misfortunes. What are there?
Hasan:Benefits of misfortunes are as the following:
· They are a means to explode capacities: misfortunes force people to take precautionary procedures to protect themselves from these misfortunes. This will lead to inventions and discoveries because ‘need is the mother of innovation’ as they say and as Amir Al-Mu’menin (PBUH) explains: “Nevertheless have terrestrial trees harder wood, and have great greens more gentle skin, and are Bedouin plants burning faster and going out slower”. This is also supported by the word of Allah, Praised Be His Name:(it may happen that ye hate a thing wherein Allah hath placed much good)4;19.
· Misfortunes are warning bells: indulgence in pleasures and running after earthly affairs make people forget about the afterlife, so they need to be reminded of their Creator and the afterlife, and what is better than disasters and misfortunes to bring those gone astray back to their Lord.
· Misfortunes help to appreciate the blessings: if
·
· people always had a joyful life, they would have less respect for the blessings. This is because they got very used to it and never knew how it would feel like to lose it. So, by losing certain blessings, people would appreciate these blessings and make sure to maintain them. Tasting the sweetness and the bitterness of life is what make us understand the value of the blessings the Glorious Allah gave us. These are the benefits of misfortunes and disasters in general.
Anwar:Justice is a Pillar and there should be subdivisions originated from it. What are they?
Hasan:What results from the Divine Justice is understanding the purpose behind punishment; is it to take revenge or to make an example? It is far above the Almighty Allah to act out of emotion and agitation. So, it is not true to consider revenge as a pure purpose of punishment. It is true to say the Almighty Allah punishes to make an example for other people but this is only true for this life and not the afterlife.
Anwar:So what is the purpose behind punishment?
Hasan:I will give you a brief but conclusive answer now;
punishment has a positive effect due to the correlation between the criminal and the punishment. We can illustrate this in two ways:
First, the criminal and lawful acts create a special ability in person as a result of repeating those acts so much that this ability or aptitude becomes part of their existence. Both virtuous and vicious people are raised from the dead with these aptitudes that are again born due to constantly doing good and bad deeds. In other words, it is these aptitudes or special abilities that make heaven and hell.
Second, there are apparently two sides to human deeds, a worldly side and an otherworldly side, and so human deeds take different forms depending on each different situation. For example, prayers have a specific form in this world, i.e. there are certain moves and steps and certain words to praise the Lord, but they have a different in the next world. This is supported by the words of God:
(And let not those who hoard up that which Allah hath bestowed upon them of His bounty think that it is better for them. Nay, it is worse for them. That which
they hoard will be their collar on the Day of Resurrection. Allah’s is the heritage of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is informed of what ye do)3;180.
Here are more of God’s words as a proof:(On the day when it will all be heated in the fire of hell, and their foreheads and their flanks and their backs will be branded therewith and: Here is that which ye hoarded for yourselves. Now taste of what ye used to hoard)9;35.
Anwar:Now it is crystal clear that punishment is the outcome that criminals make for themselves. It is not forced on them. God bless you!
Hasan:God bless you too! We will continue next time, Inshallah.
Symposium 20
Is Punishment Equal to Sin?
Anwar:Salam ‘Alaykom, Akhi Hasan!
Hasan:‘Alaykom As-Salam Wa Rahmatollah Wa Barakatoh! I can see you already have a question.
Anwar:Indeed! Usually, punishment is equal to the crime committed, quantitatively and qualitatively. Yet, we see that this formula is not achieved for the otherworldly punishments; researches confirm that some criminals remain in fire although their sin is less in time than that of their punishment. How is that?
Hasan:You are saying that the punishment has to be equivalent to the crime; this is what the man-made or manufactured punishment is about. However, when the punishment has a positive effect towards the criminal act, we do not see this consistency neither in quantity nor in quality.
Anwar:Can you clarify this using an example?
Hasan:Yes, of course. A driver might lose his attention for a very short while, yet this can cost him a lot. He can have a car crash and get seriously injured, and he might have to live with this for a long time or he could even lose his life because of that inattention.
Anwar:Thank you very much. It is really obvious now. Is there anything else regarding the Divine justice you need to mention?
Hasan:Yes, there is. One of the important things is the idea of God charging mankind with certain responsibilities. The point here is whether the Glorious Allah demands people to fulfill commands they are not able to endure.
Anwar:What do you mean?
Hasan:I mean can the Almighty Allah order people to make a camel enter through a threading hole or command them to fly?
Anwar:The Almighty Allah is free to command whatever He sees fit. We all are His slaves and nothing can prevent Him from doing so!
Hasan:Yes, everything is under Allah’s domination, but this does not mean He demands people to do what they are not capable of doing. This is absolutely unjust and the Gracious Allah is far above injustice, as it is also a form of lacking to be unjust and Allah is the Absolute Perfection.
Anwar:Great. This is a very reasonable elaboration, but will you give some evidence from the Noble Quran?
Hasan:Yes, there is a lot of evidence. Some of which are:
(Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope…)2;286.
(…and thy Lord is not at all a tyrant to His slaves)41;46.
(…and thy lord wrongeth no one)18;49. , and many other Verses.
Anwar:Thank you very much. I would like to leave now. I have to do something important. I hope we can meet up tomorrow, Inshallah!
Hasan:Inshallah! See you then.
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Symposium 21
Fate and Destiny
Anwar:Salam ‘Alaykom, Akhi Hasan!
Hasan:‘Alaykom As-Salam Wa Rahmatollah Wa Barakatoh!
Anwar:We have already discussed the Divine Justice, but before we move on, I would like to talk about something that has been tackled a lot, namely fate and destiny.
Hasan:Raising this subject needs some scientific grounding, because it is such a deep philosophical issue. However, I will try to deal with it in general and in short so that it would suit your knowledge. What do you say?