Transliteration:( Qaalad khuloo feee umamin qad khalat min qablikum minal jinni wal insi fin naari kullamaa dakhalat ummatul la'anat ukhtahaa hattaaa izad daarakoo feehaa jamee'an qaalat ukhraahum li oolaahum Rabbannaa haaa u'laaa'i adalloonaa fa aatihim 'azaaban di'fam minan naari qaala likullin di'funw wa laakil laa ta'lamoon )
82. From this we learn that on the Day of Judgement everyone will be with the one with whom his heart was connected, irrespective of the difference in place and time.
83. By this is meant every type of infidel would be cursing an infidel of his kind, i.e. a Hindu will be cursing a Hindu, a Christian another Christian, a Jew another Jew etc. From this we also learn the Muslims would be protected from this cursing as they would be under a cover.
84. By first and last it means the off-spring of their ancestors, or the followers of their leaders. From this we learn that one form of the punishment of Hell is the disunity amongst its inmates, just as love and unity is one of the rewards amongst the inmates of Paradise. Those homes of believers in which there is unity, are heavenly homes
85. Because we committed only one sin, viz. our infidelity. They have committed two sins: they themselves had gone astray and they led us astray. Thus, let the punishment of their double sin be such that we are able to see it.
86. Because all of you are misguided and heretical. Every misguided person leads his wife, children and friends astray. Thus, the same degree and intensity of punishment which you desire for others will be exacted to you.
87. That you will not know the persons and the extent of their punishment. From this we learn that every inmate of Hell is caught up in such a form of punishment that he thinks that his form is worse than the rest.
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38. (Allah) will say: “Enter you in the company of nations who passed away before you, of men and Jinn, into the Fire.” Every time a new nation enters, it curses its sister nation (that went before) until they are all together in the Fire. The last of them will say to the first of them: “Our Lord! These misled us, so give them a double torment of the Fire.” He will say: “For each one there is double (torment), but you know not.” 39. The first of them will say to the last of them: “You were not better than us, so taste the torment for what you used to earn.”
(Enter you in the company of nations), who are your likes and similar to you in conduct,
(Who passed away before you) from the earlier disbelieving nations,
(Of men and Jinn, into the Fire.) Allah said next,
(Every time a new nation enters, it curses its sister nation (that went before)) Al-Khalil (Prophet Ibrahim), peace be upon him, said,
(“But on the Day of Resurrection, you shall deny each other) ﴿29:25﴾. Also, Allah said,
(When those who were followed declare themselves innocent of those who followed (them), and they see the torment, then all their relations will be cut off from them. And those who followed will say: “If only we had one more chance to return (to the worldly life), we would declare ourselves as innocent from them as they have declared themselves as innocent from us.” Thus Allah will show them their deeds as regrets for them. And they will never get out of the Fire) ﴿2:166-167﴾. Allah’s statement,
(until they are all together in the Fire) means, they are all gathered in the Fire,
(The last of them will say to the first of them) that is, the nation of followers that enter last will say this to the first nations to enter. This is because the earlier nations were worse criminals than those who followed them, and this is why they entered the Fire first. For this reason, their followers will complain against them to Allah, because they were the ones who misguided them from the correct path, saying,
(“Our Lord! These misled us, so give them a double torment of the Fire.”) multiply their share of the torment. Allah said in another instance,
(On the Day when their faces will be turned over in the Fire, they will say: “Oh! Would that we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger.” And they will say: “Our Lord! Verily, we obeyed our chiefs and our great ones, and they misled us from the (right) way. Our Lord! Give them a double torment.”) ﴿33:66-68﴾. Allah said in reply,
(He will say: “For each one there is double (torment)…”), We did what you asked, and recompensed each according to their deeds.’ Allah said in another Ayah,
(Those who disbelieved and hinder (men) from the path of Allah, for them We will add torment)﴿16:88﴾. Furthermore, Allah said,
(And verily, they shall bear their own loads, and other loads besides their own) ﴿29:13﴾ and,
(And also (some thing) of the burdens of those whom they misled without knowledge) ﴿16:25﴾.
(The first of them will say to the last of them) meaning, the followed will say to the followers,
(“You were not better than us. ..”) meaning, you were led astray as we were led astray, according to As-Suddi.
(“So taste the torment for what you used to earn.”) Allah again described the condition of the idolators during the gathering (of Resurrection), when He said;
(And those who were arrogant will say to those who were deemed weak: “Did we keep you back from guidance after it come to you Nay, but you were criminals.” Those who were deemed weak will say to those who were arrogant: “Nay, but it was your plotting by night and day, when you ordered us to disbelieve in Allah and set up rivals to Him!” And each of them (parties) will conceal their own regrets, when they behold the torment. And We shall put iron collars round the necks of those who disbelieved. Are they requited aught except what they used to do) ﴿34:32-33﴾
(7:38) Allah will say: ‘Enter the fire of Hell and join the nations of jinn and men that have gone before You.’ As a nation enters Hill, it will curse the one that went before it, and when all are gathered there, the last of them shall say of the first: ‘Our Lord! These are the ones who led us astray. Let their torment be doubled in Hell-Fire.’ He will answer: ‘Each will have a doubled torment; although you do not know.’[30]
30. As it is, each group of people is followed, even as it is preceded, by others. A group which inherits an error of outlook and conduct from its predecessors passes on the same, in turn, to future generations. In addition, whereas a group owes its wrong-doing partly to the wrong-doing of its predecessors, it will also be held responsible for leaving behind an evil legacy for the future generations. The Qur’an, therefore, pronounces a double punishment on such a group: it will incur punishment for its own misdeeds and also for leaving behind such a legacy for the coming generations. A number of traditions elucidate this point. According to one such tradition the Prophet (peace be on him) said: ‘He who introduces a misleading innovation which does not please God and His Messenger shall be held guilty for the sins of all those who follow that innovation without lessening in the least the burden [of sins] of those who followed the innovation,’ (Cf. Ibn Majah, Muqaddimat Bab Man Ahya Sunnah qad umitat, where the words are slightly different – Ed.) According to another tradition, he said: ‘The responsibility for all the murders committed in the world is shared by the first son of Adam [i.e. Cain] for he was the first to have innovated murder.’ (See Bukhari, Kitab al-Jana’iz, Bab Qawlih ‘alay al-Salam Yu’addhab al-Mayyit bi Ba’d Buka’i ahlih alayh – Ed.)
We thus know that the individual or group responsible for introducing a wrong idea or practice is not only responsible to the extent of those sins, but shares the responsibility of the sins of all those who are influenced by him. As long as the evil effects of that influence continue, their sins will be continually added to his account. This also shows that a person is not only accountable for the good or bad deeds that he commits. In fact he is also accountable for the influence of those deeds on others.
This may be illustrated by considering the case of someone who indulges in unlawful sex. All those whose bad examples, evil company, and inducements to evil caused a man to indulge in such an act have a share in the sin that he committed. The persons who influenced him in turn had been influenced by others. Were this chain of influence traced back to its ultimate origin, the blame would be fixed on the first person who demonstrated this unlawful way for satiating the sexual urge.
This does not detract from the fact that anyone who indulged in fornication is also accountable for the sin he committed. This is so because when he committed a sin he did so because he failed to make proper use of his capacity to distinguish between good and evil with which he had been endowed. He also did not pay due heed to the voice of his conscience, and mobilize the power of self-control given him. Nor did he benefit from the knowledge of good and evil transmitted to him by pious men nor was he inspired by the noble examples of the God-fearing. Nor did he learn any lesson from the evil consequences of sexual misconduct. Instead, he totally succumbed to blind sexual lust which sought gratification at all cost. This much relates to the responsibility of the person who indulged in sexual misconduct.
But there is another dimension of that person’s evil conduct – his propagation of that same evil among others which ruined the lives of countless people belonging to his own generation and to the generations that follow. It is also possible that he might have been afflicted by some general disease which he then communicated to his own generation and also to the generations that followed. His sexual misconduct might also have given birth to illegitimate children, unjustly passing on the burden of their upbringing to others, and making his offspring – without any justification – co-sharers in the fortunes and even the inheritance of others. The wrong that is thus perpetrated persists for many generations. Likewise, it is also possible that the said criminal might, by his cunning, have led an innocent girl to sexually corrupt behaviour. That in turn is likely to awaken evil propensities in her which wreck the lives and homes of countless families, even generations. Also, by setting an evil example for his children, relatives, friends and the society at large a fornicator is likely to cast a bad influence on people around him and infect others with moral corruption. The evil consequences of such an act thus linger on for a long time. The moral corruption that ultimately, engulfs the society owes its origin to the person who initially introduced an evil. Justice, therefore, demands that such a culprit should also be held responsible for the subsequent evils which may be traced back to his initial act of corruption.
The same holds true for good deeds. The reward for the heritage of goodness left behind by our predecessors from the earliest times should inevitably go to the credit of those men of the past who have continually transmitted that heritage to posterity down to our own time. If our own generation takes good care of that heritage, enriches it and passes it on to the coming generation, it also deserves due reward for that. As long as our good acts leave a trace of good influence on history and continue to cast a good influence on people, mankind will reap the benefits of those acts.
This is the Qur’anic view of retribution. Every sensible person will agree that such a dispensation alone can ensure perfect justice. Appreciation of this concept should dispel the idea of those who believe that men can be fully rewarded or punished for their deeds within the confines of this worldly life. Likewise, such an appreciation should also dispel the views of those who believe that the transmigration of souls alone can ensure full justice to all men. Such people have blundered because they have neither grasped fully the nature and consequences of human acts nor the nature and requirements of perfect justice. It is obvious that the consequences of individuals’ acts are not visible during their life-span – say sixty or seventy years or so. Instead, human activities, both good and evil, influence the lives of countless people belonging to countless generations. One cannot, therefore, be brought to justice during one’s own lifetime, since only a small part of the consequences of those acts have yet come to the surface. Moreover, the limited possibilities available in the present world are quite inadequate for bringing people to justice. Just consider the hideous crime of someone who pushes us to a world war. As things stand, the catastrophic consequences of such a crime would affect the lives of billions of men through the ages. Is there any punishment – physical, spiritual or material – which can be deemed even remotely, proportionate to that crime? Likewise, no worldly reward, however valuable, can adequately recompense for the noble services rendered by a philanthropist which will benefit numerous people for thousands of years.
Having viewed the question from this angle. one readily, concludes that there must necessarily be life in the Hereafter such that full justice can be meted out to everyone. Here all human beings are brought together, their full records are made available, and the reckoning is made by God Himself Whose knowledge embraces literally everything. Additionally, men should be granted unlimited spans of life, and infinite possibilities should be made available for receiving compensation.
A little reflection on this will help us see how false the doctrine of the transmigration of souls is. Those who subscribe to this doctrine fail to realize that eternal life is needed to mete out recompense to people for the deeds they commit during their relatively brief spans of life. If one were to believe in the unending cycle of life and death it would become impossible to reward or punish anyone for his actions, for each span of life would go on accumulating endlessly. The arrears would never be cleared.
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