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Teaching of the Quran
1.Introduction
2. Doctrine of God
3. Doctrine of Revelation
4. Doctrine of Judgment
5.Doctrine of Salvation
6.Law of the Life
7.Attitude to other Faiths

 
 
 

III. The Doctrine of Judgment.


1. Death.


The quranic doctrine is simple in comparison with later developments. Death is al yaqin Yaqæn, the Certainty which will happen at the stated time: "and when their time comes, they cannot put it off an hour, nor can they bring it on." Souls are taken to Himself by allah Allåh not only in death but also in sleep. They are taken in charge by the angel of death. "allah Allåh holds back those on whom He has decreed death" till the day of resurrection; meanwhile the interval seems to them as but a day. Only those are to be prayed for who have died in the faith. The examining and recording angels and other elaborations are of later date.


2. The Resurrection.


The commonest terms for this are bath Baÿth = Awakening and qiyamah Qiyåmah = Upstanding. The latter term is also applied to the Judgment as a standing before the Judge of all. The revival of the dead with their bodies was often derided by the pagans of Mecca, and as often defended by the Prophet. allah Allåh who has brought men to life by a strange and lowly process of nature is well able to restore the body thus created. The resurrection is the analogue of the birth process; it is a new creation foreshadowed by the first creation. It is prefigured by the springtime and the revival of the parched earth after rain. It will follow on two blasts of the trumpet and the shout which shall summon all to come forth (cp. 1 Thess. 4 16).


3. The Judgment Day.


"It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment" (Heb. 9 27) might well stand as the motto of quranic teaching on this subject, and it is under this head that the teaching of the quran QurŸån approximates most to that of the New Testament. The Resurrection is preceded and succeeded by other episodes of the Judgment Day. This is known as the Day, the Hour, the Event. It is the Day of Separation (fasl Faãl), of Reckoning (hisab Øisåb), of Judgment (din Dæn), the Encompassing Day (yaumul YaumuŸl Muhit). It is preceded by an awful Blow which shakes and pulverises the universe. Gog and Magog will break forth and a mysterious Beast of the Earth will appear, not, as in the Apocalypse, to corrupt the earth, but to rebuke mankind for their unbelief. Terror will seize upon mankind and all the bonds of human fellowship will be dissolved. When the dead have come forth the actual Judgment will begin. allah Allåh appears on His throne borne by eight angels while the heavenly hosts hover around Him. All nations are assembled on the face of the earth, kneeling in awe and gazing on the Judge, each summoned to its own Scripture which witnesses against it. This is the Day of Judgment when no soul can help another soul; each gives an account for himself before allah Allåh, the most just of judges. False gods will be invoked in vain; the light or heavy balance will decide. All works will be manifested on the Day of Severance. Before each man will be placed his book of deeds, and the same before each people (ummat); the record of sijjin Sijjæn for the wicked, that of illiyun ÿIlliyõn for the good; the leaves of the Book will be opened and the members of his body will witness against the sinner. The blessed shall have their book in the right hand, the damned in the left. The Day is sure to come though muhammad Muøammad may not live to witness it; the Hour is unknown save to Rabb: it will be one day as a thousand years (cp. 2 Pet. 3 8). The infidels will be distressed, for no ransom or intercession will avail for them. Rabb is the only asylum on that day (cp. Isa. 25 4 f). He will then reward the prayerful and continent.


4. Paradise.


The abode of the blessed is designated most often as Jannat = the Garden, sometimes as Firdaus, a Persian word of the same meaning which has passed into the Greek paradeisos. It is the Garden of Refuge, of Delight, of Eternity, and the Garden of Eden or Pleasure. Entrance into it is "the great felicity." There is some confusion between the Garden of Eden as the abode of Adam and Eve in their innocence and the Garden of the world to come; the primeval Eden is conceived as being in the upper world and Adam and Eve are cast down from it to earth. The blessed are welcomed with greetings of peace and dwell in gardens by cool flowing streams before the Mighty King. They repose on luxurious couches, are clad in the richest raiment, enjoy exquisite food, drink of fountains in which are mingled camphor and other costly essences, and quaff celestial wine at will. They enjoy the society of ever virgin houris, dark-eyed damsels with swelling breasts and shy, retiring glances; and pure wives are provided for them. These visions of delight are a reward for the godly who will abide in Paradise while heaven and earth shall last. They praise allah Allåh and behold the fiery torments of the damned with whom they converse, and to whom they refuse water. The inmates of Paradise are the prayerful and charitable, who have refrained from unlawful lust, righteous believers who were persecuted, fighters in the way of allah Allåh. Paradise is a reward for Muslims and their wives who have repented, prayed for pardon and done good works.


5. Hell.


The commonest name for this is nar Når = the Fire. Its seven other names have the same connotation except hawiyah Håwiyah = the Pit. The most widely used of the quranic names is Jahannam, a transliteration of the Hebrew Ge Hinnom, which became in Greek Gehenna. Hell has seven gates guarded by nineteen angels. It will be in full view at the Judgment. The descriptions of it are set out in pungent contrast to the joys of Paradise. Instead of cool shade, it blazes with intolerable flames. In place of repose and ease, the damned are tortured with burning chains and beaten with iron clubs. Instead of delicious foods, they are forced to partake of loathsome fruits, purulent gore and boiling water. No peace and kindly greetings, but wrangling with their seducers. No release shall they have from these torments; they are full of remorse, but their prayer to return and amend on earth is refused, and the relief of death is denied to them; they abide for ever in Hell. All will go into Hell, but the God-fearing will be delivered. Its inmates are the people of the left hand who have been unbelieving, covetous and fraudulent, who have neglected prayers and alms and worshipped the servants and creatures of allah Allåh and opposed His Prophet. No intercession will avail the inmates of Hell, for their doom is decreed. "On that day we will say to Hell: Art thou full? and it will say: Are there any more?" (50 29). "True shall be the word which hath gone forth from me-I will surely fill Hell with jinn and men together" (32 13). "We have created for Hell many of the jinn and of mankind"(7 178).
In the quranic doctrine of the life to come, as in other parts of its teaching, there are stages of development, notably in the much greater predominance of luscious or lurid descriptions in the earlier surahs Sõrahs. In the later and lengthier chapters muhammad Muøammad is occupied with the vindication of his authority as against the pagans of Mecca, and with the building up of his community at Medina, and an occasional reference to the Garden or the Fire is sufficient to recall the attention of believers to the delights and terrors which had burned themselves into their memory and were recorded in writing as the words of allah Allåh.


6. The Decrees.


The quranic doctrine of Predestination is very explicit though not very logical. For the purposes of exhortation a power of choice is assumed, but the hearers are often reminded that this power itself is in the hands of allah Allåh. The determinism of the quran QurŸån is summed up in the word qadar, i.e. measuring. The well-known word qismat is not used in this sense in the quran QurŸån, but its meaning is the same, viz., apportionment. Qadar expresses the divine act or decree which determines the apportionment of the lot of all things, animate or inanimate. As for the future it fixes the weal or woe of sentient beings in the life to come, so in the past it determines the creation of all things, the actions of men, belief and unbelief, obedience and disobedience, and all the events of life as well as its limits, for allah Allåh's behest is a fixed decree, even in accidental matters such as that of the wife of Zaid (33 38). The fate of men and cities is written in their book, on a clear register, containing all secret things. Yet those who use this as an excuse for their unbelief stand condemned; "The truth is from your Lord, so let him who will believe; and let him who will disbelieve" (18 28). And even to muhammad Muøammad, allah Allåh says: "What befalls thee of good it is from allah Allåh, and what befalls thee of bad it is from thyself" (4 81). But a survey of the whole leaves the matter summed up in the words: "allah Allåh do all beings in the heavens and in the earth adore, whether they will or no" (13 16). Had He pleased there would have been no idolatry. "allah Allåh is the Creator of everything; He is the One, the Dominant" (13 17).