By:
Khurshid Imam
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A brother wanted to know regarding the fate of those people who did not receive the message of God. Will they go to paradise or hell? Following is the text of his question:
“There can be
people who could not receive message of God, may be because they lived in remote
islands, away from normal human civilization. Or there may be a few people who
were not exposed to the messenger of God or the revelation of God. How will they
be judged by Almighty God?”
One line answer is Almighty God
alone knows.
We can’t be
pretty sure if someone actually did not receive the message of God. We can’t
even know how much someone received guidance from God, what was his mental
capacity, to what extent he rejected, to what extent he understood and what
will be his fate?
What we can tell
are the principles for judgment by God and the laws God has described regarding
His reward or punishment.
He alone knows
what a human heart conceals. He alone knows knowledge level of a person. He
alone knows the extent to which someone was exposed to the truth. We can only
explain the principles of law of God.
Let us go through over some of the principles made
by God.
1.
“Indeed,
Allah does not do zulm [wrong] to the people at all, but it is the people who are
doing zulm [wronging] themselves”.
Quran 10:44
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَظْلِمُ النَّاسَ شَيْئًا وَلَـٰكِنَّ
النَّاسَ أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ
Allah will not do injustice to anyone even
in the least bit. Quran 2:279, 22:10, 4:49, 4:77, 17:71
2.
“On
no soul does Allah place a burden
greater than it can bear... It gets every
good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns”. Quran 2:286
لَا
يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا
Ayah makes clear
that Allah will not hold accountable to you for things that were beyond your
control or beyond your reach. However, it also makes clear that you will be definitely held accountable for
things within your control and limits.
3.
“On
the Day [judgment day] when every person will be confronted with all the good he has done, and all the
evil he has done, he will wish that there were a great distance between him
and his evil”. Quran 3:30
يَوْمَ
تَجِدُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا عَمِلَتْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ مُّحْضَرًا وَمَا عَمِلَتْ مِن
سُوءٍ تَوَدُّ لَوْ أَنَّ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَهُ أَمَدًا بَعِيدًا
On the judgment
day, every person will wish that he had done more and more good deeds and few
bad deeds. So here also, things within
your control will be accounted for, knowingly whatever wrongs you did will be
counted.
4.
“Then
shall anyone who has done an atom's
weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it”. Quran 99:7-8
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ
وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ
All
deeds, whether good or bad, will be judged on the Judgment Day where Allah will
be the judge.
5.
“And
pursue not that of which you have no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart
will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning)”. Quran 17:36
وَلَا
تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ ۚ إِنَّ السَّمْعَ
وَالْبَصَرَ وَالْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُولَـٰئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْئُولًا
6.
“Soon
will We show them our Signs in
the (furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that
this is the Truth. Is it not enough that your Lord does witness all
things?” Quran 41:53
سَنُرِيهِمْ
آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ
الْحَقُّ ۗ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُ
عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ
Allah keeps
showing his signs to people in various ways. Signs of God are present
throughout the universe, within oneself, in surroundings, through events etc.
Signs [Ayah] of
Allah in the universe == WORK of God
And
Signs [Ayah] of
Allah in the Quran === WORD of God
I and you cannot
know how many signs a person has seen or felt, how much he understood, what his
capacity to understand was and how many he rejected.
It’s natural to
say that the criteria for God to judge people will be different. Of course someone
living in a remote Island, who never got Quran or Hadees, will not be asked about zakat.
But whatever
message reached to one, he will be held accountable for that.
7.
“Who
receives guidance, receives it for his
own benefit: who goes astray does so
to his own loss: No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another: nor
would we send azaab i.e punishment
until we had sent a messenger (to give warning)”. Quran 17:15
مَّنِ
اهْتَدَىٰ فَإِنَّمَا يَهْتَدِي لِنَفْسِهِ ۖ وَمَن
ضَلَّ فَإِنَّمَا يَضِلُّ عَلَيْهَا ۚ وَلَا تَزِرُ
وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ ۗ وَمَا كُنَّا
مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّىٰ نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا
It is up to you
to choose guidance or go astray. Law of
Allah is that He never sends azaab to a people until messenger is
sent there
8.
“Say:
"Think you, if the punishment of Allah comes to you, whether suddenly or
openly, will any be destroyed except those who do wrong?” 6:47
قُلْ
أَرَأَيْتَكُمْ إِنْ أَتَاكُمْ عَذَابُ اللَّهِ بَغْتَةً أَوْ جَهْرَةً هَلْ
يُهْلَكُ إِلَّا الْقَوْمُ الظَّالِمُونَ
Law of Allah is:
punishment or azaab of Allah will destroy ONLY those who are zalim i.e. those who cross boundaries set by Allah.
9.
“But
those who reject our signs, - them shall punishment touch, for that they ceased
not from transgressing.” 6:49
وَالَّذِينَ
كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا يَمَسُّهُمُ الْعَذَابُ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ
Law of Allah: Azaab
or punishment of Allah will touch those who rejected signs of Allah and
they did not stop rebellion against Allah.
10.
“Nor
was your Lord the one to destroy a population until He had sent to its centre a
messenger, rehearsing to them Our Signs; nor
are We going to destroy a population except when its members practice iniquity”.
28:59
وَمَا
كَانَ رَبُّكَ مُهْلِكَ الْقُرَىٰ حَتَّىٰ يَبْعَثَ فِي أُمِّهَا رَسُولًا يَتْلُو
عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِنَا ۚ وَمَا كُنَّا
مُهْلِكِي الْقُرَىٰ إِلَّا وَأَهْلُهَا ظَالِمُونَ
Law of Allah: A messenger is
sent to a people; when these people become zaalim
i.e. those who transgress boundaries set by Allah; then Allah destroys them.
11.
“And
your Lord would not have destroyed the cities unjustly while their people were muslih i.e. those who reform others”. Quran
11:117
وَمَا
كَانَ رَبُّكَ لِيُهْلِكَ الْقُرَىٰ بِظُلْمٍ وَأَهْلُهَا مُصْلِحُونَ
Law of Allah: Even if people
of an area are good, pious and following right way yet, if they don’t do dawah,
if they don’t invite others towards goodness, piety and right way then they too
can be destroyed by azaab of Allah.
If there are some people in an area who work for inviting others towards right
path then that place will not undergo azaab
of Allah.
Conclusion:
1.
We
can’t say what exactly will be the fate of one who did not receive the message
of guidance.
2.
Reasons
are:
a.
We
don’t know who received how much of guidance.
b.
How
much he accepted.
c.
What
his mental capacity was to grasp the message.
d.
How
much he rejected.
3.
Allah
has provided his principles for holding people accountable, for punishing
people etc in the Quran.
4.
Allah
alone knows the fate of people.
Whatever has reached to someone that will be
accounted for fully.
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