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 36 and 37 of Surah Fatir:

“As for the faithless there is for them the fire of hell: they will neither be done away with so that they may die, nor shall its punishment be lightened for them. Thus do We requite every ingrate.”

“They shall cry therein for help: ‘Our Lord! Bring us out, so that we may act righteously —different from what we used to do!’ ‘Did We not give you a life long enough that one who is heedful might take admonition? And [moreover] the warner had [also] come to you. Now taste [the consequence of your deeds], for the wrongdoers have no helper.”

The ayahs of Surah Fatir that we explained to you last week spoke of the rewards reserved for the righteous believers. The ayahs that we recited to you now refer to the punishment for those who die in the state of unbelief, denial of truth, and unrepentant sinners. The Arabic word “kufr” or disbelief is a kind of ingratitude of bounties. It also refers to denier of truth after having realized it. The Qur’an, beside its glad tidings to the righteous, contains warnings for the sinners and disbelievers. It warns in order to strengthen the two factors of fear and hope in nature that are motives for action, since every person likes to be safe from harm and is in quest for benefits. In the same manner that Paradise is an eternal abode for the believers, Hell is also an eternal abode for the unbelievers.

As the ayah specifies about those cast in hell “they will neither be done away with so that they may die, nor shall its punishment be lightened for them.”

It means to say that though the punishment of the blazing fire of hell is so severe that it can cause death, neither death will come for them as a relief from the torment nor will the punishment ease for them, in view of the magnitude of their sins of disobedience of God as well as their crimes against humanity.

The Just and All-Merciful God, Who had given them the gift of life and the blessing of the intellect and the power of speech as well as the numerous material bounties, along with ample respite while alive, coupled with many opportunities for repentance and acceptance of truth, warns the deniers of truth, the rejecters of the Prophets, the distorters of the scriptures, and the proud and haughty mass murderers that they themselves had closed the doors of mercy upon them through their own actions.

The severity of the punishment could be gauged from the fact that criminals such as Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin, Saddam, the Takfiri terrorists, and elements of the US and similar regimes, responsible for the death of millions of people, if tried and punished in the world, would be executed only once. Since this worldly punishment for them is not equal to the magnitude of their crimes against humanity, their punishment in afterlife is never ending and thus based on divine justice.

In continuation the next ayah refers to the cries and pleas of the dwellers of hell to the Lord Most High Whom they had refused to recognize while alive, to bring them out of hell and give them a chance of a new life for doing righteous things.

God the All-Compassionate will tell them that there is no way out since they had been given ample time and respite with plenty of opportunities for recognition of truth, for repentance of sins, for self and social reformation, and for rectifying their behaviour through good deeds; but they never utilized this divine grace.

Moreover, the Prophets had been sent with clear messages and the heavenly scriptures contained both tidings and admonitions that they spurned. This means that even if given a new life, these obstinate unbelievers and sinners will never do anything good.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Disbelief is a kind of ingratitude, and ingratitude results in denial of truth.
2. All unbelievers, criminals, terrorists, will in the end feel remorseful of their misdeeds, and that is on the Day of Resurrection when they will be raised to life, but such repentance is then meaningless.
3. Justice means punishment ought to be equal to the magnitude of the sin or crime committed, and since such a punishment is not possible for mass murderers and misleaders of the masses, hell is the place designated by the All-Wise God for them, after having warned them of their fate when they were alive.
4. Life has a purpose and is not for pleasure and neglect, which means we ought to be attentive to the guidance provided by the All-Merciful Lord through the Prophets and heavenly scriptures, as well as the saintly persons that followed them.

Here is ayah 38 of Surah Fatir:

“Indeed Allah is the Knower of the Unseen of the heavens and the earth. Indeed He knows well what is in the breasts.”

Following what has been explained in the previous two ayahs the message of this ayah is crystal clear. It means to say that we human beings or any other creatures did not come into existence by ourselves, but it is God Who created us. In other words, our Creator knows everything whether manifest or hidden, including the thoughts that flash across our minds and the feelings we harbor in our breasts. Therefore we ought to be sincere of our intentions.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. We ought to be attentive of the realities, and develop the proper cognition of God.
2. Everything in the universe is indicative of the Power, Glory and Majesty of the All-Wise and All-Mighty God, Who is One and Only.

AS/MG