Surah Al-Jathiyah, Ayah 27

Some of the Conditions of the Day of Resurrection and its Horrors

Allah mentions that He is the King and Owner of the heavens and earth, and the Only Ruler over them in this life and the Hereafter. Allah's statement,

وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ

(And on the Day that the Hour will be established) on the Day of Resurrection,

يَخْسَرُ الْمُبْطِلُونَ

(the followers of falsehood shall lose.) those who disbelieve in Allah and reject the clear proofs and unequivocal evidences that He has sent down to His Messengers. Allah said,

وَتَرَى كُلَّ أُمَّةٍ جَاثِيَةً

(And you will see each nation humbled to their knees (Jathiyah),) kneeling, fearful of the tremendous calamity and events. It was said that this will occur when Hellfire will be brought forth, for she will exhale once, and everyone will fall to their knees, including Ibrahim, the Khalil. He will proclaim, "Myself, myself, myself! Today, I will not ask You (O Allah) but about myself." And even `Isa, will proclaim, "Today, I will only argue before You on my own behalf, I will not ask You about Maryam, who gave birth to me." Allah said next,

كُلُّ أمَّةٍ تُدْعَى إِلَى كِتَـبِهَا

(each nation will be called to its Record. ) meaning, Record of deeds. Allah said in a similar Ayah,

وَوُضِعَ الْكِتَـبُ وَجِـىءَ بِالنَّبِيِّيْنَ وَالشُّهَدَآءِ

(And the Book will be presented; and the Prophets and the witnesses will be brought forward) (39:69). This is why Allah said here,

الْيَوْمَ تُجْزَوْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ

(This Day you shall be recompensed for what you used to do.) `you will be judged according to your deeds, good and evil.' Allah said in similar Ayat;

يُنَبَّأُ الإِنسَـنُ يَوْمَئِذِ بِمَا قَدَّمَ وَأَخَّرَ - بَلِ الإِنسَـنُ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ بَصِيرَةٌ - وَلَوْ أَلْقَى مَعَاذِيرَهُ

(On that Day man will be informed of what he sent forward, and what he left behind. Nay! Man will be a witness against himself, though he may put forth his excuses.) (75:13-15) Allah said,

هَـذَا كِتَـبُنَا يَنطِقُ عَلَيْكُم بِالْحَقِّ

(This, Our Record speaks about you with truth.) It contains the record of all your actions, without addition or deletion. Allah also said:

وَوُضِعَ الْكِتَـبُ فَتَرَى الْمُجْرِمِينَ مُشْفِقِينَ مِمَّا فِيهِ وَيَقُولُونَ يوَيْلَتَنَا مَا لِهَـذَا الْكِتَـبِ لاَ يُغَادِرُ صَغِيرَةً وَلاَ كَبِيرَةً إِلاَّ أَحْصَاهَا وَوَجَدُواْ مَا عَمِلُواْ حَاضِرًا وَلاَ يَظْلِمُ رَبُّكَ أَحَدًا

(And the Book will be presented, and you will see the criminals, fearful of that which is therein. They will say:"Woe to us! What sort of Book is this that leaves neither a small thing nor a big thing, but has recorded it with numbers!" And they will find all that they did, placed before them, and your Lord treats no one with injustice.) (18:49) Allah's statement,

إِنَّا كُنَّا نَسْتَنسِخُ مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ

(Verily, We were recording what you used to do.) means, `We ordered Our scribe angels to record your deeds.' Ibn `Abbas and others commented, "The angels record the deeds of the servants and then ascend to heaven with them. There, they meet the angels entrusted with the Records of deeds sent down from Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz on each Night of Al-Qadr, containing what Allah has written will occur from the servants, long before He created them. They will compare their records and find out that not a single letter was added or deleted." He then recited this Ayah,

إِنَّا كُنَّا نَسْتَنسِخُ مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ

(Verily, We were recording what you used to do.)

وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَا إِلَّا الدَّهْرُ‌ "...and nothing destroys us except time...(45:24) " The word dahr means ` time from the beginning of the world to its end'. It also refers to ` a very long period of time'. The atheists alleged that their life and death have nothing to do with Divine will and command. They happen under natural causes. Death is a process which they say they experience when their human limbs, organs and abilities diminish on account of constant use and, with the passage of time, the matter becomes dissolved and is destroyed; and that this is the be-all and end-all of human existence, there being no life hereafter. Likewise, life has nothing to do with Divine will and command. Life too, like death, happens under movement of material causes.

‘Nothing but time destroys us.’ These are not the words of the common man. Such maxims are typically uttered by a special calibre of individual. Such an individual, because of his intelligence, attains the status of an intellectual representative of society. However, whatever he says is based on conjecture and not on any real knowledge. On the contrary, whatever a prophet says is based on a concrete foundation. Every day we witness the birth of a human being out of a death-like state of non-existence. It is as if here every man receives life after “death”, then after being alive, he dies again. This is an indication of the fact that, just as life appeared after death-like non-existence for the first time, similarly, for the second time also, there will be life after death. With this, the possibility of life after death is proved beyond doubt. Therefore, it is not correct to demand that those who are due to be resurrected in future should be brought back to life today for the purpose of demonstrating this truth, because the whole purpose of the present world is to put man to the test. If, today, the state of the future world were to be shown, the purpose of testing would be nullified.