Heaven For Non-Muslims

Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muhammad] - those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.62]

          Assalamualaikum, may Allah bless all the readers. Month of august is a very challenging month for me. This is because my laptop had few problems that delay my job (write an entry in this blog) and also made my life a bit difficult. We are relying much on the technologies and this is not good as if it is not in good condition, we feel like “no life”. Today’s entry I translate from my note in Facebook. When I wrote the note, I just think that it is important for the Malays. After that I think it can be useful for the others that cannot read Malay.

          Maybe some people will think this entry is very controversial entry, maybe some people will think this is just to attract the non-Muslim people towards Islam and maybe there are people that are not agree with me. You are allowed to agree and also to disagree, that is your choice. This entry is just want to explain the truth and to eliminate the thought that say people that not Muslim will go to hell. I want to renew our knowledge and also our thinking style, at the same time doing dakwah to attract the non-Muslim towards Islam.

          I read a post in one page in Facebook saying that, “if people that kafir, no matter how good they are, they will enter hell.” I disagree with this statement and that lead me to write note and also this entry. People are using word “kafir” as they like or wish to. They are using the word without knowing the actual meaning. The word “kafir” actually is not refers to non-Muslim, I will explain the definition later. They are few people (figures or scholars) that are holding the same thought that I am going to tell today.

          Dr Tareq Suwaidan has explained about this, a few months ago in one talk. He is the first person (that I know) that explained about this. At that time, I was amazed by his explanations, very good and excellent. Dr MAZA also always talks about this in his talks. People in Malaysia confirm knows him. You can check in YouTube for his videos. In his book, “Aku Ingin Kembara Lagi” also has one chapter talk about this topic. Therefore, I have a few references to strengthen my argument.

Now, let’s look on a few definitions:

1.     Munafik

The person is called “munafik” because he/she said they already have the faith on Allah, but in their hearts, they did not want to obey Allah. In Quran chapter (al-Baqarah), verse 8 until 20 tell the characteristics of these people (munafik).

And of the people are some who say, "We believe in Allah and the Last Day," but they are not believers.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.8]

2.    Musyrik

The person that believed in Allah, but he/she make two of Him. Make two of Him meaning that shirk. For example, the people that worshiped idols, asking help (prayer) from other people but not Allah, believed in superstitious things and others.

3.    Kafir

The meaning through language is that the action to cover up something or action to close something. The person can only be called “kafir” if they refused to accept the truth and also rejecting the truth. The person become a “kafir” if the argument is stated very clear until there is no more doubt about it, and at last the person did not want to accept it.

4.    People of Scripture

This category refers to the people that received scripture from certain prophets. In Quran, the people of scripture is refers to the Jews and also Christians. They are the follower of Prophet Moses (Jews) and (Christians) the follower of Prophet Jesus. However, in Quran tells us that only in the beginning they follow the teachings of these prophets. After the prophet left or die, they started to adjust the religion and made their own religion. Not only that, they also change their scriptures.

So woe to those who write the "scripture" with their own hands, then say, "This is from Allah ," in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.79]

5.    Non-Muslim

This category is about outside the other categories. The people of scripture also can be included in this category, I will explain it later. The people that have no religion can include in this category and people that have other religion such as Buddha, Hindu and others also the same.

          When we know the differences of these categories, we can understand who are going to survive from entering hell. From the Quran, there are clear evidences that say the “musyrik” will enter the hell. Based on Quran, we know that the “munafik” will be punished because of their behavior and “kafir” is clear that they will enter hell. For the people of scripture, maybe they are safe or they can also be punished after this life. For the non-Muslims, as long as they did not receive clear facts, strong evidences, strong argument, dakwah does not get to them, they have the opportunity to enter heaven.

          For the people of scripture, they have special case. They can either be saved or cannot be saved. For those that really do research on their own scriptures and then they found that their scriptures are not right. They realized that their religion is not the true one, and they try to find the correct religion. These kinds of people have the chance to survive or to make it safe from hell. However, if they do the research and found the truth about their religion (that is not true), but they do not want to accept the truth. They also cover up the truth from being known by their people, they will enter hell. They are classes into “kafir”.

          But, the people of scripture (the earlier generation) that did the change on their scriptures and also change their religions, of course they will enter hell for their punishment. We cannot deny that there are people (Jews and Christians) that embrace the religion because of their parents from that religion. These people sometime they do not really know or understand about their religion. They just follow what had been told to them. These kinds of people, only Allah knows the best for them.

And among them are unlettered ones who do not know the Scripture except in wishful thinking, but they are only assuming.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.78]

          For the non-Muslims, if there are no people come to them to spread the news, to tell the truth, to tell about the true religion, to give evidences, to explain the facts, how can they are going to know that they are not correct. Of course they cannot know if there are no one tells them. It easy for us to say they can use their brain to think which one is true and which one is not. It easy for us to say they can think by their own or do analysis about their own religion. Let us think together, how many of us today embrace Islam because they really understand about Islam? I think many of us just became Muslim because of their parents. Maybe at certain age like me, then I try to find the truth, try to have strong argument about my religion.

          It is true that Allah created this universe that have tress, animals, water, sky, earth, mountains and others so that human can relate back to Him. From His creation human can know Him. In Quran, many time Allah asked us to use our eyes to see, our ears to hear and our hearts to understand the signs of His power. However, human need guidance to guide them in understands something.

          Maybe we can say to the non-Muslims to look in the internet to search about the religion and to do research by using the modern technologies. It is easier to say than to do. There is much information in the internet. Some people do not have internet, then how they want to find the truth? In the internet there are many kinds of information. Most of the time people said that Islam is the religion of terrorist. Sometimes, they showed that Islam has many sects. That made them difficult to understand which one is the true one.

[We sent] messengers as bringers of good tidings and warners so that mankind will have no argument against Allah after the messengers. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise.

[AN-NISA’ Ch.4:V.165]

          Mankind need prophet and messenger of God to guide them in understand about God, about the religion. Prophet and messenger of God is also human being, but they are the special one or the chosen one. The difference between them and us, they received revelation from God. They use the revelation to guide us and to make the evidences or facts very clear and until there is no more questions and doubt about the religion they brought.

Whoever is guided is only guided for [the benefit of] his soul. And whoever errs only errs against it. And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. And never would We punish until We sent a messenger.

[AL-ISRA’ Ch.17:V.15]

          In Dr MAZA’s book, he said that the non-Muslims can be saved from entering hell. He used the above verse as proves to support his views. He said that many scholars before, also have the same view. They also prove and rely on the above verse to support their answers.

          I hope that you can earn something from my entry today. This is very long entry and I hope that you are not bored with my writing. Islam is not the religion to punish other people, but Islam teaches us to tell the truth, to spread the truth, to spread the love. Only Allah has the rights to punish people, not us, not other human being. I hope that from this entry, we can do our job better, harder (dakwah) so that the news is reached to the other people.

          Them (non-Muslims), already saved from hell. How about us? It is now for us to think about ourselves and also improve our worship. We do not want to be a selfish person, only survive alone and let the others been punished.

And we are not responsible except for clear notification."

[YASIN Ch.36:V.17]

~Wallahua’lam~

Harut & Marut

Indeed, those who are near your Lord are not prevented by arrogance from His worship, and they exalt Him, and to Him they prostrate.

[AL-A’RAAF Ch.7:V.206]

          It is great to be here again to write another entry. It is only because of Allah wills. I hope that all Allah will bless all these works (all the entries) and hope that other people can have the benefits from the entries. Almost a month I did not write an entry because of few problems. Busy with ramadhan, then to celebrate eid day. Last week my laptop had problem, so my routine delayed a bit.

          Today’s topic is about two angels that are very well known I think. Many people know their names and also a little knowledge about their story. The main objective here is I want to change the Muslims thought about these two angels. I want to eliminate all the bad stories or the false stories about them. I want to replace it with new knowledge. It is not new, but it just likes refreshing back the old one. I want to encourage all the Muslim to come back to Quran and Hadith with the authentic knowledge.

And they followed [instead] what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon, who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut. But the two angels do not teach anyone unless they say, "We are a trial, so do not disbelieve [by practicing magic]." And [yet] they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allah. And the people learn what harms them and does not benefit them. But the Children of Israel certainly knew that whoever purchased the magic would not have in the Hereafter any share. And wretched is that for which they sold themselves, if they only knew.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.102]

          The above verse is just general story about the angels, Harut and Marut. In the Quran, only one verse telling story about them. There is no more verse that explains or completes the story. Allah tells the story generally and there is no hadith from Prophet Muhammad that explains about this verse. Actually this will not make us difficult, but it makes us easy. Only based on this verse we can solve the problems. Before I tell the true story, I will tell a bit on israelliyyat story first, so that we can make comparison and also change our knowledge.

          When we say about these two angels, we always hear the story about the two become man. Angels questioned Allah for creating human being as they are going to make bloodshed on the earth. Therefore, Allah answers them that human has something special that no creature He created has, that are mind and lust. In order to make the angels understand the human, Allah gives them a try to have “lust” as angels have no lust. The angels decided Harut and Marut to do the task.

          So when Harut and also Marut got their “lust”, they were sent to the earth to test their capabilities. In short, they felt in love with one woman. The woman already have husband. They try to make the woman divorced with her husband and they succeeded. If we look into this story, the story is longer than the verse in the Quran. The story also has no lessons to learn, maybe have but I think it is very limited. We just focus on the angels trying to be a man, then love a woman and make the woman divorced. Actually there are things much important to learn rather than those stories. Israelliyyat stories always diverge from the messages that Allah sent to us.

          The true story about Harut and Marut is already explained by Quran in the verse given. So I am going to focus more on the misunderstood about them.

First of all, Harut and Marut are angels or normal human being? There are different answers from the scholars. There are scholars say they (Harut and Marut) are normal human being. But then, why in the verse says “angels”. They answered, the word “angels” did not mean both of them angels, but they both very good persons and people around respect them very much. So they level was recorded just like an angel. There are scholars say, they are angels.

If they are angels, why they teach human magic and make woman and her husband divorce? There are few answers for this. One thought says that they teach magic to human so that they (human) understand the difference between magic and signs (mukjizat) from prophets or messengers of Allah. If the human cannot differentiate the differences between both of it (magic and signs), so it is going to make the task for the messengers of Allah difficult.

The thought that I think close to the verse is that, Allah sent both of them (Harut and Marut) as a test for the human being. Maybe at that time, the orders from Allah not to learn magic as magic come from the devils and magic can give bad effect to the others. Quran used word “fitnah” in the verse. If Malay people they think that fitnah is likes people accused you on the things that you never did. Actually fitnah is more than that, fitnah is a test or alleged. Both angels already said to the human that they are trial before they teach the human magic. You can check the verse above, I already highlighted it.

They not only warned the human that they are trial to them (human), but they also gave advice not to become disbeliever (kafir). I can give another example that showing the angels come as trial to human. One of them is the story about Prophet Lot. His people are homosexual (gay). Verses below already explain in a very clear manner I think.

And when Our messengers, [the angels], came to Lot, he was anguished for them and felt for them great discomfort and said, "This is a trying day."

And his people came hastening to him, and before [this] they had been doing evil deeds. He said, "O my people, these are my daughters; they are purer for you (with marriage). So fear Allah and do not disgrace me concerning my guests. Is there not among you a man of reason?"

[HUUD Ch.11:V.77-78]

          It is impossible for the angels to disobey Allah’s order. There are many verses in Quran that explain angels never disobey Allah’s order. So all the verses are going to oppose the verse telling the story about Harut and Marut, if we say that the two angels make the situations chaotic. It is the time for us to change our mind and thoughts about the story of Harut and Marut. I hope that from this entry, you can get something or new knowledge.

And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate before Adam"; so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.34]

~Wallahua’lam~

~Pray For Gaza~