the questioning starts in the same way. When the questioning is done, the soul returns to Sijjeen and it still has contact with its body. When a non-believer is buried, the same questions will be asked to the non-believer:

"WHO IS YOUR LORD"?
"I DON'T KNOW" replies the non-believer.

"WHAT IS YOUR RELIGION"
"I DON'T KNOW". replies the non believer

Then the dead person will be then be shown the face of prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and the two Angels will ask: "WHO IS THIS"? "I DO NOT KNOW" replies the non believer.

The Angel will say: "He is a liar! put clothes of fire on Him, make Him a bed in hell and open the window of Hell for him". Then facing the non-believer, the window of hell fire opens and hot air from hell enters the grave. The grave tightens and the Angel will hit the non-believer between the eyes with an iron bar. If that iron bar hit a mountain in this world, the mountain would crumble like powder. Then the non-believer will scream in so much pain that everything from East to West will be able to hear the screams, all except human beings and Jinns. The second punishment will be the 99 poisonous snakes in the grave, which will not stop biting the person until the Day of Judgement. This is because he did not believe in Allah (subhana wa ta'ala).

Then an ugly looking man will come, who will smell disgusting and who will be wearing dirty clothes and say: "Be unhappy this is the day that Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) promised you. You will suffer in agony until the Day of Judgement". The person from the grave, will ask: "Who are you" The man will reply: "I am your bad deeds"

QUESTION People who have tragic deaths like being burnt or drowned in the sea or get eaten by an animal. Where do they go for questioning?

ANSWER After the soul returns from Illyeen or Sijjeen, the soul enters the spine and the person is ready for questioning. The grave of a person is where the spine is, even if it is in the stomach of the whale. The soul enters the spine of the body. As there are always pieces of spine left even if it is in the ashes or in the stomach of a whale.

In the grave all the body rots away except the spine because on the day of Judgement the bodies will be risen from it. But the prophets and the pious people, their body do not rot away like a normal persons body does.


9) The day of Judgement


Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: The day of judgement will not come until, ten major signs happen or appear:

1) Imam Mahdi
2) Dajjal (anti-Christ)
3) Return of Prophet Isa (alayhi salaam)
4) Ya'jooj ma'jooj (Gog and Megog)
5) Earth Beast
6) Thick Smoke
7) The Sinking of the houses
8) The rising of the Sun from the West
9) The South wind
10) The chasing of the Fire

These are known as the ten major signs before the day of judgement.

10) Imam Mahdi


Imam Mahdi will come near the Day of Judgement. His name will be Muhammad. His mother's name will be Aminah and his father's name will be Abdullah. His title will be Al-Mahdi. Imam Mahdi will be from Fatimah's [RA] generation, which was the daughter of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Imam Mahdi will also be from Hasan's [RA] generation (Muhammad sallal lahu alayhi wa sallams grandson.)

Imam Mahdi will be an excellent, just, and generous ruler. His face will resemble to our Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Imam Mahdi will be born in Madina and will grow up there. When Imam Mahdi reaches the age of forty, the king of the Muslims in Madina will die. Everyone will want Imam Mahdi to become King, but Imam Mahdi will not want to become the king.

Imam Mahdi will go to Makkah and hide in a Muslim's house, but the Muslims will look for him and find him. The Muslims will take him to the Ka'bah and will all start to bear allegiance to him. When the Muslims will bear allegiance to him, a voice will be heard, "This is Allah's Khaleefah, so do whatever he says." Everyone will hear this voice.

Imam Mahdi will then become the King, and he will be very well known throughout the world. The King of Syria at that time will be envious of Imam Mahdi and will send an army to try and overthrow him. When the army reaches the area between Makkah and Madina, the entire army will sink except for two men. One man will go back to his King and tell him that the entire army has sunk. The other person will go to Makkah and tell Imam Mahdi that they came with an army, but it sank into the ground. He will then bear allegiance to him.

When people find this out that Imam Mahdi's enemy have sunk into the earth, he will become even better known and famous. This will happen at the time when the Christians will govern the land between the area of Syria, and city Khaybar, in Arabia. Turkey will also be under Christian rule.

Imam Mahdi will gather an army together to fight against the Christians. The king of Persia, (Iran) whose name will be Mansoor, will send a big army to help Imam Mahdi. When the Christians, find out that the Muslims are getting together, they will gather their army from Rome, Arabia, and other lands, and assemble in Syria. At this time, the Christian military will have seventy different flags. Under each flag there will be twelve thousand soldiers. Imam Mahdi will move from Makkah to Madina. From there, he will go to Syria. The war between both armies will take place near Damascus. One part of Imam Mahdi's army will run away, another part will be martyred, and the third part will defeat the Christians under Imam Mahdi's leadership. Imam Mahdi will win the war, but many Muslims will be martyred. After this Syrian war, Imam Mahdi will go with his army, to Istanbul and fight the non-Muslims there, with the help of Allah.

After all this a day will come when Imam Mahdi will hear the news that Dajjal has come. He will send five hundred people to find out if this news is true. When these people return, they will say that this news is false. Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said that, these five hundred people will have the highest status in the world at that time. When Imam Mahdi hears the news that the coming of the Dajjal is false, people will start living a better life, but after a very short while, Dajjal will appear.


11) Dajjal (The Anti-Christ)


Dajjal will appear in the area between Syria and Iran. He will be sitting on a white donkey and will have one eye. He will have the Devil's power and will claim that he is Allah (subhana wa ta'ala).

At that time there will be a lot of food shortage, but Dajjal will have mountains of food with him. He will have a garden, which he will call Heaven, but in reality, it will be the Hell-fire. He will also have a fire with him, which he will call Hell, but in reality it will be Heaven. In thick letters, on his forehead, there will be written the letters "KAA FAA RAA" which means "Non-believer".

He will stay in the world for forty days: the first day will be equal to a year in length, the second day will be equal to one month, the third day will be equal to a week, and the other days will be the same as normal days. With the speed of the winds, he will go all around the world, except Makkah (Where the house of Allah is the Kabah) and Madinah (Where our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is buried) Many people will believe in him. He will go to a nation and say, "I am your God." They will all be Muslims, and will reply, "Oh one eyed Dajjal! We don't believe in you." So Dajjal will make them starve and their animals will die. Their harvest will be destroyed. They will sacrifice everything but will remain steadfast in their faith.

Then he will go to another nation and say, "Believe in me as your God". They will say, "Yes, we do". So Dajjal will give an order to the sky to rain, and it will rain. With this rain, the animals of the people who believe will fatten. Their harvest will increase more than normal. Then Dajjal will go to a place where there will be no population and he will give an order to the earth to take out its treasures. The earth will take out all of its treasures and it will collect behind Dajjal. When the people see this, they will believe in him even more.

Dajjal will show people strange things. Dajjal will call a person and say to him, "Believe in me that I am God." The man will refuse to believe him. Dajjal will make pieces of that man and then make him alive again, that person will then follow him. A Muslim nearby will say, "You made him alive but I still don't believe you. You are the one-eyed Dajjal."

Dajjal will meet another man and say to him, "If I make your camel alive, will you believe in me?" The man will say, "Yes." A devil will come in the shape of the camel. That man will believe that it is his camel.

There will be another man whose mother, father, and brothers have all died. Dajjal will say to him, "If I bring your family to life again will you believe in me?" The man will say, "Yes". Some devils will come in the form of his family members. This man will also believe in him. In this way he will try to make people say that he is God.

Then he will go to Asfahaan (a city in Iran). From there, seventy thousand Jews will join him. Then he will go to the border of Yemen. From there, he will try to enter Makkah and Madina, but the Angel will not let him enter any of the cities. The Angel will turn his head towards Syria and he will be in Syria again. Dajjal's soldiers will bring a Muslim to him Dajjal will ask him: "Do you believe that I am God?" The man will reply "No." Dajjal will cut the man into two halves, and will walk between the two halves. Dajjal will then make the man alive again, and will ask, "Do you believe that I am your God?" The man will reply, "You are the one eyed Dajjal that Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) told us about." Dajjal will try to kill him again but Allah will turn his body into copper, Dajjal will not be able to kill him again. Dajjal will throw him into a fire which he will have with him, which in reality will be Heaven. At that time this man will have the highest status in the world. And he will be Hazrat Khidar (alayhi salaam)

Then Dajjal will go towards Damascus. On the eastern side of Damascus, there will be a Mosque and Imam Mahdi will be preparing to offer the Asar prayer. Dajjal will get his army ready to fight against Imam Mahdi. Imam Mahdi will also get his army ready to fight against him. Imam Mahdi will be very worried because Dajjal will have a bigger army than his. So he and the Muslims will be praying to Allah, asking for help. Imam Mahdi and his army will go into the Mosque and prepare a plan. They will read Salaat Asar prayer. While Dajjal and his army will be surrounding the Mosque.


12) Hazrat Isa (Jesus) comes back to Earth


Then Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) will come down from the Minaret of the Mosque with two Angel. Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) will be wearing yellow clothes. Both his hands will be on the wings of Angels.

When Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) lowered his head down, from his head, drops of water will fall as if they were diamonds. And when he puts his head up, water drops will fall as if they were diamonds. Imam Mahdi and the Muslims will recognise Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) from this sign. The people will have congregated for the prayer and Imam Mahdi will see Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam). Imam Mahdi will request Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) to lead the prayer, but Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) will say, "You lead the prayer." Imam Mahdi will lead the Salaat (prayer).

After the Salaat, Imam Mahdi and Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) and the other Muslims will come out from the Mosque. Outside the gates of the Mosque, Dajjal will be waiting with his army. When he will see Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam), he will feel as though his body will dissolve and he will start to run away, but Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) will catch him and kill Dajjal at a place called Baab-ul-ludd (an airport in Israel). A fight will start between the Jews and Muslims. The Jews will start to run away but they will not be able to hide. When a Jew hides behind a rock, the rock will call the Muslim soldiers out and say: "There is a Jew hiding behind me, kill him!" If a Jew hides behind a tree trunk, the tree will call to a Muslim soldier saying, "There is a Jew hiding behind me. Kill him". Everything will talk except a tree called Gharqad, which will not tell a Muslim if a Jew is hiding behind it. This tree is very holy for the Jews.

In this way Dajjal and his followers will be killed. And Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) will kill Dajjal. After his death, there will be peace. Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) and Imam Mahdi will start visiting places, and they will meet those people who refused to believe in Dajjal. They will be satisfied with them and will satisfy them by giving them glad tidings of Heaven. After this the people will have a good life.

Sometime will pass, then Imam Mahdi will pass away. At that time, his age will be of fifty years. Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) will offer his funeral prayer and bury him. Imam Mahdi will have ruled for nine years. After that, Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) will stay with the people and will rule the world. During his reign, Ya'jooj Ma'jooj will appear.

13) Hazrat Tamim Dari saw Dajjal


Hazrat Tamim Dari was a Christian who later became a Muslim. He saw Dajjal. Tamim Dari lived in Madina. He set off in a boat with thirty men they travelled for a period of one month. They were lost at sea and could not find land they reached an island towards the West. When they entered this island, they saw an animal there it had a very hairy body, they could not recognise it. There was a woman present there. Tamim Dari asked, "Who are you?" She said, "I am a spy, my work is to inform people about Dajjal". The woman went on and said, "Go into the church, there is a man waiting for you."

Tamim Dari entered the church with his people. He saw a very strong man who was tied up. His hands were tied to his neck. From his knees to his elbows, he was tied up with metal chains. Tamim Dari said, "Who are you?" The man said, "Who are you?" Tamim Dari said, "I am an Arab, We have been travelling in a boat for a month. We were lost at sea then we got to this Island, and outside a lady told us to enter this church, so we came to you." The man said, "I want to ask you a few questions. Give me the answers to them and I will tell you who I am. Tell me if Beesan's Garden (in Palestine) is growing fruit." He said, "Yes, the Beesan's garden is growing fruit." The man said, "After a while, it will stop growing fruit." Then he asked, "Tell me about the river Buhaira Tabria (in Palestine) is there any water in it?" Tamim Dari said, "Yes, there is plenty of water in it." The man said, "One day, it will dry up." Then he asked another question, "Tell me if the Fountain of Zugur is giving water and if the people are farming?" Tamim Dari said, "It is giving water." The man said, "It will dry up too." Then he said, "Now, tell me if a Prophet is born in Makkah." Tamim Dari said, "He has migrated from Makkah to Madina, and he has been victorious over the places around Madina." The man said, "It is best for the Arabs to obey him." Then he said, "I am Dajjal. The time is near that I will be freed. I will travel the entire world except Makkah and Madina. When I try to enter Makkah and Madina, the Angel will stop me from entering."

Tamim Dari came back to Madina. He told this entire story to Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and and embraced Islam. Our Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said you saw Dajjal, at the moment he is in imprisonment. When Imam Mahdi will come, Dajjal will come out, and then Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) will come down to Earth and kill him. His body will be thrown into the street and the dogs will eat him.


14) Ya'jooj Ma'jooj (Gog Megog)


God created a nation called Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj. In the beginning they were free. King Zulqarnian imprisoned up behind a wall. They are still imprisoned today, and will be freed near the Day of Judgement. They will come out and create a lot of trouble. Their population is ten times larger than the world's population.

As we know King Zulqarnain travelled from East to West and North to South. When he was travelling the world, he imprisoned the Ya'jooj Ma'jooj behind a very thick wall. Zulqarnain went East, the people said to him, "In between these mountains, there is a nation called Ya'jooj Ma'jooj, who are like animals. Their teeth are like those of wild animals. When they come out they eat snakes, scorpions, horses, mules, donkeys, vegetables and wild animals. We will give you anything if you build a wall between the Ya'jooj Ma'jooj and us so that they won't harm us." Zulqarnain said, "I don't need paying, but what I would like is that you can help me by bringing me pieces of iron, wood and coal." When they brought these things, Zulqarnain started to build the wall. After this, he started to blow on it. When it became red-hot, he said, "Bring liquid copper." He put this liquid copper on the wall and made it very strong. Then he said, "They will come out from behind the wall, when Allah wants them to"

To this day the Ya'jooj Ma'jooj are trapped behind this wall. Everyday, they try to break this wall. When the sun sets, the wall is as thin as a sheet of paper. Their leader says, "Come on, let's go home now. Leave it, it is like a page. We will come tomorrow and break it down." When they come the next day, with God's will, the wall is as strong as before. Everyday, that is what they do, but when it is time for them to come out, then that day they will try to break that wall but in the evening, the wall will be as thin as a page. The leader will say, "Leave it for today and says the words Inshallah (if it is Allah wills) we will finish it tomorrow." When they come the next day, they will see that the wall is as thin as a page and then they will break the wall and come out. This will be the time when Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) will be ruling the world. Allah will order Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) to take all his followers to the mountain of Tur.

The Ya'jooj Ma'jooj will come and eat the people in the world. They will drink all the water from the East and all the water from Buhaira Tabria. Wherever there is water, they will drink all of it. If they find any humans they will eat them. People will be scared and will hide. When they don't see a person on earth they will say, "We have finished all the people on earth now we will fight the people in the sky." They will shoot arrows towards the sky. Allah will make their arrows red and send them back, and then they will be happy and say " That we have killed the people in the sky also". At that time, Prophet Isa (alayhi salaam) will be on the mountain. There will be a shortage of food. Prophet Isa (alayhi salaam) and the other Muslims will pray to Allah, "Oh Allah! Save us from them."

Allah will listen to their prayers and create a spot on their necks. With that, they will all die. Then Prophet Isa (alayhi salaam) and the Muslims will come down from the mountain, they will see that all the ground is covered with bodies and a dirty smell will be spreading. They will pray to Allah, "Oh Allah! Save us from this dirty smell." Allah will send birds whose necks are like camels'. They will take all the bodies and throw them on mount Nimbar, this mountain is in Palestine. After this, Allah will send rain. With this, all the ground will be clean. Then Prophet Isa (alayhi salaam) with his people will stay on the ground and the shortage of food will finish. Allah will send blessings in everything. There will be so much blessing that one pomegranate will be enough for one tribe, and one pomegranate's peel will make one big tent enough for a group of people to stay under. In this way, one cow's milk will be enough for one tribe. All these blessings will come when all the Ya'jooj Ma'jooj are dead.

Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) will stay in the world for forty years. He will get married and have children. After forty years, he will die and be buried in the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) tomb. After Hazrat Isa, (alayhi salaam) there will be a king called JahJa. After him, there will be four or five kings, and then people will start to do bad things. That will be the time when the houses start to sink.

15) The sinking of the houses


One house will sink in the East and one house will sink in the West. The non-believers who live in these houses will all die. One house will sink in an island in Arabia. And so on after this, smoke will start to spread.

16) Smoke


Smoke will spread across the sky from which the Muslims will have a cold. The non-believers will faint from this smoke. Smoke will come out from the non-believers ears and noses. Some of the non-believers will come to their senses after two or three days. This smoke will stay in the sky for forty days. This will be close to the time, when the doors of forgiveness are closed and whoever wants forgiveness can not have it.


17) The rising of the Sun from the West


Then a time will come, when a night will be very long. People and animals will become anxious. People will pray to Allah for the forgiveness of their sins. This night will be as long as four nights. After this night the sun will rise from the West and with it the doors of forgiveness will close. No one can become Muslim after this. The Sun will come out from the West for only one day. Then it will continue to come from the East as usual. Then the beast from the earth will come out.

18) Earth Beast


Near the Ka'aba, there is a mountain called Safaa. Which is used even today at the time of Hajj, near the Day of Judgement Safaa Mountain will explode. An Earth Beast will come out. When the Haj'jis see this, some will be scared, and some won't be. The Earth Beast will be a very strange beast. Its head will be like an ox's. Its eye will be like a pig's. Its ears will be like an elephant's. It will have horns like a rhino's. Its hips will be like a cat's. Its chest will be like a lion's. Its colour will be like a cheetah. Its tail will be like a lamb's. It will have legs like a camel. It will have a face like a human being. He will talk to people. He will point out hypocrites and he will point out true Muslims.

He will have Hazrat Musaa's (alayhi salaam) stick, and will have Hazrat Sulaymaan's (alayhi salaam) ring. With Hazrat Musaa's (alayhi salaam) stick, he will put a mark on the faces of Muslims. With that mark, the faces of Muslims will shine. With Hazrat Sulaymaan's (alayhi salaam) ring, on the non-believers faces, he will put a mark, which will make their faces black.

This Earth Beast will appear three times. First in Yemen, the second time it will appear in Najd, the third time it will appear on mount Safaa.


19) The South Wind


When the Animals of the earth will disappear, wind will come from the South, from which Muslims will have pain under their armpits and they will die. Only the non-believers will survive. Even if a Muslim is hiding in a cave, the wind will reach there, and they also will die. This will be close to the time when the Ka`bah will be broken down.


20) The Ka'bah will be broken down


When there will be no more Muslims, the Ethiopian non-believers will have victory. They will break the Kabah down. Hajj will not be performed anymore. The words of the Holy Qur'an will be erased, only blank papers will be left. This will be the time when only bad people will be on earth. No one will be ashamed of doing bad things.


21) Fire


After this, a fire will appear from South Yemen. When the people will see this, they will run and the fire will come after them. The fire will drive the people from all corners of the world to Syria. When everyone will reach Syria, the fire will disappear. The entire world will be in Syria. The people will live for four or five years after this. Then the trumpet will be blown and the world will come to an end.


22) First Blow of the Trumpet


Israfeel (alayhis salaam) is the name of one of Allah's Angel. He has a trumpet and he is standing on one leg and waiting for Allah's command, only then he will blow the trumpet. After the fire when every one will be in Syria they will stay there for four or five years. At that time there will be no one who believes in Allah, Allah will then order the Angel to blow the trumpet. When he blows the trumpet the first time: a person will be giving some water to his camel, he will faint as he hears the trumpet. First the sound will be low then it will become very high.

It will so loud that every living thing will die, humans, animals, birds, sun, moon, stars, the sky, the devils, and Angels will all be destroyed. All of the mountains, rivers, trees and buildings will fall to pieces. They will fly in the air like sacks of cotton wool. The earth will be completely destroyed. There will be nothing left. Only ALLAH This will be a Friday. It will be the 10th of Muharram in the Islamic calendar.


23) Second Blow of the Trumpet


When there is no earth no sky no creation only Allah will remain and nothing else. Then Allah will make a new earth, and a new sky. This time the earth will be flat. And there will be no houses, no trees, no grass, no mountains etc.

Then Allah will recreate the Angel Israfeel (alayhi salaam) and command him to blow the trumpet for the second time. Israfeel (alayhi salaam) will blow the trumpet again. Then all the dead people will become alive and get up from their graves. They then will go towards the Mahshar. The Mahshar will be in the area that is now called Syria, Jordan, Palestine.


24) The people rising from the Graves


People will come out from their graves and will gather in Syria. The first person to get up from his grave will be Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Then Abu Bakr (radhiallah anhu) and Umar (radhiallah anhu).

Then people will come out from their graves from (Jannat-ul-Baqee) a cemetery in Madina. Then Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) will wait for the people of (Jannat-ul-Ma'ala) a cemetery in Makkah. When the people of Jannat-ul-Ma'ala come out of their graves then Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) will take care of every body and they will start walking towards the Mahshar Ground.

When people come out from their graves they will all be naked. First Hazrat Ibrahim (alayhi salaam) will be given clothing from heaven, to wear, followed by Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and rest of the Prophets. Every one will not get clothing, only the good Muslims. The rest will remain naked. No one will be thinking other thoughts at the time but only thinking about what they have done wrong. Just thinking of their punishment will terrify them. Whatever the sin, the punishment will be in accordance with the sin. For example, people who had drank alcohol, would rise up with a bad headache and will be throwing up. People, who were greedy and took from those who cannot defend themselves, will breathe in fire and burn their insides over and over again. The people, who dealt in interest, will behave as though, jinn (Devil) possessed them.

From graveyards all over the world, people will rise from their graves and walk to the Mahshar until the Day of Judgment is over and their punishment is decided.


25) Journey to the Mahshar


When the good people come out of their graves, outside the graves will be a beautiful ride standing, which they will sit on and go to Mahshar. But when the non-believers get up from their graves, outside their graves will not be a ride. They will go to Mahshar in different ways. Some of them will crawl on their stomachs, like a snake.

Some non-believers will sweat so much when they come out of their graves, that there will be a river of sweat. They will walk in their sweat. For some non- believers, their river of sweat will be up to their knees. For some it will be up to their waist. For some non-believers it will be up to their mouths. When they walk in this hot river of sweat, it will be difficult for them to walk, and the Angels will hit them on their backs and say, "Hurry up." They will reach Mahshar exhausted. All of them will be thirsty. It will be very hot, but none of them will get any water. Only the Muslims will get water from the River Kawthar, which they will drink and it will quench their thirst.


26) Reckoning


When the people come out from their graves and gather in Mahshar, it will be a very hot day, because the sun will be one Mile away from earth. The Mahshar will be in Shaam. A scale will be placed to weigh the people's good and bad deeds. On that day, Allah will order the Angel to bring people, one by one for reckoning. The first person the Angel will call, will be Prophet Nooh (alayhi salaam).

Allah will ask Hazrat Nooh (alayhi salaam), "Did you deliver my message to the people?" He will say, "Yes, I did." Then Allah will ask Prophet Nooh's followers, "Did you get the message from Prophet Nooh?" They will say, "No." They will lie, and at the end they will be ordered to Hell. Then Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) (Jesus) will be called. Allah will ask him, "Did you tell the people to worship yourself and your mother?" He will say, "Oh Allah! You know that I said to everyone, to worship Allah alone." Allah will ask Hazrat Isa's (alayhi salaam) followers, "Why did you worship Jesus and his mother?" They will not answer and they will be ordered to Hell. Then the Angel will bring all the other people, one by one for reckoning.

27) The mouths will seal


When the people will come for reckoning, Allah will ask them if they have done so-and-so. They will start to lie. Then Allah will seal their mouths. Their hands will start to say, "Yes, he did so-and-so, thing with us." Their feet will say, "Yes, he did so-and-so, using us to walk with." The place where he did the wrong thing will say, "Yes, he did this wrong thing on me."

28) Three kinds of reckoning


There will be three kinds of reckoning on the Day of Judgement.

1) The people who do not believe in Allah and the Prophecy they will definitely go to Hell and remain there forever.
2) The Muslims who believe in Allah and the Prophecy, but they are careless in obeying Allah's orders. For example, they are not punctual in performing Salaat, do not fast, or do not read the Holy Qur`an and are careless in other orders and commands of Allah. The matter of these people for going to Heaven or Hell will be Allah's decision. He may forgive them, or he may send them to Hell. They will get out from Hell either by the intercession of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), or by completing their sentence in Hell.
3) The third reckoning will be on those people who have done mischief on other people. For example killing someone, betraying trusts, swearing at someone, backbiting, fraud, stealing etc. Allah will not forgive the people who have committed these crimes until the victims, who they have committed the crime on, forgive them.

On the Day of Judgement, everyone will be on their own, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, will not come for the help of each other.

29) The man who will have one good deed short


There will be a man, when his good and bad deeds will be weighed, he will have a good deed less for going to Heaven. The Angel will say to him, "Go and get a good deed from someone, then you can go to Heaven, otherwise you will go to Hell." This person will go to his mother and ask her for a good deed. His mother will say, "I don't even know you." Like this, he will go to all his family and they will all say that they don't know him and he will not get a good deed from them. He will go around Mahshar asking for a good deed. He will come across a man. He will ask him for a good deed. He will say, "In my life-time I have only done one good deed, the rest I have done are all bad deeds. I know I will not be going to Heaven with one good deed. You take it." The man will take the good deed and come back to the scale. He will say, "I have a good deed." The Angel will put the good deed on the scale and his good deeds will become more. The man will become happy. Allah will order the man to bring the man who sacrificed his good deed for the other man. When that man will come, Allah will say to him, "You had one good deed and you sacrificed it to another man. As a show of my Mercy, you will go to Heaven with him as well."

30) The Book of record


Everyone will be given a book of what they have done in their life. The people who have done good deeds, they will be rewarded. The people who have done bad deeds will be punished. There will be some righteous Muslims who will not be questioned and will go straight to Heaven.

31) The Scale


When someone will come for questioning, his good deeds will be put on one side of the scale and the bad deeds on the other side of the scale. If the bad deeds are more, then that person may go to Hell, but Allah may forgive them. If the person's good deeds are more, then he will go to Heaven. If the person's good and bad deeds are equal, then that person will go to a place called Al-A`raaf. This is a place between Heaven and Hell. They will always ask for forgiveness from Allah, and at the end, they will go to Heaven.

32) The people who do good deeds for their popularity


The Angel will bring one Haji for questioning. There will be an order, that to send him/her to Hell. The Haji will say, "I did Hajj, why is there an order for me to be sent to Hell?" Allah will say, "You never did Hajj for my pleasure, but you did it for your popularity." Then he/she will be sent to Hell. Then a martyr will be brought forward for questioning. There will be an order for him/her to be sent to Hell. The martyr will say, "I sacrificed my life in Allah's way. Why am I being sent to Hell?" Allah will say, "You never sacrificed your life for my pleasure, but you sacrificed your life for your popularity." He/she will be sent to Hell.

A person who read the Holy Qur'an will be brought forward for questioning. There will also be an order for him/her to be sent to Hell. The reader will say, "I have recited the Qur'an for the whole of my life. Why am I being sent to Hell?" Allah will say, "You never recited the Qur'an for my pleasure, you did it for your popularity." He/she will also be sent to Hell. A preacher will be brought forward for questioning. There will also an order for him/her to be sent to hell. The preacher will say, "I have been preaching Islam all of my life. Why am I being sent to Hell?" Allah will say, "You never preached Islam for my pleasure, but you preached Islam for your popularity." He/she will also be sent to Hell.

A charitable person will be brought forward for questioning. There will be an order for him/her to be sent to Hell. The alms giver will say, "I have been giving charity all my life. Why am I being sent to Hell?" Allah will say, "You never did it for my pleasure, but you did it for your popularity." He/she will also be sent to Hell.


33) Intercession


The Day of Judgement will be 50,000 years long. This will be a very hard day. The Muslims will say, "Lets go to a noble person so that he will ask Allah to forgive our sins."

Muslims will get together and go to Prophet Adam (alayhi salaam) so that he can intercede for them. Prophet Adam (alayhi salaam) will say, "Go to someone else." Then they will go to Prophet lbrahim (Abraham) (alayhi salaam) and he will say, "Go to someone else." Then they will go to Prophet Musa (Moses) (alayhi salaam) and he will say the same thing that the other Prophets (alayhi salaam) Said they will go to every Prophet but they will all give the same answer.

Then they will go to Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). He will say, "I will intercede for you". Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) will go in to (sajdah) prostrate and say "Oh Allah! Accept my intercession." Allah will say, "Oh Muhammad! Raise your head from sajdah. I will give you that which you will be happy with." Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) will do intercession for his followers. Allah will grant them Heaven. When Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) receives permission, to do intercession, other prophets will have permission also. The noble people will also get permission to do intercession. The Holy Qur`an, our fasting, and Al-Hajr-ul-Aswad (The stone in the Kabah) will intercede. All of it will be accepted. A Muslim will see a noble person. He will say, "Do you know me? "The noble person will say "No." The Muslim will say, "I am that person, that one day, in the world you asked me for water and I gave it to you". Then the noble person will say, "Oh Allah! He gave me water so I will intercede for him." Allah will accept that intercession and the Muslim will go to Heaven.

There will be many Muslims that will be sent to Hell, but the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) will intercede for them so they will be taken out of Hell. They will have a bath in a stream of Ha'yaah and enter Heaven, but this intercession will be only accepted for Muslims not for non-believers.

34) Bridge


There will be a Bridge, which will be over Hell. This will be thinner than a strand of hair and sharper than a sword. There will be darkness everywhere. Heaven will be on the other side of the bridge. Everyone will have to walk over this bridge. There will be no light there except the light of faith. On both sides, there will be flames of fire and hooks. On the other side of the bridge, there will be Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), who will be standing and praying for his followers: "Oh Allah! Save my followers." The feet of the people, who are bad, will be cut when they walk across and they will fall into Hell. The hooks will catch people and throw them into Hell. Some will pass the bridge like the speed of lightening and will go straight to Heaven.

35) Kindness of Prophet Muhammad sallal lahu alyhi wa sallam


One of the companion's of prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) asked: "On the day of Judgement, where shall we find you?" Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) replied: "I will meet you at three places on the day of Judgement: The Scale, the River Kawthar, and the Bridge."

36) River Kawthar


Kawthar is the name of a river in Heaven. This river's water is whiter than milk, sweeter than honey, and colder than ice. Its cups are made of gold. The Muslims will drink from these cups. They will shine like stars. On the Day of Judgement, a stream will flow from this river to the Mahshar. Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) will be standing on this stream when the people will come out from their graves. Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) will give this water to his followers to drink. The non-believers will not be given any water, and the bad Muslims will not get any water until they are forgiven. If someone drinks this water he will not feel thirsty.

37) Heaven


Allah has made Heaven for the Muslims. In heaven, people will live comfortably. This is only made for the Muslims. Non believers will never enter Heaven. In Heaven, there will be cutlery made of gold and silver. Every person will be young their age will be thirty-three. Every person will be sixty yards tall. No one will have a beard, except Hazrat Ibrahim (alayhi salaam). The people who go to Heaven will never age they will stay young and never die. Heaven's material is one gold brick and one silver brick. People will get married and will have children. Everybody will have a piece of land that is as big as from Syria to Yemen. Every person will have 80,000 slaves. In Heaven there will be horses with wings. The people of heaven will sit on them and can go wherever they want. One person asked the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), "If we want to do farming, could we do it?" Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) replied, "Yes, but if you want to do farming, when you put the seed in the soil, it will grow before you blink your eyes."

Allah created so many gifts in Heaven, but no one knows all of them. The biggest gift that Muslims will receive, is that Muslims will see Allah. Some of the heavenly people will be in the top floors and some will be on the bottom floors. The people who will be at the bottom floors will see the top floor people, just like we see the stars. In Heaven the biggest place will be Waseela. That is the place that Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) will get. Allah will tell the people of heaven, "I will give you my biggest gift, and that is my pleasure. I will never be angry with you, and I will always be pleased with you."

In Heaven there will be a market where the people of heaven will go every Friday. The wind will blow in a northerly direction, with which the people will look even more handsome and more beautiful. That market will not be for buying. In the market people will come to meet each other. The one who will go first to the market, their faces will be shining like the moon. The people who will go after, their faces will be shining like the stars. First the Prophets will go, then their followers will go. From the Prophets, Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) will go first. Out of the followers, Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) followers will go first into Heaven and they will be wearing crowns and there will be one diamond on the crowns. If that diamond shone on earth, it will shine from East to West.

In Heaven, Muslims will always praise Allah. They will never get tired when they praise Allah and Muslims also won't get tired when they worship Allah. Whatever Muslims want in Heaven, it will come to him or her by itself.

In Heaven all the Muslims will stay as friends. There they will never fight. They will never get ill in Heaven. They will never spit in Heaven. They will never go to the toilet in Heaven. When the Muslims burp in Heaven, all the food what they have eaten will be digested. They will not need to clean their nose in Heaven. It will stay clean by itself. In Heaven, there will be a bird as big as a camel. In Heaven, the first meal that the Muslims will get will be Heaven's fish kebabs, and Heaven's ox's meat.

In Heaven, there will be four streams. One will be water, one will be honey, one will be milk, and one will be Heaven's wine. In Heaven the Muslims will drink from these four streams. The Muslims in Heaven will watch the Hell people getting punishment from Allah, and the Muslims in Heaven will be standing up and watching. The Muslims in Heaven will say, "Oh look, how Allah has completed his promise, and Allah's promise was that the Muslims will go to Heaven and the non-believers will go to Hell."

In Heaven, the Hoors that are so beautiful that if a Hoor puts her hand out of the sky, her hand will shine like the sun. If a Hoor throws one of her nails on the earth, the whole world will become perfumed. All the Hoors will be wearing seventy clothes in Heaven. The Hoors will sing Allah's praise. If any of the Hoors smile, the whole of the Heaven will shine. The good Muslim ladies in heaven will have, an even higher status than the Hoors of Heaven.

The Muslims will say to the non-believers in Hell, "You are non-believers. That is why all of you are burning in fire. We Muslims are passing our lives comfortably in Heaven." In Heaven, Muslims will see their friends burning in Hell. The Muslims in Heaven will ask their friends in Hell, "Why did Allah put you in Hell?" They will say, "We never gave food to the poor, we never used to worship Allah, and we never read Salaat." Some of the non-believers will ask the Muslims in Heaven for water, but the Muslims in Heaven will say, "We can't even give you a glass of water because Allah has made everything in Heaven unlawful for you."

THE LAST MAN WHO ENTERS HEAVEN

Allah will order a man to stand in front of Hell. He will have a lot of heat on his face from Hell. He will request to Allah, "Oh my Allah! Put my face towards Heaven because there is too much heat here." Allah will reply, "If I do this, will you ask anything else from me?" The man will say, "No, I won't ask for anything else." His face will be turned towards Heaven. After a while, the man will ask to Allah, "Take me in front of the gate of Heaven." Allah will say to him, "If I do this, you won't ask me for anything else." The man will say, "I will not ask for anything else." Allah will put the man in front of the gate of Heaven. When the man will see the beauty of Heaven he will say to Allah, "Oh Allah, send me into Heaven." Allah subhana wa ta'ala will say, "You promised me you would not ask me for anything else." The man will say, "After this I will not ask for anything else." Allah subhana wa ta'ala will send the man to Heaven and he will get a very big place in Heaven. He will be the last man to enter Heaven.

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38) Hell


Hell is a place that Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has made for the non-believers. Hell has seven doors and seven levels. The highest one is called Jahannam. The lowest one is called Haawiya. All the levels have different names: Jahunnam, Saqar, Nutaa, Hutamah, Sa'eer, Jaheem and Haawiya. Inside Hell there are 70,000 jungles. In every jungle, there are 70,000 sections. In every section there are 70,000 snakes and scorpions. Those snakes are very poisonous, that if they bite someone this poison will stay in them for forty years. They will always bite the non-believers. The scorpions will be as big as donkeys and the snakes will be as big as camels. The Hell fire will be seventy times hotter than the world's fire. On the order of Allah, when the people of Hell will be thrown into Hell, they will wear clothes. The clothes will be marked with fire. The snakes and the scorpions will bite the people. When they will be punished like this, they will die again and again, and they will become alive again and again. This will happen to them over and over again.

In Hell, the least punishment will be that the people will be given fire shoes to wear, with this the person's brain will boil, like water boils in the kettle. The person will think he will be having the most punishment even though this punishment will be the least. In Hell, starvation will trouble people. They will ask for food to eat. They will get Zaqqoom. This is going to be so disgusting that if one drop of this falls on the earth the whole of the earth's things will start to smell and become disgusting. A type of food will be given to them called Daree. This will also get stuck in their throats. To bring it down they will ask for water but they will get hot pus, which will be so dirty that if a bucket full of this falls on the world the whole world will become sour. It is going to be so hot that when the people of Hell put their faces down to drink it their faces will burn. When they drink this, it will cut everything inside their stomach. This will always happen with them. Bad Muslims may go to Hell, but they will not stay in Hell forever. Allah decides how long He wants them to stay. At the end of their punishment, they will go to Heaven. If Allah wants, he can forgive them or punish them. People, who do good deeds to show people, will go to a place in Hell called Hub-Hub. This is a very bad place of Hell and is so terrible that the other parts of Hell ask protection from it. The people of Hell will want to die, but they can't die because the Angel will have slaughtered death on the Day of Judgement. The people who worshipped statues, the stars, the moon etc, in their life on earth, will be with them. Allah wants to show them that they worshipped these things on earth, but now they are with them, but they can't help. The Devil (Shaytaan) will also be in Hell. The people will say to him, "You misled us, we are here because of YOU!" Devil will say, "Allah sent Prophets, and He sent books. You know I was wrong, so why did you follow me?"

The non-believers will ask the Angel's who are in charge of Hell to ask Allah to forgive them. When the Angel's request Allah, to forgive the non-believers, Allah will say to the Angel, "Tell the non-believers, I sent Messengers to you on earth. Why didn't you believe in what they said? So now you will remain in Hell forever." Then the non-believers will remain in Hell forever.

O Allah! Save us from the fire of Hell, and admit us into the gardens of Paradise.