Description:
What our lifelong companions will say to us as we enter our eternal abode.
We begin with a new series of articles about the conversations that take place in Paradise and Hell. It is hoped, that by reminding ourselves of what has been described to us of Paradise/the Heavenly Gardens and Hell, we will be able to experience and imagine the events that will take place when we come face to face with our abode in the Hereafter.
Why does God give us insight into these conversations? The
Quran is filled with not just descriptions of the Heavenly Gardens and Hell, but
conversations, dialogues, discourses and intellectual discussions. When similar
scenarios are repeated over and over it is an indication that God is saying, “pay
attention!” It is therefore incumbent upon us to do just that - pay careful attention,
with either hope for the blissful abode known as the Heavenly Gardens or seek to
protect ourselves from the fires of Hell. Information is repeated over and
over in order to make us think long and hard.
In the following articles we will look at several
different categories of conversations. The conversations of the angels with
the people of the Heavenly Gardens and with the people of the Hellfire, the
conversations that take place between the people of the Heavenly Gardens and Hell
with their family members, and the conversations God has with the people of
both the Heavenly Gardens and Hell. In addition to this we will look at what
the people of both the Heavenly Gardens and Hell say
between themselves, to each other and their internal dialogues. Let us begin
with the conversations between the angels and the people of the Hereafter.
Conversing with Angels
Angels dwell amongst human beings from our beginning
until the very end. They are responsible for breathing the souls into the foetuses,
they record our good and bad deeds and they extract the souls from our bodies at
the point of death. As we enter our eternal abode, our afterlife, they are
with us and we will be able to converse with them.
The People of the Heavenly Gardens
The eternal abode of those who have lived their lives
with patience in the face of adversity, and strived to be righteous through
times of difficulty and ease, is the eternal, Heavenly Gardens known as Jannah.
When the people who will spend eternity in the Heavenly Gardens enter into
their new home the angels will greet them. These are the gatekeepers of the
Heavenly Gardens and they will say, “enter here in peace, because of your patience!”
The Heavenly Gardens is a place of eternal serenity and total satisfaction.
And those who kept their duty to their Lord will be led to the
Heavenly Gardens in groups, till, when they reach it, and its gates will be
opened (before their arrival for their reception) and its keepers will say:
Salamun ‘Alaikum (peace be upon you)! You have done well, so enter here to
abide therein.” (Quran 39:73)
All sense of injury or pain will be removed from their
hearts. They will reply to the angels by praising God, and the conversation continues.
“…All the praises and thanks be to God, Who has guided us to
this, and never could we have found guidance, were it not that God had guided
us! Indeed, the Messengers of our Lord did come with the truth.” And it will be
cried out to them: “This is the the Heavenly Gardens which you have inherited
for what you used to do.” (Quran 7:43)
The people of the Hell fire
The conversations that will take place between the
people of the Hellfire and the angels will be entirely different. The dwellers
of the Hellfire will be having an entirely different experience. Instead of
waiting eagerly to be entered into their eternal abode the people destined for
Hell will have to be herded and dragged by the angels in charge of the fire. As
the bereft people are cast into it the angels will say, “Didn’t a warner come
to you?”
It almost bursts up with fury. Every time a group is cast
therein, its keeper will ask: “Did no warner come to you?” They will say: “Yes,
indeed a warner did come to us, but we belied him and said: ‘Allah never sent
down anything (of revelation); you are only in great error.’“ And they will
say: “Had we but listened or used our intelligence, we would not have been
among the dwellers of the blazing Fire!” (Quran 67:8-10)
This however was not the first time these dwellers of
the fire carried on a conversation with the angels. When the angel of death
and his assistants gather to remove the souls of such people they ask
pointedly, where are those you worshipped besides God? Because at this stage of
a person’s life his idols are conspicuously absent.
…when Our Messengers (the angel of death and his assistants)
come to them to take their souls, they (the angels) will say: “Where are those
whom you used to invoke and worship besides God,” they will reply, “They have
vanished and deserted us.” And they will bear witness against themselves, that
they were disbelievers. (Quran 7:37)
After some period of time the dwellers of the Hellfire
begin to lose all hope. They have been calling out to God but receive no
response, so they begin to beg the angels, the gatekeepers. Call on your Lord
they say, ask Him to lighten our punishment. The angels respond with words
that increase their disappointment.
And those in the Fire will say to the keepers (angels) of
Hell: “Call upon your Lord to lighten for us the torment for a day!”They will
say: “Did there not come to you, your Messengers with (clear) evidence (and
signs)?” They will say: “Yes.” They will reply: “Then call (as you like)! …
(Quran 40:49-50)
No comments:
Post a Comment