Islam for Muslims
- THE FAITH OF MUSLIMS
- GOOD DEEDS IN PERSONAL LIFE
- GOOD DEEDS IN SOCIAL LIFE
God as the Judge
Introduction: In this world, you will find the sinners often enjoying a higher measure of comfort and happiness compared to the pious people. This raises a question about the avowed policy of God to “punish” “(the godless sinners)” and give “goodly reward” to “the believers” (18:2). In fact, there is no exception to the roles played by God as “the Greatest of all Judges” (95:8). Accordingly, He will judge fairly among people on the basis of “what (they) earned (as performance record), without any “unjust dealing” (2:281; 10:44). Even an “atoms weight of good” or “evil” will be taken into account during the Day of Judgment for handing out justice through due penalty or reward (99:7/8). Now follows an elaboration about this.
Four Varieties of Reward for Good Deeds: Rewards for righteous acts may take place both in (i) the earthly life and (ii) the Afterlife. In both cases these consequences may be both (a) physical and (b) mental, leading to their total varieties (by place and type) to four. Hence, whatever good things (e.g. physical comforts) you see people enjoying in this life as reward for good deeds (including people with mixed record) simply give an incomplete picture (only one out of four varieties) of total reward. For example, if you are getting (i) physical comforts in this life in return for a measure of virtuous acts , that means you are still missing other 3 types of rewards, namely: (ii) mental happiness here on earth (which is off-limit to the sinners for bites of conscience) and (iii) Afterlife physical comfort and (iv) Afterlife mental happiness. (Comfort here is understood more in the sense of material enjoyment and happiness is mainly about mental peace).
Four Varieties of Penalty for Sins: Similar to the above analysis on the varieties of reward, punishments for sins may also take place in both phases of life (here and Hereafter) and in both cases, penalty may take the form of both physical and mental, leading to their total fourfold varieties. If you see people suffering from earthly physical sufferings (either for non-believers or believers with fewer sins), that represents only one out of four varieties of punishment in total. These four are: (i) physical pain in this life (e.g. from broken limb), (ii) mental pain (depression or frustration due to your sins) here on earth, (iii) physical sufferings (from hellfire) and (iv) mental pain from the hellish Afterlife.
(A) Earthly Comforts: Mix for Both Good and Bad People: Truly speaking, the sinners have no clear-cut advantage over the pious people in respect of their earthly material comforts. God treats both good and bad people equally in respect of “awarding (material) bounties” in this life (17:20). Usually, “the days (of varying fortunes: good and bad)” alternate “by turns” in cyclic fashion for both the sinners and pious ones (3:140). It is quite usual that under this divine system, both groups of people will have troubled times. However, the pious ones have better chances for early relief from these troubles through prayer and petition.
The sinners, by contrast, have no access to such special blessings and their deliverance from sufferings is not a matter of right but of privilege depending on divine will. This is summed up by the Quran: “If you are suffering hardships, they (sinners) are also suffering similar hardships; but while you have hope from God, they have none” (4:104).
Occasional Earthly Comforts for the Non-Believers: Why? With exception to the above, if the sinners have any dominance of comforts over the pious people, then that is explainable by the following factors:
(1) Exclusive Emphasis on and Efforts for Present Life: Lacking faith in the reality of the Afterlife, the non-believers choose to reap “temporary gains of this world” (8:67). Accordingly, they spend most of their lifetime energies for earthly gains and pray “Our Lord! Give us (Your bounties) in this world!” (2:200) Accordingly, God grants them some good things in this life at the expense of much better things in the Hereafter.
People of this type do not allow morality to stand in the way of their fortune hunting. While the virtuous people stick to the principle of honesty in earning even by risking poverty, the sinners do not hesitate to adopt unfair means (e.g. tax evasion) for maximizing their income. This may casually offer them an edge over the pious ones in gains of income and wealth. However, there may also be many negatives from their “enlarged fortunes” such as “transgressions beyond all bounds” like arrogance, niggardliness etc., and shortage in their good deeds due to fortune-hunting engagements (42:27).
(2) Temporary Relief for the Non-believers: The sinners are not only allowed some conveniences of this life, they are also sometimes granted temporary “relief” (13:32) or “(loose) rope in trespasses” (2:15) to do things of their choice. They may enjoy and “please themselves” (15:3) with this freedom until the pre-decided day comes when they will be brought to justice, unless they come back clean during interim period. God “grants them their pleasure for a little while” before they finally face consequences when “finally promised (penalty) will visit them” (31:24; 26:206). Metaphorically, they are comparable to a kite that defies your face by playfully flying in the sky all day but by nightfall the owner pulls it down by the thread to bring it down. The above holds true for both the non-violent sins (e.g. consensual sex) widespread in many permissive societies as well as violent repressions often committed against the innocent people worldwide.
Casual Earthly Sufferings of Pious People: Why? The righteous often do not have unmixed happiness here on earth as they also share some sufferings with the evildoers. Reasons are not too far to seek.
(1) Erasing sin: The pious persons are not absolutely sinless as they may have, for example, 90% good and 10% bad deeds. Any sin, if not forgiven by God, must express through punishment. Since the pious ones consider the “Afterlife as better than the present one” (93:4), God aims to “purge” (3:141) the believers of their sins by giving them some tastes of earthly punishment. In this process, they become clean and ready for enjoying solid and steady happiness in the Hereafter. Metaphorically, these difficulties in the earthly life may be likened to COVID vaccine that trades small pain of injection now with freedom from the deadly disease in the future. Thus the sufferings of the righteous in this life will lead to their ultimate salvation in the Afterlife known as “the best end” (7:128).
(2) Testing of Faith: Another purpose of a troublesome present life is testing the intensity of your faith. This is particularly true for the righteous persons (ex: prophets) who had hardly any sins yet extraordinarily difficult lives. God claims “Do people think that they will be left alone on saying ‘we believe’ and they shall not be tested? I will test you to the extent of revealing who among you try their utmost and persevere in patience” (29:2; 47:31).
Thus it appears that testing (through trying circumstances like troubles or sufferings) is a device by which God can determine the levels of your faith and piety, in order to decide what categories of Paradise or Hell you will be eligible for. In practice, this means a harder test for a person with stronger faith who can show greater patience and piety, in order to qualify for better placement in the next life. For this type of people, hardship for testing through perils is also combined with the burden of doing ordinary good deeds such as maintaining family, helping old parents, rising for morning prayers etc. This led the Prophet to conclude: This earthly life is kind of prison for the believers.
By contrast, people with a shaky faith may face relatively easier test but they may lose patience when the test becomes harder. Then they break down to the point of blaming God for their difficulties, only to make matter worse for them in the life beyond death. The above reality mirrors in the life of the Prophet who, despite being the dearest of God, lived a life full of sufferings and struggles. Differently for Pharaoh, the most hated of God, was granted unparallel “splendor and wealth” (10:88) in this life until his miserable drowning in the Red Sea.
(3) Cultivating Modesty and Piety: Hardships like sickness or poverty may help the cause of your piety by controlling your feeling of pride or arrogance, inspiring “humility” (7:94), softening mind and strengthening sympathy for the needy and so on. In fact, punitive sufferings may help you “turn back (from evil)” (30:41). Amidst difficulties, you may remember God more frequently and intensely in addition to doing good deeds and repentance, entitling you to greater blessings than otherwise. Moreover, lower income means lighter spending burden which indeed may save you ample time to spend on good deeds. They will not have “diversion (from guidance) through mutual rivalry for piling up (wealth)” (102:1).
(4) Others: (i) Sometimes, good people side by side of the bad ones become victims of collateral damage when God inflicts collective punishments through flood, famine, earthquakes etc. A sinless baby may also suffer from sickness for the sins of their parents. For such exceptional treatment with such good people, there is bright prospect for due compensation. (ii) The earthly sufferings of good people will sharpen their sense of pleasure that will follow in their heavenly life. For example, a food will taste more delicious if you eat after getting hungry. Conversely, a sweetmeat will taste less sweet if you eat after taking sweetened tea.
(B) Mental Peace in Earthly Life:
Believers: In this life, compared to physical comforts shared by both the sinners and pious ones in an unbiased manner, mental peace is more likely to favor the believers over the sinners. God is powerful to “heal the breasts” of the believers and send down “tranquility” in their hearts (9:14; 48:4). Peace of mind mainly follows from doing good deeds. Next, your fond hope of gaining due rewards in the Afterlife keeps you from any frustration or depression that might come from any failure or misfortune of this life.
Non-believers: On the other hand, lack of faith in the Afterlife is likely to make the non-believers worried about their hopeless future, which can lead up to their tragic suicidal deaths in extreme cases. No wonder, many advanced nations (with a majority of faithless population) generally tend to have higher suicidal rates than others. This appears to result from frustration and depression largely linked to their secular or materialist leanings. This shows that money can buy only material comforts while mental peace or happiness comes from an orderly and optimistic religious life.
In fact, mental peace is very important and probably more important than physical comfort. That is why the depressed persons sometimes seek a way out of their frustration through voluntary death named ‘suicide’ which is the worst form of physical discomfort. By contrast, a mom forgets her severe delivery pain through overwhelming mental pleasure from her first glance at the new-born baby.
(C) Physical Comfort and (D) Mental Happiness in the Afterlife: In the world, both the believers and non-believers more or less share in the physical and mental blessings from God. However, enjoyment of the both in the Afterlife is heavily weighted toward the believers. Their “wishes” and “efforts” for the success in the Hereafter become “acceptable (to God)” (17:19). Thus, the “end is (best) for the righteous” as “the reward of the Afterlife is the best” (7:128; 12:57). By contrast, the non-believers desire and strive for prosperity of this life and God simply respects their wishes, certainly to their disadvantage. Accordingly, they are provided with “some” earthly comforts in exchange for their small measure of good works and thereafter very little or “no share” remains left for their reward in “the Afterlife” (42:20). This group will “laugh a little (now) (but) much will they weep (later)” (9:82).
Moreover, as a result of their heavier volumes of misdeeds, the non-believers would suffer terribly in the Hell. In this process, the sinners make a wrong choice for the worldly life over the Hereafter and thereby expose themselves to infinite harms. By contrast, the pious ones are immeasurably benefited from their option for the Afterlife, which has endless supremacy over the earthly life.
Superiority of the Afterlife: The duration of this fleeting earthly life is not even a microscopic fraction of the eternal Afterlife. The quality of life on this earth with “little comfort” (9:38) is also nowhere near matching with the heavenly life which is “higher in rank and gradation and more in excellence” (17:21). The qualitative and quantitative excellence of the Afterlife provides for punishment so painful and reward so pleasing that you can never find their parallel in this life. The “Afterlife penalty is far more grievous and more enduring” than that of this life (20:127). For any given unit of sin e.g. theft for example, the Afterlife penalty will be numerous times more severe (say thousand years of hell fire) compared to earthly penalty for similar sin (say hand amputation or one month of jail term).
Similarly, if a political leader obtains a reward in the Paradise for a particular act of piety (say lifelong contribution to world peace), that will measure in mega units like endless time of super luxurious life. By comparison, the maximum earthly reward for the same good deed, may be a Nobel peace prize with cash value of about $ 1 million, as an example. God therefore knows the worldly life as “short period enjoyment” and “a little comfort of the Hereafter” (4:77; 13:26). He therefore dismisses the earthly life as “play and amusement” and “goods and chattels of deception” (6:32; 3:185) and wishes “Let not this life deceive you” (35:5).
Conclusion: The above discussion leads us to conclude that the Afterlife is the “best home” for the righteous (6:32) and the worst place for the sinners. The occasional better conditions for the non-believers in this life, therefore, do not at all suggest any continued trend of their similar good days in the Afterlife.