THE FLASHES

The Twelfth Sign

It consists of four questions and answers.

The First Question: How can it be just to punish limited sins committed during a limited life with endless torment and an eternal Hell?

The Answer: In the preceding Signs, especially in the Eleventh Sign, it was clearly shown that the crime of unbelief and misguidance is an unlimited crime and entails the violation of infinite rights.

The Second Question: It is established in the Shariah that Hell is the punishment for deeds, while Paradise is the result of Divine grace. What is the wisdom in this?

The Answer: It has become clear in the preceding Signs that the human being, through his limited will, which has no power to create, and through his very small actions, may cause immense destruction and evil. Moreover, his nafs and desires are constantly inclined toward evil and vice. Therefore, he bears responsibility for the sins that arise from those very small actions, because his nafs desires them and his slight acts serve as a conditional cause for their occurrence.

Since evil arises through the destruction of good—that is, through the absence of that good—the servant is the doer of that evil, while Allah creates it. Thus the unbeliever is necessarily responsible for the endless crime he commits through his unbelief and is deserving of an infinite punishment.

As for goodness and virtue, they possess positive existence; unlike evil, they do not arise from the absence or destruction of something existent. The human being’s limited will and very small actions, therefore, cannot be the true cause that brings them into existence. The human being cannot be their true doer.

Moreover, his nafs, which is inclined toward evil, has no inherent inclination toward good. Rather, it is Divine mercy that wills all good, such as worship, and Divine power that brings it into existence. The human being can acquire these good deeds only through his īmān, his desire for them, and his sincere intention.

He must also recognize that these good deeds are a form of gratitude for Allah’s favours already bestowed upon him, such as the blessings of existence and īmān. They therefore correspond to blessings already received. As for Paradise, which Allah has promised, it is bestowed as a manifestation of His mercy. Although outwardly it appears to be a reward, in reality it is a favour from the All-Merciful.

Thus, in sins, the nafs is the cause and is itself deserving of punishment. In good deeds, however, both the apparent cause and the true cause come from Allah. The human being can only say, by virtue of his īmān, that he has performed them through Allah’s guidance. He cannot say, “I claim their reward.” He may only say, “I hope for His grace.”