Qiyama: Difference between revisions

According to [[verse]]s of the Qur'an, on the Day of Judgement, all the dead suddenly and at once will be resurrected by the power of [[God]]. They exit the graves and gather in the Desert of Gathering and their deeds will be reckoned. The place of their attendance and reckoning is in an environment, the really of which is not clear to us. However, based on the glorious Qur'an, it is known that the sky and the earth change at that time. An environment (which is immaterial according to some views) is created in which Qiyama takes place and creatures gather in the presence of God. The glorious Qur'an points to this change of the earth and the sky as,

[14:48]

Duration of Qiyama

About the duration of Qiyama, there are two verses in the Qur'an: a thousand years and fifty thousand years, and according to a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a), Qiyama has fifty stations, passing each takes a thousand years.

Events in Qiyama

Resurrection of Humans

In many verses, the noble Qur'an has mentioned the way humans will be resurrected in Qiyama. Verse 68 of sura al-Zumar says that with once blow in Israfil's horn, all people will die except those God wishes who do not. Then, another time, there will be a blow in horn and everyone is resurrected at once and awaits reckoning.

[39:68]

Reckoning

The most important event in Qiyama is reckoning people's deeds. It is based on the rules delivered to people by the prophets (a) in the forms of ideological teachings and practical rulings. Everyone is responsible for his own practices, no one can bear the burden of another person's sins and no one will be treated unjustly.  

Questions in Qiyama: Some issues will be questioned about in Qiyama, the Qur'an has mentioned some of them:

Material and spiritual blessings of God;

Sinners will be asked about their ideological, practical and moral sins

Polytheists will be asked about their treatment of the Prophets (a)

About the live-buried girls

About life

About properties

About deeds and manners

About the love of the Ahl al-Bayt (a)

In this regard, the noble Prophet (a) said,

"In Qiyama, no servant would take any step, but he would be asked about four things: how he spent his life; from where he gained his properties and in what way he spent it; about the actions he performed and about the love for us the Ahl al-Bayt (a).”

Good deeds of Non-Muslims: the actions of those who believe in God and the hereafter and performed them with the intention of closeness to God, will be accepted. If they do not have any fault for not having faith, they will benefit the fruits of those of their actions which are not related to faith. However, if they are to blame about not having faith, meaning that they knew about Islam and its teachings, but they refused to accept them without a reason and only due to their prejudice and obstinacy, all their good deeds will be lost.

Status of the deprived: the deprived ones are those who are so weak intellectually, physically or financially that they cannot distinguish the truth from the falsehood, or that although they recognize the true belief, they cannot completely fulfill their duties or immigrate, due to their physical disability, financial weakness or restrictions the environment imposes on them. For example, a person who is in a region, most of the residents of which are disbelievers, the power is in their hand and there is no religious scholar there to deliver religious teachings to them, or the environment of disbelief and fear does not let that happen and the person cannot exit there and go to Islamic environment or that they never thought that there might be a religion of the truth out there. Such people will be included in the forgiveness of God and would not go to the hell.

Status of the insane: insane ones have no responsibility as long as they have no sanity in this world and the power to recognize the truth and would not be questioned in the hereafter, because one of the requirements of performing obligation is sanity. In a hadith, Imam al-Sadiq (a) said,

"In Qiyama, God will be harsh in reckoning of the servants' deeds relative to the level of intellect He bestowed upon them.”

Status of children and babies: those who die in childhood before they have the power to distinguish the truth from the falsehood and their parents were Muslim, will join their parents and go to the paradise.

The way the children whose parents are disbeliever will be treated: it is not known to us; however, based on Shi'a beliefs and the verses of the glorious Qur'an, they would not receive punishments; because, there would be any punishments if a person has received the message of God, while he has reached an age of responsibility and is sane and voluntarily opposes the order of God. Therefore, a person who dies in childhood has no obligation in the first place, so that he would go to hell for not observing them.  

Resurrection of Animals

It can be understood from some verses and hadiths that like humans, animals too will be resurrected in Qiyama and will be reckoned according to their awareness and responsibilities. However, unlike humans who go either to the hell or to the paradise, animals will die and turn to earth after reckoning and receiving justice about their deeds; i.e. if they have done any injustice, they will receive the retribution for it in Qiyama.

It is transmitted from Abu Dhar that one day they were in the presence of the Prophet (a) and in front of them two goats hit each other with their horns. The Prophet (a) asked his companions, "do you know why they hit each other?” His companions answered, "No.” The Prophet (a) said, "but, God knows why and soon will judge between them.”

Record of Deeds

All the actions a person does in his life are recorded somewhere, known as the Record of Deeds. It is so accurate and clear that no one can deny it.

According to verses of the Qur'an, the righteous ones' record of deeds will be given to their right hand and sinners' record of deeds will be given to their left hand.

Embodiment of actions means that whatever a person does in this world, will be represented in the next world in a form appropriate to that world. In other worlds, rewards and punishments, blessings and hardships are the reality of deeds people have done in this world and realized in the next world. Thus, an action a person does in this world has two forms; one worldly form which we see now and a hereafter form which we cannot see now. On the Day of Resurrection, after some events, the hereafter truth of an action will be revealed and their worldly forms go away and bring about happiness or sadness to its doer. Thus, based on this opinion, the rewards for everyone's deeds will be the truth of his deeds.

On the Day of Judgement, when humans gather for reckoning of deeds and receiving rewards for them, beside the record of deeds, there are certain witnesses which witness our deeds and give testimony to them in the Desert of Gathering. According to religious texts, there are some witnesses for our deeds including:

The Prophets (a), especially the noble Prophet of Islam (a)

Limbs of the body

On the Day of Judgement, humans' actions will be measured with a certain means, not like the scales in this world. This measure refers to measuring and comparison of everyone's deeds using one model. Based on hadiths, scale in the hereafter refers to the deeds of the Prophets (a), Imams (a) and righteous ones and on the Judgement Day, peoples' deeds will be compared and measured with the deeds of these great personalities and will be considered as worthy as they are similar to their beliefs, attributes and deeds. Imam al-Sadiq (a) explained the scales in Qiyama saying, "The scale for measuring on that day is the Prophets (a) and their vicegerents.” In another hadith, the scale in Qiyama is considered Imam Ali (a) and Imams (a) after him.

According to Islamic sources and texts, Sirat is the name of a bridge over the hell across from the paradise, on which all the people pass. Righteous ones pass it swiftly and evildoers fall from it into the hell. In some hadiths, the speed of people in crossing the bridge depends on their faith, sincerity and righteous deeds. The noble Prophet (a) described this bridge saying that, "over the hell, there is a bridge, thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword.”

In another hadith from him, the Prophet (a) said, "in Qiyama, when Sirat is put up over the hell, only those can cross it who have permission and the permission is the wilaya of Ali b. Abi Talib (a).”