Welcome to our weekly program "Path towards Enlightenment" in which we present you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an. We start from where we left you last Friday and here are ayahs 59 to 61 of Surah Saad:

"This is a group plunging [into hell] along with you.’ ‘May wretchedness be their lot! They will indeed enter the Fire."

"They say, ‘Rather, may wretchedness be your lot! You prepared this [hell] for us. What an evil abode!"

"They say, ‘Our Lord! Whoever has prepared this for us, double his punishment in the Fire!"

Last week, we talked about the torturous situation of the people of hell who because of their sins and disbelief in life have brought upon themselves the fires, the scalding waters, the pus, and all other kinds of sorrows.

The ayahs that we recited to you now mean to say that when the leaders of corruption and misguidance see their followers enter Hell, they tell each other that these will be with you too in your state of wretchedness. The sinners will be thrown into the severe and horrible Fire of Hell because of their refusal to believe in God the Almighty Creator. It is a general rule that when someone enters a place those already there welcome them, but hell is such a miserable place that its denizens who are embroiled in severe punishment cast the blame on each other, especially on the leaders for misleading them and being the cause for their doom, and thus deserving of double punishment. The next ayah makes it clear that both of them will have double punishment, because the followers were also the executive factors of the leaders and the grounds of mischief and astray were provided by them. In other words, if people do not help the tyrants the tyrants will not have power to do anything.

The ending phrase of this ayah ‘What an evil abode’ to describe the fate of the evil doers is in fact the opposite of the phrase ‘Gardens of perpetuity’ as used in ayah 50 of the same Surah regarding the rewards for the pious ones.

Thus, ayah 61further clarifies the terrible situation of the leaders of mischief in the words of their followers, who say: “Our Lord! Whoever has prepared this for us, double his punishment in the Fire!"

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The denizens of hell blame each other and curse each other for their horrible fate.
2. On the Day of Resurrection, the deeds of human beings, whether good or bad will manifest themselves in the form of reward or punishment.
3. Each one will be responsible for his/her own acts, and casting blame on others, will not help the sinners escape punishment, when the fact of the matter is that, while alive they had ample time and respite to repent and reform themselves.

Now we listen to or read ayahs 62 to 64 of Surah Saad:

"And they say, ‘What is the matter with us that we do not see [here] men whom we used to count among the bad ones?"

"Did we ridicule them [unduly in the world], or do [our] eyes miss them [here]?"

"That is indeed a truth: the contentions of the inmates of the Fire."

While alive, the evil ones had considered themselves superior to the others because of their social privileges by looking at disdain towards those who were poor, even if they happened to be pious. On the Day of Resurrection, they will be shocked at finding themselves in the inferno where they will seek an accomplice in crime in order to put their sins on the shoulders of others. As the ayah says, they would say that they do not find in the fires of hell those whom they had mocked and held in disdain during life for their seemingly low social status.

They will rue what they used to do while alive, but this will be too late, and even their regret at being unjust and disdainful towards the believers, will be of no help to them. This is evident today by the attitude of the arrogant towards the oppressed in different parts of the world, where if some people and nations of faith strive for justice in defence of the denied rights of the oppressed, the domineering powers seek to destroy them and depict them as not normal.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Paradise is for the pious while hell is for the unrepentant sinners.
2. It is not social privileges or power of the world that decides the fate in the Hereafter, but obedience or disobedience to God, the All Wise and Just.

Now we listen to or read ayahs 65 and 66 of Surah Saad:

" Say, ‘I am just a warner, and there is no god except Allah, the One, the All-paramount,"

"The Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them, the All-Mighty, the All-Forgiver."

At the end of the ayahs that spoke about the punishment of people of hell, God means to say to Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny): Tell the polytheists and disbelievers and their chiefs, I warn you to take lessons from the fate of the ancients by returning to Allah, since there is no god except Him. He is the One and Only Whose power is infinite, and none can resist Him. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and is the Controller of all things in the universe, and, in addition to Invincible power, is Forgiving and Compassionate towards the wrongdoers who repent of their misdeeds and return to Him.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Along with the good news, warnings must also be given to remove doubts and negligence from the minds and hearts of people, since it is timely warnings that awaken to realities those who are danger of deviation.
2. The whole universe is under the control of God, and His Power and Management prevails over the entire cosmos.
3. God also has infinite power and infinite mercy unlike the powerful of the world, who are devoid of compassion.

AS/ME