We believe that a true and comprehensive
understanding of Islam would not be possible without careful recognition of the
Prophetic Tradition and the Prophet's Household. And Allah is the Source of Strength.
Questioning After Death; The Boons Of Life
"We all do not know much about what will happen to us after death. There are many books from many scholars, quoting many traditions, beliefs and cultural interpretations of after-death experiences, but the fact is that we do not know anything about the post-death era except what Rasool (SAW) has educated us through the Quran.
You ask a Mullah or Zaakir about what questions shall be asked from us, and they will come up with many questions, some even conflicting in nature. The truth is, we are not sure what shall be asked from us, except something which has been foretold to us by Allah himself.
As the Quran states (102:8), on that day we shall most certainly be questioned about the boons.
The bounties bestowed upon us by Allah, the boons of our life, certainly demand their accountability; If Allah gave us wealth, where did we spend this wealth? In halal or haram? If Allah gave us spare time, how did we spend it? In constructive works or in vain gossips? If Allah gave us knowledge, did we aid people with it or we used it to empower our own selves?
Our friends, family, our loved ones, our children and parents are our bounties. Did we treat them with love and respect or we were insolent and selfish? Our position in power is a bounty, did we use it to help the oppressed, or to oppress the people? Our eyes, our ears, our hands and tongues, our senses are a bounty. Did they worship Allah or enjoyed lust? The good times are a mercy of Allah. Were we grateful for it, or were we arrogant?
Isn't death and Qayamat a bounty of Allah? Where in he will reward his people and punish the insolents, the power hungry, the money hungry, the ones who kill in the name of religion, the tyrants and the pharoahs? Did we then remember our death and respect it or were heedless of it?
One of the bigger bounties of Allah is the Aql he bestowed upon
us. The intellect is such a bounty that without it, there is no accountability.
An insane man is not accountable for his actions, a young child before he
attains maturity (of intellect) is not accountable before Allah. How did we then
use our intellect? Did we conquer our desires via it and understand the way of
Allah, or we over-wrote our intellect with use less thoughts and became animals?
How can we call that intellect an intellect which does not understand the
Tauheed of Allah? How can the signs of creations, the sacrifices of prophets and
martyrs not challenge our intellect to believe in the unseen? Surely the
intellect believes in gravity because of its effects on everything around us.
Does not this intellect then see the effects of a bigger
force around us and in us?
What makes man excel over most of his creations? Maybe it is
intellect. And it is such an
enormous bounty of Allah, that without it there is no pleasure in life. It is
only with
intellect that man can create things, make money, understand a good joke and
feel the
happiness which follows it, earn money, and only with intellect a man can enjoy
his life. The
mentally insane are nothing but a burden on even their closest kith and kin?
When the intellect is such a bounty, how did we use it? Was our society its beneficiary or it created Fitnah?
The Quran is even a bigger bounty than the intellect, because without the Quran, the intellect was without a purpose, the Quran gave our intellect a purpose. So did our copy of Quran remain unopened while we followed blindly and without intellect the lusts of the corrupted mullahs?
What is maybe the biggest bounty in our lives, is the fact that we are followers of Muhammad (SAW) and lovers and shias of his Ahlulbayt (AS). The saying of the Durood is a bounty, for not only it brings us close the Prophet (SAW) and his Aal, but it is an act which is shared by the angels as well as Allah himself. These are our mawlas and such a bounty whose teachings, whose prayers in our favor and whose intercession (if), whose love will Inshallah save us from the fire. Did we then respect them, follow them, love them and abided by their teachings or did we disobey them and were we blind in the love of their enemies?
Did we give the right to all of the boons of our life? On Qayamah, how many favors of Allah we will then deny? "
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