Take Account Of Your Deeds

All praise be to Allah (SWT) Who completed the religion for us, perfected the blessing on us and chose Islam as our religion. May the blessing and peace be upon His Slave and Messenger, who called upon people to obey his Lord and cautioned against extravagance, innovation and disobedience: and may Allah bless his posterity, his companions and those who follow his footsteps till the Day of Judgment.

Allah (SWT) the Exalted says:- “O you who believe! Fear Allah genuinely and make sure you die as Muslims. (Q.3:102) and He says: Hallowed is the One in Whose Hand is the domain, and He is capable of doing everything, Who has created death and life to test who among you would do the best of deeds, and He is the Mighty the Forgiving (Q67:1-2) and He says: “Everything will perish. Only your Robb, the Glorious and the Majestic will remain (Q.55:26-27)

Man has been given the faculty to think, to know and understand, and to distinguish between right and wrong and a natural inclination an conscience to shun evil and to follow the path of goodness. He has the opportunity to take account of his own deeds in preparation for the life after death.

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah exalt his mention, said “What do I need this world for? My stay in it is like a traveler who took a rest in the shade of a tree, then went away leaving it behind”. (Saheeh al-Jami’). Man was not abandoned to his natural intelligence which was bound to be evolutionary and conflicting. God sent down his Messages through His chosen Servants and Envoys to indicate to man the true path of guidance. These Revelations and Messages were sent in all ages and times and to every section of mankind because in the sphere beliefs and some eternal truths man repeatedly mislead himself by following his desires, conjectures, and conclusion based on superficial observation. His opinion could be arbitrary, often erroneous, and man could ever be led astray by his desires and prejudices. The purpose of the Message was always to guide the ewing humanity to pluck man from the kingdom of passion and the cult of quantity and to reintegrate him into the world of spirit and serenity. The messenger of Allah (SWT) said, “Remember more often the destroyer of joy” (At-Tirmidth) He meant death. Our scholars, may Allah grant them mercy commented on the above hadeeth saying that the words of the Prophet, (SWT) [Remember the destroyer of joy more often…] are right to the point and concise: they remain man of death, and admonish the one who heeds. Remembering death stops man from wishing such joy in future and makes him less desirous of the pleasure of this world, and reminds man of the hereafter. By that, man prepared to carry out the main purpose by which he was created. That is adhering to ‘Tawheed’. If a person adheres to worshiping Allah (SWT) as He has commanded, he will be secured regarding his own life, wealth, children and home; and he will be provided security against the punishment of the grave and the torment of the Day of Resurrection. Allah (SWT) say, “It is those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah and worship none but Him Alone) and confuse not their believe with Zulm (wrong i.e. by worshiping others beside Allah). For them (only) there is security and they are the guided” (Al-Anaam 6:82).

The system has not come by chance, but the Creator has brought it about deliberately with the object that the man should find the fulfillment of the demands of his nature with the woman, and the woman with the man; and the two should find peace and satisfaction and attachment with each other. This is the wise arrangement, which the Creator has made the means of the survival of the human race, on the one hand, and of bringing the human civilization into existence, on the other. If the two sexes had been created on different patterns and designs, and the state of agitation, which changes into peace and tranquility only through union and attachment between the two had not been placed in each, the human race might have survived like sheep and goats, but there was no possibility of the birth of civilization. Contrary to all other species of animal life, the fundamental factor that has helped create human civilization is that the Creator by His Wisdom, has placed a desire and a thirst and a longing in the two sexes for each other, which remains unsatisfied unless the two live in complete attachment and association with each other. The same desire for peace and satisfaction compelled them to make a home together. This same desire brought families and clans into being, and this same desire made social life possible for man. In the development of social life, man’s metal capabilities have certainly been helpful, but they were not its real motives. The real motivating force was the same longing with which man and woman were endowed and which compelled them to establish the “home”. Can anyone, possessed of common sense say that this masterpiece of wisdom has come about by chance through the blind forces of nature? Or, that it has been arranged by many gods, and countless men and women have been continuously coming into being with the same natural longing, since thousands of years? This is a Sign of the Wisdom of One Wise Being, and of One only, which the people devoid of common sense only can refuse to acknowledge.
In the same account, one should ponder on the signs of the universe. The earth was created for all living things, not just human beings. Animals form communities like those of humans.

“There is not an animal (that lives) on the earth, nor a being that flies on its wings, but (it forms a part of) communities like you. Nothing have We omitted from the Book, and they (all) shall be gathered to their lord in the end.” (Qur’an 6: 38).
Allah (SWT) provides sustenance for all His creatures as He wills, and He inspires them with the knowledge and instincts with which they need to live. Even though for a long time they did not exist, and were ‘not mentioned’, human beings are an especially honoured and preferred part of Allah’s creation.
Human beings are expected in having the responsibility of a very limited conscious free will in choosing whether or not to do the same as the rest of creation and obey God’s laws in their intentions, attitudes, words and deeds. However, whether they like it or not, their bodies obey those same laws! This free will of human beings is a test for them, to see who will obey Allah’s commands and who will disobey. To obey, they must fulfill their responsibilities as God’s appointed custodians and guardians of the earth.

The Aim

“And We created not the heavens and the earth; and all that is between them, for mere play…We created them not except with truth (i.e. to examine and test those who are obedient and those who are disobedient and then reward the obedient ones and punish the disobedient ones), but most of them know not.” Q 44: 38-39

“And I Allah (SWT) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone).” Qur’an 51: 56.

EVIDENCE TO JUDGE WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG

The Qur’an confirms Itself to be this knowledge and evidence, also describing itself as clear and complete guidance and a light and mercy for human beings, confirming and completing the truth revealed through all the prophets that come before Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It confirms Itself to be ‘the Truth’ as revealed and kept pure and free from error by Allah (SWT), and challenges people to analyse It, to prove prove this for themselves.
The Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him) put this guidance into practice, and many thousands followed his example or sunnah during his lifetime. Around 1,400years later there are now many millions of Muslims following both the Qur’an and the sunnah, and the laws that are denied from them. There are laws that govern the management of everything, and Islamic scholars world-wide still discuss any new situations which arise, to work out what the Islamic law should be in those matters.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said that there would never be a consensus among them on a wrong law.
All actions and words should be following the best understanding of what is right, based on knowledge of the truth, and careful thought. Actions should not be based on the blind following of superstitions and traditions of other people –including families, priests, husbands, wives, bosses, ‘holy’ men, teachers, rulers, the media, lusts, desires and whims for pleasures of the present, or any feeling alone. All these are limited in knowledge, make mistakes and can be selfish and corrupt. Following them can therefore be very destructive to the welfare of people and the environment.