Tears in Paradise!
By: A. Mohamed
The Quran depicts quite a sad picture of the human race. The following information is indeed quite alarming:
- The majority of the human race are misguided (6:116)
- The majority of the human race, no matter how much we try, are non believers (12:103)
- The majority of the human race, no matter how much we try, are non believers (12:103)
- With regards to the minority left who believe in God, the majority of them are committing shirk (associating others with God)(12:106). Shirk is the only unforgivable sin (4:48).
This sad reality of the human race means that for every human being who is fortunate enough to get to Paradise, he is bound to have many of his loved ones in Hell rather than with him in Paradise.
This sad reality of the human race means that for every human being who is fortunate enough to get to Paradise, he is bound to have many of his loved ones in Hell rather than with him in Paradise.
How then is it possible for the believers who make it to Paradise to rejoice and be in a happy frame of mind when they know that some of their loved ones are suffering some of the worst punishment in Hell (4:56) and are screaming to be let out (35:37)?
How can such immense grief caused to the believers be in line with God's promise that the believers will have no grief on such a Day?
God will save those who were reverent. And for their triumph, no harm will touch them nor will they grieve. 39:61
How can we reconcile the unavoidable pain of believers, knowing of the torture of their loved ones, with the fact that God is the Most Merciful and that His mercy encompasses all things (7:156)?
God, the Wise and Most Merciful has indeed considered all things and would not cause this pain to befall any believer who is rewarded and admitted to Paradise. For that, God devised a very wise plan:
FIRST:
The moment the life of the human being on earth comes to an end, all family relations and love relations experienced on earth will be dissolved and will no longer mean what they did during the life on earth:
Then when the horn is blown, no kinship will exist between them on that Day, nor will they ask about one another. 23:101
What this means is that even though everyone will still recognise their parents, children and loved ones in the Hereafter (13:23), yet the love that united them on earth will be dissolved and replaced with a greater love (explained below). Our loved ones will be no more than other persons who previously played kinship roles during our earthly lives. People will recognise others by the roles they played in their lives, but the earthly love they had for them will be dissolved. So much so that they will not even ask about one another (23:101).
Other Quranic words also affirm that all family love between humans will be dissolved in the Hereafter. The human being facing his punishment will want to ransom his once so dear family members to take the punishment in his place:
The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children, and his wife and his brother. 70:11-12
The same truth is found in the following words:
Then when the deafening blast comes, on the Day when a man flees from his brother, his mother and father, as well as his wife and his children; each man on that Day will have concerns that preoccupy him. 80:33-37
For some, it may be hard to envisage how the strong love we feel for our mother or for a loved one can disappear just like that, and they become just other people to us! God gave us a real life example in front of our eyes to demonstrate how this is very easy for God to do.
Let us consider the example of a female cat or female lion. The mother instinct is undoubtedly the strongest love instilled in all living creatures. A mother lion for example will fight to the death to protect her cubs. However, when the cubs are mature lions, the instinctive mother's love for them is dissolved. When they are adult lions, the mother will fight those who were once her own cubs, often causing serious injury or death, over food and territory.
The mother instinct which is programmed into the DNA of females is dissolved quite easily by God when the role of the mother comes to an end. God controls all things.
In the same way, when life on earth is terminated, the roles of family members come to an end, thus the love that united them while they played those roles is also terminated.
SECOND:
The next stage we read about in the Holy Quran is related to the believers who are awarded admittance to Paradise. In Paradise, believers will find themselves with other believers who were family or friends on earth, but also with other believers whom they regarded as enemies on earth, and with whom animosity existed.
To counteract these negative emotions, God will remove all animosity that existed previously between the believers during their earthly life:
We stripped away what animosity there is from their chests. Like brothers they will be resting on couches facing one another. 15:47
We note from the words in 15:47 that this merciful act of removing animosity is a concession granted to the believers in Paradise. In contrast, the dwellers in Hell will not be granted this concession; they will continue to have animosity between them. They will quarrel (26:96) and curse one another (7:38). Even the ones who were friends on earth will become enemies (43:67), while as for the believers, the ones who were enemies will become brothers (15:47).
After removing all animosity that existed previously between believers, God will replace the earthly forms of love with a new kind of love:
Those who believe and do good deeds, the Almighty will appoint for them love. 19:96
In Paradise it will become apparent to all believers that all blood relations that existed on earth were only temporary arrangements designed for the purpose of life on earth, and that the real sense of belonging will no longer be to blood relations, but to fellow believers:
The believers are but brethren, so reconcile between your brethren, and reverence God so that you may attain mercy. 49:10
The love that unites the believers in Paradise will no longer be to parents, siblings or children, for all such love will be obsolete. A greater love will unite believers in Paradise; the love of God.
CONCLUSION:
God's design is always perfect. God gives us in the Quran pieces of information to assert our minds, and to know that He does not overlook anything.
We should not worry unnecessarily about those who do not make it to Paradise, even if they are close to us in this life. This is certainly not an easy thing to do because we are thinking with the mentality of our life on earth. It can only be done if we are able to think of the bigger picture. If we are able to do so, we would never doubt God's justice, for God never wrongs any person, but it is indeed the people who wrong themselves (10:44).