Belief in Resurrection is the Way to Salvation
By Dr Basheer Ahmed Khan
Garden Grove, CA
Every time we face a problem we try to enact new laws and add another layer to our administrative apparatus to take care of it only to find that new problems have surfaced demanding newer laws and personnel to implement them. We are yet to learn that it is not laws or the type of government that determines the efficacy of governance in giving peace and prosperity to our societies, but the people who make just laws and administer them impartially; all the successful civilizations of the past point to this fact.
We pay no attention to change the outlook of the functionaries of our governments and to bring people of strong character and moral strength to correct the situation. On the contrary, the trend these days is to marginalize the efficient and sincere people and bring puppets to run the agenda of the stakeholders. The only way to change this situation is that string holders and their puppets learn from the lessons of history of the recent and the distant past. There is no place for cut-throat selfishness in a gregarious and interdependent society. Having understood this they should embark upon a course that rewards hard work and entrepreneurship without jeopardizing the right of others to their fair share in the resources of the earth.
Marques De Sade was a product of decaying civilization at the threshold of renaissance who was trying to reestablish the hold of the forces of chaos on the reforming society. It is unfortunate that he was successfully projected by the vested interest as a reformer who came to end all taboos and foster new ideas. It was because of pseudo-intellectuals like him that morality became a relative feeling holding the entrepreneurial spirit of man which needed to be buried with the hatchet of fabricated religions. Through their semantics they successfully projected the poor as the parasites. While doing this they forgot to put the fair share of the blame on the greed of the aristocrats which killed the spirit to live in labor. As the religions failed to reform this challenge, the religions went on the defensive and on the sideline and immorality and greed became the fashion of the day.
God which was evident in the rising and setting of the Sun each day, in the twinkling of stars at night, in the sprouting of the seeds, in the lush green corn fields, in the quivering of the rivers, in the roaring of the seas, in the blooming of the flowers, in the birth of a child and its innocent smile, became a suspect and a myth. His power to resurrect us after we are dead and bring us to accountability became a subject of ridicule. And the lie that we do not get life but once, so enjoy it even if it is at the expense of others, became the motto of life.
The echo chambers of liberal thought seem to be triumphing over the parroting of clergy; not because of the legitimacy of the liberal thought or the efficacy of the echo chambers, but because of the disconnect which the religion that is being preached has developed from its reality. It is not true religion which is losing to liberal thought, but it is hollow rituals in its name. When the thought of man pollutes the word of God, when rituals replace reality, when tradition trumps rationale, then religion does not remain that vibrant force capable of changing the attitude of man for better, but a parochial thought to divide and destroy mankind. To restore order and sanity to our dysfunctional societies it is essential that we restore the originality of religion. This reformed religion will produce individuals who will be the cornerstone for reformation of our societies, otherwise all structural and legal changes in the setup just have some cosmetic effect which will wash out with the perspiration of some stress. The most important aspect of religion that has to be emphasized is the belief in resurrection and accountability before an Omnipotent and Omniscient God. Fortunately, this belief is a part of all religions with some nuances of details and it can be rejuvenated with some effort.
Faith is not just a vocalized precept but a state of consciousness. This consciousness makes a believer restrained in the use of his freedoms. If this restraint is not seen in people claiming to be faithful, it means that faith has not permeated their consciousness. The consciousness emanating out of faith stops a believer from greed and from adapting to unfair means in earning to satiate his greed. Faith also stops a believer from indulging in sinful acts which are a source of pleasure. Faith stops a person from harming others for his own gain. Beyond this faith makes a believer share his meager wealth with others in need rather than use it for his pleasures (Ch 59 V 9). They know that the edge they have over others in matter of intelligence, power etc is not to fool other and loot others but a test from their Creator to see how they use it (Ch 7 V 165). It is imperative that Allah compensates such people, who lived a life of restraint with their families, and shared the good of this life equitably with others, a life of eternal bliss after they die (Ch 52 V 26).
To the contrary those who do not believe in God and His power to resurrect them and bring them to accountability after they are dead are misled to follow their desires and their opinions as their gods leading them to a life of disarray (Ch 20 V 16). Their only concern is their happiness and the happiness of their family. They are unmindful of the consequences of their greed on the peace and tranquility of society. To such people moral values are relative. Such people who lived a life with utter disregard for fairness and destroyed the peace and tranquility of the world for the sake of their families deserve the life of hell after they are dead (Ch 84 V 12). Even if such people are altruistic and spend some of their unfairly earned money for the good of the society it is not enough to compensate for the chaos they created in the society by their selfishness in the first place.
Some people suggest that faith must be excluded from the calculations in determining the reward and punishment for those who did good deeds in this world without believing in God, because there are lots of good people who are doing a lot of good to the society than most of the so-called religious. They want that such people should also be rewarded with salvation and paradise if God is a just God. To expect that a just God will equate those people who got more than their fair share in this life by committing excesses with those who lived a modest life in a spirit of fairness in The Hereafter, is to blemish the justice of God (Ch 38 V 28).
Allah is not jealous about our living happily on this earth (Ch 7 V 32). What Allah is angry about is our infringement upon the right of His other children while doing so. The freedom which Allah has given to us demands self-restraint on the part of individuals, and a responsibility on the part of society to keep a proper balance between individual liberties and collective stability. Those who are pursuing their selfish interests at the expense of others say that they are pursuing their freedom to enjoy life and it is for the others to be safe from getting hurt in the process is like saying the defenseless people to submit to those who are fully armed in order to be safe.
Just like it is the prerogative of the CEO of a company to raise the ranks and remuneration of any of his employee and decrease it for others, it is the right of Allah swt to reward anybody He wants and deprive anybody He wants. While doing this there are certain rules that the CEO has to follow. Allah swt also follows some rules in rewarding and punishing people. As intention determines the real nature of an action and intention is known to no one except the person who does the action and to God. That is why Allah has kept the prerogative of salvation and punishment of an individual to Himself (Ch 2 V 284). Faith is made a prerequisite for salvation and paradise by Allah swt (Ch 4 V 124) not as a parochial phenomenon but one based on sound principles which Allah has set for himself.
Whereas a person who does good deeds with a belief that he is doing this because it is the command of God and that he will be compensated for it by Him in the hereafter has to receive it in the hereafter. Those who have done good deeds in this world without faith in God and expectation of a reward from Him in the hereafter will not get their reward in the hereafter until and unless they swear faith in God and live by it. Those who deposit their money in the Bank of World should not expect to retrieve it from Bank of Hereafter much the same way as those who deposit their money in the Bank of England can’t recover it from the Bank of America until and unless they transfer it to the Bank of America. Those who want the good of the world will get their share of it in this world and they have no portion of it in the hereafter, and those who pray for the good of both worlds get their due share which they have earned (Ch 2 V 200-202).
While Allah’s reward of Paradise is linked to faith and good deeds, a persons’ safety from the punishment of the hereafter is not dependent just on faith. Allah says clearly in the Qur’an: Whoever amongst you commits evil deeds will have his punishment and he will not find any friend or supporter to save him from it (Ch 4 V 123). Unfortunately we are misled by a false hope that our empty belief will expiate us from the consequences of our evil deeds and continue to do evil deeds and still hope that we will be redeemed. Redemption through intercession is the most misunderstood concept of religion that makes many of us unmindful of refraining from evil deeds and thus brings discredit to religion. But this is a topic for another article.
When Will This Happen?
The skeptics sarcastically say that the talk of resurrection, accountability and reward and punishment is all an old fairy tale that is being repeated over and over for thousands of years without any truth to it (Ch 23 V 83). They demanded from the prophets to bring it on if it is a reality. Scholars have described this denial of the hereafter and its inevitability by elaborating upon the famous adage: These are the people who can count the seeds in the apple but can’t see the apples in the seed. How can we see the apples in the seed till we sow the seed and wait for a certain period for the plant to grow and produce apples? The same way the reality of the hereafter will appear before us only after we die. But we can’t believe in it like a fetus who can’t believe in the world outside of the womb of its mother till it comes out of it.
The day of final accountability is not a pay per view sort of pastime to be shown to everyone at the time of his demand. If Allah were to show the consequence of our deeds immediately no one would dare abandon good and indulge in evil, but then this behavior would be coercive and not voluntary, and Allah wants people to behave good or bad voluntarily to be responsible for its consequence. Moreover, not a single living being would be left on the face of the earth if Allah had taken us to task for our evil deeds immediately. Allah out of His mercy gives us time to understand, repent and reform for our mistakes (Ch 16 V 61). Prophets told their people that Allah has fixed a time for resurrection and accountability so that all the people that are to be born are born and collect all the effects of their good and evil deeds to their account for this miserable event to happen (Ch 42 V14). When it comes it comes with a bang and it will neither be accelerated nor postponed by a moment (Ch 7 V 187).
The disbelievers scoff at the possibility of resurrection of the dead and their accountability after death and decay (Ch 36 V 78). Allah asks them to ponder about how He created them from two cells when they were nothing (Ch 76 V 1-2). Allah also reminds us about how He created us in the darkness of three layers in the wombs of our mothers perpetrated by placenta, womb and abdominal wall (Ch 39 V6). He says that when He raised us from nothing it is not at all difficult for Him to raise us once again when we will be nothing (Ch 19 V 66-68).As He makes the barren land bloom with life after a single shower so He will make us stand before Him for accountability by bringing us back to life (Ch 7 V 57). Those who say that we will not be raised after we are dead will realize it in vain when they find themselves standing before Allah (Ch 6 V 29-30).
Relevance of This belief to Contemporary Life:
The belief of resurrection and accountability of the hereafter before an Omniscient and Omnipotent God is a part of all religions with some nuances of details. In the hardships of life people have forgotten the art of living. Those for whom living is easy, understanding life is unnecessary. Under these circumstances reviving the quiescent belief in hereafter is a challenge, but not bigger than the challenges that mankind faces today. If we are able to inculcate this consciousness then we can make few just laws which will have the support of the vast majority of people and we will be able to administer these laws at low cost through an honest bureaucracy. The talk of smaller governments with plethora of unjust laws and with little God consciousness amongst those who make them and administer them should send a chill in the spine of all those who care for this world and its people. This, by no means, is an endorsement of the present big governments of dishonest people. It is only a plea to build a society of honest God-fearing people so that we can have good leaders and good governments. The talk of fiscal conservatism and moral liberalism to come out of the mess we are in may suit the need of crony capitalism, but it will push the society to the days of Gomorrah.
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