(5) QIAMAT: THE LAST DAY OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT

Islam demands that a Muslim believe in the return of everything to the Lord for the final Judgment of every soul in matters of faith and action. There are repeated declarations in the Holy Qur'an warning mankind to guard his life on earth against the retribution which is sure to come. This should keep man on the right track protected against future accountability.
A Muslim must believe in Ma 'ad or Qiamat, the Final Day of Judgment and live such a clean life that he will easily earn eternal life and heavenly bliss.
The fifth principle of the faith of Islam-Original, or Shims, is the belief in Ma'am or Qiamat. Every human being is Individually accountable for his own faith and deeds.
And for all (are ranks assigned) according to what they did; that (God) may (fully) recompense their deeds, and they shall not be done any injustice. (46:19)
After death, each human being will rise from the dead to be rewarded and punished according to the sum of his virtue and vice in this life. The present life is only a season for cultivation and effort, while the afterlife will be a period of harvest. This life creates the causes for the effects in the hereafter. As one sows, so shall he reap.
It is not necessary to repeat that human life on earth started with a single pair, Adam and Eve, and over countless ages that life multiplied. Something that has a beginning will have an end.
Death is not the extinction of life; if it were, there would be no difference between the end of the good and the evil. The good and the evil can never be equal.
Say (O Our Apostle Muhammad!) equal are not the bad and the good though the abundance of the bad may enchant thee; so then fear ye God, O ye of under- standing, that ye may be successful (5:100)
When we are enjoined to do good only and to abstain from every evil, the question arises, "Why?" The only natural or reasonable answer can be that if good is done, good will return, and if evil is done, evil will return. It is with this assurance that one will incline to goodness and resist evil. Note the Qur'anic declarations:
On that day shall come out people (from their graves) in (scattered) groups, to be shown their own deeds. Then he who hath done an atom-weight of good shall see It. And he who has done an atom-weight of evil shall see it.
(99:6-8)
It would not be divine justice to allow both good and evil lives to end in extinction. It would not be just and reasonable for those who have suffered misery, torture and painful death for the sake of goodness to please the Lord to be put on the same level as those who have lived in vice, sinful luxury and criminal enjoyments prohibited by the Lord.
Moses and Pharaoh, Jesus and his persecutors, Muhammad the Holy Prophet and Abu Jehl, Ali and ibne Mulim, Husain and Yazid, can never be equated. The merits and the sins must be recognised. The Ma 'ad or Qiamat is for this alone.
Death is only a turning point in life, a transition from this life of causes to the state of effects.
The period between death and the Day of Judgment is called Barzakh (Purgatory).
The Last Day will be the Day of Final Judgment when every soul shall account for individual good or evil during life on earth.
On this day the people will be divided into three groups: those who did only good, did not pollute themselves with any evil and did good to others; those who lived their whole life in evil and did evil to others; and those who have a mixed record of good and evil.
It is also well known that a good deed may seem to be a minor goodness, yet may have an abiding major effect; and an evil may seem to be minor, yet it may have a far-reaching consequence.
Hence every good deed, major or minor, and every evil deed, major or minor, will be judged according to the actual merit or demerit of its consequent effects.
Those who did good will enjoy eternal bliss; those who did evil shall suffer punishment; and those who did both good and evil will have their deeds balanced against each other, and will be rewarded or punished in accordance with the result.
There is room for intercession, but it is conditional and will not be for those who have intentionally rebelled against the authorities set up by God and have tortured and killed God's viceregents on earth, namely the Apostle and the Holy Imams.
The Holy Qur'an says that killing one man is equal to killing the whole human race, and saving one man's life is like saving the whole human race. If this is true of an ordinary man, consider the gravity of the killing of an apostle or Imam of God, and what will be the fate of those who killed Husain and his whole godly band of faithful supporters of the truth? For this reason did We prescribe unto the Children of Israel that he who slayeth any one (man) without (that being for) murder, or for mischief in the land, ('t shall be) as though he hath slain mankind as a whole; and he who saveth it (a human life) shall be as though he hath saved mankind as a whole; and certainly our Apostles came unto them with clear evidences and yet, verily, many of them even after that certainly commit excesses in the land. (5:32)
The return of everything to its Creator Lord in the life hereafter has repeatedly been declared:
And He is God, there is no god but He! His is all praise, in first and (in) the last, and His is the authority, and unto Him (only) ye shall be returned (28:70)
The day of a total gathering is announced:
On the day (of resurrection) when We will gather them all together, then will We say unto those who associated others (with Us), "Keep ye where ye are, ye and your associated gods." Then We shall separate them, the one from the other, and shall say (unto them) their associate gods, "It was not Us that ye worshipped" (10:28)
Regarding the return of all men to their True Lord, and the speed with which it will be effected, it is declared:
Then they are returned unto God, their Maula Master), the (only) Real One; Beware! (now surely), His (alone)
(as the Master) is the Judgment, and He is the swiftest of reckoners. (6:62) (See also Chapter 36, "Yasin", particularly verses 51-54 and 65)
134 The following verse tells of the deeds which will he judged according to their merits and demerits, and will be rewarded accordingly:
And for all (are ranks assigned) according to what they did; that (God) may (fully) recompense their deeds, and they shall not be done any injustice. (46;19)
God is the best of judges:
what! Is not God the Judge of judges? The following verses of Sura-Tatwif, (Sura 83, the Defaulters)
clearly declare the facts about the Judgment:
Verse 4 what! Think they not that they shall be raised? 5 For a mighty day.
6 On the day when mankind shall stand before the Lord of the worlds.
10 Woe on that day unto the disbelievers.
11 Those who disbelieve the Day of Judgment.
12 And disbelieve if not (any one) save a transgressor.
16 Verily, they shall be committed to the flaming fire.
17 Then shall it be said (unto them): "This is that which ye disbelieved"
22 Verily, the righteous ones shall be in bounteous bliss.
24 Thou (O Our Apostle Muhammad!) wilt recognise in their face the (delightful) radiance of bliss 29 And verily they who ore the guilty ones used to laugh at those who believe.
30 And when they pass by them, wink they at one another.
31 And when return they unto their people, return they jesting.
32 And when they see them, they say: "These are the ones who have gone astray. if 33 while they are not to be watchers over them.
34 So today, those who believe shall laugh at the disbelievers.
35 On couches (exalted they shall be) seeing (the delightful sights.
36 Shall not the disbelievers be (also) recompensed for what they used to do? These verses declare that:
(i) There is a Day of Final Judgment (ii) At that time every soul shall return to the Lord.
(iii) The evil shall he punished and the good rewarded.
(iv) There is a place of suffering for the evil which is called Hell and there is a place of eternal bliss for the good which is called Heaven or Paradise.
(v) The reward or punishment shall he according to the merit or demerit of the individual.
The Holy Qur'an is full of warnings to mankind about the life after death and the Last Day of Judgment. The following is a glossary of words used:
136 (i) Jannat: Paradise or Heaven (ii) Nar: Hell-fire (iii) Akhirat: Hereafter (iv) Mahshar: The place of the gathering of the souls (v) Qiamat: The Resurrection (vi) Meazan: The Balance - The means of discrimination or balancing against each other such things as merits of intention and action.
(vii) Siraat: The correct Path. Every soul shall pass through it The righteous shall have no difficulty, but the wicked will have great difficulty and perhaps find it impossible to traverse successfully. Every soul will find it easy or difficult according to the merit or demerit earned in this life.
(viii)
Sawale-Munkir wa Nakir: Every human soul upon leaving the body shall be questioned about its faith and deeds in this present life and will be admitted to the transitory state, Barzakh (Purgatory) in accordance with the answers given.
(ix) Nama-e-Aamaal: Record of deeds. Every one's deeds are recorded and the records are preserved.
From Sura 83:
Verse 7 Nay! the record of the wicked has been preserved in the "Sijjin"
8 And what will make thee know what the "Sijjin" is? 9 It is a Written Book.
18 Nay! The record of the righteous shall be in the "Illiyin".
19 And what will make thee know what the "Illiyin? is? 20 (It is) a Written book The Book referred to here does not mean a book of paper but a means of natural evidence.
The Day of Judgment shall be a horrible day of the revelation of the truth both hidden and manifest. Every part of man itself shall bear witness to his deeds:
On that day will We set a seal upon their mouths, and shall speak unto Us their hands and shall bear witness their feet of what they were deserving. (36:65)
On that day will bear witness against them their tongues and their hands and their feet, as to what they did (24:24)
On the day whereon shall stand the spirit and the angels arrayed, they shall speak not save he whom the Beneficent God giveth leave, who spoke not (only) the truth. (87:38)
That is the day certain, whoso then desireth may take refuge unto his Lord (78:39)
There are many more verses in the Qur'an dealing with various details of the Last Judgment. Every true Muslim must believe in the Judgment Day as an article of faith.
Jannat: Paradise:
Jannat is a place generally refereed to in English as Heaven. It is a place of eternal bliss, the abode of those who did good on earth.
On the day of Judgment all actions will be weighed, and one whose goodness outweighs his evil will be granted a place here in a degree of bliss which is in accordance with his level of goodness:
Verily (for) those who believe and do good, the Lord guideth them by their faith, beneath them will flow rivers in gardens of bliss. (10:9)
Their cry therein (will be), "Glory be to Thee O God!"
and their greetings in it (will be), "Peace" and the last of their cry (will be) that to God is the praise, the Lord of the worlds.
On the Day of Judgment the Lord will declare to His good servants:
O My servants! No fear shall be on you this day, nor shall ye grieve. Those who believed in Our signs and were Muslims (those submitting themselves to God).
Enter ye the Garden, ye and your companions; ye shall be made to be delighted There shall be passed round unto them dishes of gold and cups (of drinks); and therein shall be whatever desire of their souls and (which) could delight the eyes; and ye shall abide therein. This is the Garden (paradise) ye are made to receive as a heritage (in recompense) for what he have been doing. (43:68-72)
The Faith in the Angels:
Angels are pure spiritual beings created to glorify the Lord and to execute His will. They can appear in any form, but not of any base animal. Their number is unknown. Only a few whose services are directly connected with this life are mentioned.
Faith in the existence of these celestial beings is incumbent upon every Muslim. The following are a few of the verses of the Holy Qur'an concerning angels:
It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces towards the East and the West, righteousness is rather one who believeth in God and the Last Day and the angels and the Book, the Apostles, and giveth his wealth out of love for Him to the kindred and the orphans and the poor and the wayfarer and the needy and for those in bondage; And establisheth prayer and payeth the poor-rate; And those who fulfil their promise and the patient ones in distress and affliction and in the time of war these are they who are Truthful and these are they who are the pious.
(2:177)
He sendeth down the angels with the spirit (revelation)
by His own decree on whomsoever He willeth of His servants saying: "Warn ye (mankind) that there is no god but I, therefore fear Me. (16:2)
And there shall be a blast on the trumpet. It is the Day Promised (warned against). "And shall come every soul, along with it a driver and a witness. (50:20,21)
By those who drag forth violently And by those who untie (the knot) briskly And by those (angels) who glide on (swiftly) Then those (angels) who go ahead with a foremost speed Then those (angels) who (subalissively)
manage the affairs. (79:1-5)
On the day whereon shall stand the spirit and the angels arrayed they shall speak not save he whom the Beneficent God giveth leave, who spoke not (only) the truth. (78:38)
There are three angels whose special duties are mentioned:
Gabriel: This angel is called Ameen, the Trusted. He is the foremost angel, the one who communicated God's commandments to the Prophets, and it was he who conveyed the Holy Qur'an to the Holy Prophet.
Izrael: The messenger of Death who separates the soul from the body.
Israfeel: The one who will blow the trumpet announcing the Day of the Final Judgment.