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When Life Begins (Chapter 7: The Testimony of Prophet Jesus)
Posted By:peer On 6/11/2012

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By Abu Yahya (in Urdu).
Translated by Fizza Rashid, Waseem Aslam & Bilal Khan

 

Chapter 7: The Testimony of Prophet Jesus

 

As I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on a soft and sumptuous bed. Naimah was by my side, looking quite concerned.  As soon as she realized that I was awake, her face lit up. She involuntarily asked:

“Are you alright?”

“Where am I?” I asked.

“You are with me in my tent. Saleh brought you here unconscious.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s outside. I’ll call him in.”

Saleh stepped inside, saying salaam even before Naimah had finished her sentence. He had a smile of contentment on his face. I sat upright upon seeing him and said to him:

“What happened?”

“You fainted, my friend.”

“By God, it was the first time that I saw that aspect of my Lord. All my expectations about him turned out to be wrong. He is more magnificent then I could ever imagine. I regret every moment of my life that I spent without the appreciation of his magnificence.”

Saleh replied, “This is due to the difference of being or not being in his presence. God was behind a veil in the world. It was the first time today that God addressed the mankind in the absence of a veil. You were fortunate that you managed to discover the greatness of the Lord while he was still hidden from you and therefore, realised your humble position in front of him. That is why you are experiencing his special blessings today.”

“But why did he faint?” Naimah asked, interrupting our conversation.

“Actually we were standing over the left side of the throne, along with the criminals. At that moment, the angels started to descend and the accountability started. As the Almighty started his conversation he began in a state of wrath but this wrath was especially directed towards the people on the left side, which is why this effect was most noticeable for people on the left. But God is never overwhelmed by his attributes; that is why, even in his anger, he was aware that one of his beloved servants was present on the left side. He therefore, caused Abdullah to become unconscious. If he had not done that, Abdullah would have had to face the wrath and fury, which, the people of the left side were experiencing at that time.”

When I heard this, tears of gratitude started to flow spontaneously from my eyes. I got up from the bed and bowed down in prostration. The following words involuntarily started to come out of my mouth:

“My Lord! When have you ever ignored me? From my mother’s womb till today, none of your engagements have caused you to ignore me, and I? I have never valued your gracious existence. I have never thanked you enough for your blessings. I have never worshipped you the way you deserve to be worshipped. You are free from any flaw. You are exalted. All praise is for you and only you deserve all acknowledgements. Forgive me and take me under the shadow of your blessings. I will die if you do not forgive me, I will be ruined.”

I continued to recite this prayer for a long time. Naimah stroked my back gently with her hand and said:

“Please, get up. You have spent your entire life according to the will of God. I know you well.”

I stood up quietly and said to Naimah:

“You have not yet realised the extent of the blessings and greatness of God Naimah, otherwise you would have never said that.”

“Abdullah is right, Naimah” said Saleh. “Even the greatest deed by man is incomparable in front of the smallest blessing by God. If God had taken away the power of speech from Abdullah, he could not have spoken a single word. If he had taken away his hands, he could not have written a single line. All blessings and capabilities were on account of God. Man is insignificant۔ To God belongs everything.”

“You are right. I did not think about it in this way.” Naimah nodded in agreement.

“Where do we have go from here?” I inquired of Saleh.

“The accountability has started. You have to go there. But before that, there is some good news.”

“What’s that?”

“When the accountability started, God decided to question the nation of the last prophet first. And you know what, your daughter Leila got salvation in this process.”

“Really!” I shouted in shock and excitement.

“Yes, Saleh is correct,” said Naimah. “I have already met her. She is in the other tent along with her brothers and sisters. They are all waiting for you.”

“What about Jamshaid?” I asked Saleh.

A solemn silence answered my question.

“Then I would like to go back to the Plane of Judgment. Perhaps there may be a way out for him.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Saleh replied and then holding me by my hand, led me out of the tent.

 

 

After we came out of the tent, I asked Saleh:

"What can I do for Jamshaid?"

"You were not able to do anything for Leila, then how would you do anything for Jamshaid? Would you tell God what should he do?"

"May God forgive me! I did not mean to say this." I replied instantly, but after listening to Saleh's reply, my sentiments to save Jamshaid cooled down. After a pause I inquired of Saleh:

"Ok! Tell me what happened in the Plane of Judgement after I passed out?"

"Even when you were awake you did not fully appreciate what was going on there. If you want to know the real story then ask one of the criminals. As each hoard of angels descended, the criminals became more frightened. Then, when the orders were given to bow down in front of the Almighty, everyone bowed down except for these wretched people who kept standing with their chests bulging out in arrogance in front of God".

"Was this because their backs became stiff like boards?"

"Yes, this was their punishment. Following this when God Almighty declared that he was the King, and where were all the others who claimed to be kings beside him, those criminals still remained stood in front of him with their chests bulging out in arrogance. If only you could have seen the state of those criminals at that time! Their hearts were sinking; they felt suffocated. Their eyes were wide open with fear and horror. They felt utterly helpless and unable to stop themselves from standing upright with such arrogance in front of the Master of the whole Universe.”

"What happened then?"

"Obviously, the Accountability was to take place on an individual basis however, at that point, it was made obvious to the criminal what their fate was going to be. This was done by completely opening the gates of Hell. Consequently, the atmosphere in the left side of the Plane of Judgement became extremely frightening. It seemed as if the Hell was boiling with anticipation and excitement. It felt as if it would burst with rage when it saw the criminals. Its loud uproar and shrieking was audible over a wide area. Its flames were flying out of it. They were so gigantic that the sparks coming out of them were as big as huge palaces. The dancing flames and the sparks created such a scene that looking at them it seemed as if yellow camels were dancing in the sky. Do not ask me what the condition of those people was when they saw all this. They felt that the prior hardships they faced in the Plane of Accountability were negligible compared to this."

"How did the accountability commence?"

"Adam, the father of mankind and the first prophet, was asked to testify first of all. He stated, ‘I present myself to you, O the only one worthy of praise. I am present and ready to serve you with all my energy; all goodness lies in your hands.’

Almighty said, ‘Separate the dwellers of Hell from amongst your children Adam’.

‘How many should I separate?’ He inquired.

‘Nine hundred and ninety nine out of every thousand.’ The Almighty replied. Abdullah, you cannot imagine the mayhem that followed in the Plane of Judgement when people heard this."

"But why did the Almighty decide to send such a large number of people to the Hell?" I inquired.

"This was not a judgement but it was only to demonstrate that out of all the people present in the Plane of Accountability, only one out of a thousand deserved to go to the Paradise. In fact, the humanity as a whole has failed badly in the test of faith and morality Abdullah. Therefore, purely on the basis of Almighty’s justice, this number of people deserves to go to Hell on merit. You may remember that the last Prophet had mentioned in the previous world that if one were to divide God’s compassion into a hundred parts, then only one part had manifested in that world while the remaining ninety nine parts had been reserved for the Day of judgement. Thus, he displayed his mercy and instead of deciding the fate of those people first who were destined for the Hell, he decided to call for accountability those people first who had the highest chance of success and deliverance."

"You mean people who were generally good?"

"Yes, those people from every nation were called first whose accountability and success was only a formality. This process started with the nation of the last prophet. The other nations will also have their turn soon as from amongst the total population of humans, the successful people are only one per cent. He will pass judgement about the fate of the rest of the humanity later on. The advantage of this would be that if the hardships in the Plane of Judgment could become a substitute for someone's sins then this might happen."

After saying this Saleh stopped for a moment and then said with regret:

"However, I do not hold much hope for the rest of the people."

"Why?" I asked.

"This is due to polytheism. God is very sensitive about it. You are aware that it is one of the biggest issues that plagued the humanity throughout its entire history. It will be the main reason for the doom of most people today. This is because there is little hope that this sin will be forgiven. Yes, if someone's circumstances and environment could be accepted as an excuse then that is fine, otherwise anyone who has knowingly indulged in polytheism, has negligible hope of reprieve today."

"Even if they are Muslims?" I asked

"Yes" Saleh replied.

"Polytheism was a flare from the fire of Hell. Today, it will definitely burn every person who knowingly ascribed partners to God, whether it was in his being, in his attributes or in his obligations and powers. If someone worshipped a deity other than God, or prayed to that deity or prostrated in front of it, considering it to be a partner to God and to have a share in any of his attributes and powers, he would get burnt by that flame today."

"God is great! There is no god but the one God!" I said spontaneously.

 


"There is one thing that I still cannot understand." I said to Saleh as we walked along.

"What is it?"

"From the First to the last, the number of Muslims must be in millions and even billions; then, how did Leila's turn happen to be at the beginning?"

"Do you think that the God Almighty looks at identity cards of people to decide who is a Muslim and who is not?"

"What you mean?"

"I mean that the vast majority of Muslims did not prefer to identify themselves as Muslims. For most people, their true identity happened to be their sect, leaders or creed. Thus, today when the accountability of the nation of the last prophet began, initially only those people were called who truly believed in the Oneness of God, associated themselves only to the way of last prophet while avoiding sectarianism, and in addition, kept their religion protected from innovations and deviations. They were the people who ignored their biases and associations when it came to matters relating to the truth. They accepted the truth open heartedly whenever it became apparent to them.  Among these were the pious, who stood in the shadows of the Throne today, as well as those people in the Plane of Judgement, whose good deeds were mixed with bad attitudes. However, the most merciful God over-looked their bad deeds and forgave them due to their pious actions. Such people were small in number though, that’s why Leila's turn came soon. At least, in this aspect she did well. All of her limitations in her deeds were ignored on account of the hardships she suffered in the Plane of Judgment. In addition, your compassionate Lord elevated her status so she could be with you, although her performance was not comparable to yours."

"But, my accountability has not even started yet."

"Your presence here signifies that your fate has already been decided. However, it has not been declared yet. Do not worry, the declaration will only be made at the end of the day when the accountability is finished."

"Why?" I inquired. Saleh clarified:

"Remember I told you that there are four types of people whose deliverance is decided at the time of their deaths? That is, the prophets, the sidiqeen, the witnesses to the truth, called the shuhada, and the pious people.”

I nodded in affirmative. Saleh continued:

"The prophets and shuhada are the people whose real accomplishment is that they became witnesses upon the Truth in front of other people in the previous world, in addition to passing on the message of Oneness of God and the Hereafter. Today, they will present to the Almighty, the details of how they performed their role of bearing witness to the Truth, so that other people do not have an excuse to say that they were not aware of the truthful and the righteous way. This is because these prophets and shuhada had clearly explained the Truth in the previous world.

Therefore, the rest of the people will be held accountable on the basis of their testimony and thus, their eternal future will be decided. These decisions will continue to take place until all human beings have been dealt with; in the end, shuhada like your self will be called and their success will be announced to the whole world. Only after this is all done, will the people be moved towards the Paradise or the Hell."

"So this means that people will not go to heaven or hell immediately.”

"Yes, they will not proceed immediately. Instead, as each and every person will have his Accountability, he will be asked to stand to the right side with respect and in comfort, if he is successful and, if unsuccessful, he will be moved to the left hand to stand in disgrace and punishment. When everyone’s accountability has taken place, then people will be taken in groups towards the Paradise or the Hell."

"Who will be the first one to enter the Paradise?"

"The last prophet will request for the doors of the Paradise to be opened; then, the residents of the Paradise will enter the Paradise amidst a spectacular reception, greetings and accolades."

"At this moment, where is Prophet Muhammad, May there be peace upon him?"

"He is by the pond of Kauthar presently. Every person from his nation who successfully passes the accountability process is taken to him; he then greets each person with a drink from the Kauthar. After drinking from the Kauthar, not only does a person forget all the hardships and thirst of the Plane of Judgement, furthermore, he never becomes thirsty again. By the way, do you remember that drink from the Kauthar?"

"Of course, I do!"

After listening to Saleh talk I experienced an intense desire to meet the prophet. I said to Saleh:

"Shall we first go and present ourselves in the presence of the prophet?"

The sentence had hardly left my lips when a loud voice stated:

"The accountability of the successful people from among the nation of the last prophet has been completed. Now will commence the accountability of the nation of Jesus Christ. Jesus, Messiah and son of Mary, May there be peace upon you, a Messenger from God and the final Prophet sent to the Israelites, present yourself in the presence of God".

I looked at Saleh in a questioning manner. He said:

"Now Prophet Jesus Christ will bear witness on his nation. He will present a summary of his teachings when the Almighty asks him to do so. This will be his testimony against the criminals of his nation, while at the same time, it will also serve as a means for salvation for those people of his nation who held correct beliefs and performed pious deeds. Following this, the Almighty shall forgive the mistakes of those people from his nation, whose beliefs were in conformity with his teachings; they will be declared successful after a cursory accountability."

"Did something similar happen to the Muslims as well?"

"Yes, the final prophet was called upon first of all to be a witness. His testimony was considered as evidence against all those who rejected his message as well as those who disobeyed it. If only you could have seen that scene when all such people wished for the Earth to split open and hide them up. However, his testimony proved to be a source of salvation for people like Leila. In essence, the true reason for their reprieve was that their faith and deeds were, on the whole, in conformity with his testimony."

"This means that so far, only those people from the nation of the last Prophet have attained redemption whose beliefs and deeds are in accordance with his teachings."

"Yes, the Almighty ignored their mistakes. The same would happen with the nations of other prophets as well. Those people, whose faith and deeds were by and large in accordance with the teachings of their respective prophets, would be forgiven. After that, only criminals and disbelievers would be left behind in the Plane of Judgment, waiting for a decision."

"What will happen then?"

"After that, general accountability will commence."

"General accountability?”

"In the accountability of all nations, the first phase entails the declaration of success of the pious people as well as the cursory accountability of people like Leila. After this, general accountability will commence in which decisions will only be based on a thorough investigation of deeds. Obviously as a result of this, the criminals will find themselves in trouble. However, many people with true faith will get salvation despite their sins, on account of God’s mercy; they will find that the right arm of the scale of justice bearing their good deeds and attitudes will become heavier, due to his intervention. For them, the humiliation and hardship they experienced in the Plane of Judgment will become their penance and an excuse for their forgiveness. This is what I mean by general accountability.

Albeit, their will be some people who will be held back and not called for accountability till the last moment. They will be those believers who carry a very heavy burden of sins. For these people, this severely lengthy wait may continue for thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years, during which they will have to endure the worst hardships, difficulties and torments. Only after this may they have a chance for reprieve."

"What would be that chance?"

"That chance would be the manifestation of God’s mercy. He would not give full punishment to these people as demanded by his attribute of justice; instead, the penance in the Plane of Accountability would become a reprieve for their sins. Furthermore, he would allow his prophets and in particular, the last prophet to intercede on their behalf by allowing them to request the start of their accountability."

"But to suffer so much hardship in the Plane of Judgement and then attain reprieve is not an appropriate way." I said in a remorseful tone. Saleh replied:

"The prophets came to tell people a better way, that is, to accept faith, perform righteous deeds and to seek forgiveness after any mistakes. This was the simplest and easiest way to salvation. But, people in general did not pay heed to them and subsequently, suffered its consequences today."

I said in agreement:

"You are correct. This pardon would be attained after great hardship and disgrace. I could not withstand Leila's sorrow although she attained reprieve in the beginning; what would be the state of these people who will have to wait till the end and endure the hardships and difficulties of the Plane of Judgement."

"My brother!  The circumstances in which you saw Leila were comparatively very good. Now, the environment of Plane of Judgment has become horrendous. The reason for this is that the entrance to the Hell has been opened completely. After this not only is there an intense heat in the Plane of Judgement but the view of the Hell and the risk of going in it is enough to make it worse many fold. The guilty are facing the rage of God Almighty. People can see the gates of destruction and disgrace open in front of them. All this is so fierce that it is beyond the endurance of human beings. Most importantly, no one knows what will happen to him. You can therefore not even begin to comprehend the fear, the mental and physical anguish and the psychological torture that these people are now experiencing.”

I thought to myself that was this how many people had hoped to gain reprieve in the Hereafter? Alas! If only people could have understood in the previous world that the only way of salvation is through faith and righteous deeds. The last prophet preached this all his life. But, what can one do about the false hopes of people? They forgot the teachings of their prophet and created a false world of their own, built solely on their desires and imaginations. They thought that even if they do not do anything they would be saved by the intercession of their prophet.

But today, it has become clearly evident that salvation will only be attained on the basis of true faith and righteous deeds. They will have to face punishment for every major sin that that they did not repent, in the shape of hardships in this Plane, beneath the dreadful shadows of Hell. Alas! If only the people had understood this in the previous world, their entire lives would have been spent seeking forgiveness.

I was deeply lost in my thoughts, when Saleh looked towards me and said:

"In my opinion, before we go to the pond of Kauthar, we should see the testimony of Prophet Jesus Christ. We will go to Prophet Muhammad afterwards, May there be peace upon him!"

 


We were back in the Plane of Judgment once again. But this time we were standing on the right side of the Throne. The earth and skies were gloriously lit up from the dazzle of the Throne. For the successful people, this light was a source of jubilation and elation, whereas in contrast, it was landing upon the criminals as wrath of the Almighty.  On all the four sides of the Throne, there were rows upon rows of angels who were standing with their hands folded together. The closes were the Bearers of the Throne, and after them, there were other angels stationed according to their status and position. On the lips of these angels were words of gratitude, supplications and salutations, and praise for the Lord. Prophet Jesus Christ was now present in the court of the Almighty. The angels had gathered all the Christians, from the first to the last, closer to the Throne. Almighty spoke:

"Jesus, son of Mary come forward."

"Angels moved to make way for Prophet Jesus as he walked forwards and stood close to the Throne. His hands were folded together and his neck was bowed. The Almighty said:

"Jesus, you delivered my message to your nation. How did they respond?"

"Master, I do not know. Only you have the knowledge of the unseen."

His reply was attributing to the fact that he was not aware of what his nation did in the world after him. A pin-drop silence ensued in the entire Plane of Judgement on hearing the reply of Prophet Jesus. After some moments, there was an explosion in the sky. Everyone looked up towards the sky. A sort of film began to run on the sky. In this film, the Christians were prostrating in front of statues of Prophet Jesus and Mary. One could see people taking out processions on the roads carrying the cross. In the churches, Christ and Mary were being worshipped. People were praying to him to solve their problems. Songs were being sung in his praise. Priests could be seen making speeches, in which, they were making every effort to prove that he was the Son of God.

When I saw this, I thought to myself that Christians gave birth to the biggest case of polytheism in the history of mankind despite that fact that God had sent Prophet Jesus with the message of Oneness of God.  At that time, the Jews had made it extremely difficult to follow the religious laws given by Prophet Moses, on account of their multiple juristic alterations. These people turned the spiritual and loving relationship between a servant and his God into an emotionless and superficial legal association, limited only to conforming to the law. Consequently, they put great emphasis on some noticeable and trivial obligations but ignored the commandments related to morality and a deeper relationship with God. It was in this environment that the most honourable Jesus Christ was sent to them, Might there be peace upon him. He severely criticised the shallowness and moral bankruptcy of the children of Israel. He once said while criticizing the religious people of his time:

"What sorrow awaits you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For, you illegitimately grab the homes of widows; and prolong your prayers, only for deception. Your punishment will be even more... What sorrow awaits you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For, you give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cumin (as obligatory charity on your harvest), but have neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain your drinks so you won’t accidently swallow any gnats but you deliberately swallow whole elephants! What sorrow awaits you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For, you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but within you are full of extortion and unrighteousness. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. What sorrow await you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For, you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of insincerity and disregard of God’s law."

The Jews became his fierce enemies on hearing his criticism, so much so that they became intent on his murder. However, God saved him from their deception and raised him unto Himself. Unfortunately, afterwards one of his staunch Jewish opponents by the name of Saint Paul reshaped all his teachings while claiming to be one of his followers. On one hand, he declared that adherence to the religious law is only obligatory for Jews and not for the rest. On the other hand, he exaggerated the status of Prophet Jesus Christ and his mother to divine deities. Thus gradually, Christianity became the biggest polytheistic religion of the world. Christians considered Jesus to be the Son of God, and prayed to him for help in every difficulty, regarding him as someone capable of solving their problems. But, this was a fabrication and it became completely apparent today.

As I thought about this, I heard the wailing and crying of the Christians present in the Plane of Judgement. The Christians had clearly seen their actions, and their fierce consequence in the shape of the Hell was visible right in front of them, with its mouth wide open. Suddenly, some of them began to shout:

"Our Lord! We only acted upon the teachings of Jesus. You sent him to us as a Messiah. He told us that he was your son sent by you to save us."

A loud noise suddenly spread in the atmosphere and startled everyone into silence. The Almighty said to Jesus Christ:

"Jesus, did you tell these people to worship you and your mother instead of me?"

On the face of it, this seemed like a straightforward question without any implications, but as soon as Prophet Jesus heard it, he began to tremble. It seemed that he was struggling to carry the weight of his body. On seeing this, God said:

"Jesus, you are my beloved prophet. My prophets have no fear in my presence. Answer my question at ease."

Two angels came forward and helped Jesus onto a chair.

"This scene was heart-wrenching. Prophet Jesus Christ was a very dear and beloved prophet of God, but regrettably, for no fault of his own, he was made the foremost personality in history to have been worshipped and placed in rivalry to God. People prayed to him, recited his praise and salutations, and worshipped him. But today, the state that he found himself in after just one question from the Almighty was enough to make those who considered him God, shed tears of blood. Today, everyone found out that all were insignificant in comparison to God.

I thought in my heart that all such pious servants of God who were given names and attributes by their followers that were only worthy of God, would come forward one by one, and would deny ever having made such claims. Like Prophet Jesus, none of them will find the strength to dare to stand in front of God. If only all those people who put them on such high pedestals had known about the true greatness of God before the arrival of this day! If only they had not placed human beings in competition with God. Meanwhile, as the effect of fear of God lessened a bit from Prophet Jesus Christ, he stood up from his chair and said:

"Master you are exalted and free of all flaws! How could I dare to say something that I had no right to say? If I had said such a thing then you would have known about it… I only told them what you had commanded me to say, that is, ‘worship only one God, who is my Lord as well as your Lord.’ I remained a witness upon them as long as I was amongst them. Then, after you raised me up, only you watched over them; and you are a witness to everything. If you punish them, they are your servants; and, if you chose to forgive them, you are the most mighty and wise."

On hearing this, God said:

"Today, only truth will be beneficial; it will benefit people who adopted it sincerely."

Prophet Jesus Christ was allowed to leave after this and angels were given their orders:

"Everyone in the nation of Jesus Christ, whose knowledge and actions conformed to his teachings, should be brought forward."


<< Chapter 6: To Whom Belongs The Kingdom Today? Chapter 8: At the Kauthar  >>  

 

Source: http://www.understanding-islam.org.uk/archives/when-life-begins-preface/chapter-4-naimah/914-when-life-begins-chapter-7.html




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