Question 217 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 3

Ahmed al-Hasan Response:

Answer to Question 1: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, the Imams and the Mahdis, and grant them abundant peace. Do you believe that merely having a person appear in a video and say that he is the Mahdi would settle everything, that people would believe him, and that those who deny the Mahdi would believe in the Mahdi? Have you read the Quran? Have you heard of a prophet named Noah, and do you know how long he called his people and how many of them believed in him? Have you heard of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (a), and do you know how much they suffered from people whose inner sight was obliterated by matter and this worldly life? Answer to Question 2: You mean: what is the fault of someone whom the Quran did not reach and who died disbelieving in the prophethood of Muhammad (s)? I explained this matter in one of the books, Illuminations from the Calls of the Messengers, and I will quote some lines from that book for you: (An illumination from the opening of Surat Yusuf: The Exalted said: ‘When Joseph said to his father, “O my father, indeed I saw eleven stars, and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me.” He said, “O my son, do not recount your vision to your brothers lest they scheme a plot against you. Indeed Satan is a clear enemy to the human being. And thus your Lord will choose you, teach you the interpretation of events, and complete His blessing upon you and upon the family of Jacob, as He completed it upon your two forefathers before, Abraham and Isaac. Indeed your Lord is Knowing and Wise”’ (^[7]). In these verses Joseph’s journey toward Allah begins. It is a reminder from Allah, the Knowing, the Wise, to Joseph (a) of his reality and the rank he attained in the World of the Atom, of which he became heedless because of the veil of the body when Allah created him and sent him down to this dark world, the world of bodies. The Exalted said: ‘And you certainly knew the first creation, so why do you not remember?’ (^[8]). That is, you existed as created beings in the World of the Atom and Allah tested you: ‘And when your Lord took from the children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants and made them testify concerning themselves, “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yes, we testify”-lest you say on the Day of Resurrection, “Indeed, we were heedless of this,” or lest you say, “Our fathers associated others before us, and we were descendants after them. Will You then destroy us for what the falsifiers did?”’ (^[9]). This verse contains a response to whoever says, “What is the fault of someone whom Islam did not reach and who was not informed of the messages of Heaven, such as one who lived in the remote regions of Africa, at the edges of the earth, or in a land far from the land of the messengers (a)?” The response is that the first verse establishes that the people were tested, each took his rank, and his condition and what he deserved became clear. The second verse explains that they are not excused for following their fathers’ misguidance on this earth, or because they lived in a land no prophet entered, to which the truth did not reach, and in which no one informed them of it. This is because Allah says to them: I tested you in the World of the Atom and knew your condition and what you deserved, so do not say, ‘Our fathers associated others before us, and we were descendants after them. Will You then destroy us for what the falsifiers did?’ That is, Allah says to them: I know that if the prophets, successors, and messengers had come to you, and those who convey the messages of Heaven had informed you, you would not have believed or affirmed them. ‘Had Allah known any good in them, He would have made them hear; and even if He had made them hear, they would have turned away in aversion’ (^[10]). As for one who says, “Then why were they not made equal to the disbelievers in the land of the messages in having the proclamation conveyed to them?” the response is that conveying it to these people is a grace offered to one who does not accept grace and does not deserve it, while you know beforehand with certainty that he will not accept it. Presenting it to him is therefore a foregone conclusion. Consequently, there is no harm in presenting it to some of them in order to show that the rest are like those to whom the truth was presented but who did not accept it. Presenting it to some completes the proof, and there is no excuse for one who says, ‘Our fathers associated others before us, and we were descendants after them,’ because the truth was presented to their counterparts and they chose their fathers’ misguidance over the guidance of the messengers: ‘Likewise, We sent no warner before you into any town without its affluent ones saying, “We found our fathers following a way, and we are following in their footsteps”’ (^[11]). Rather, they deemed their fathers’ misguidance to be guidance and truth: ‘Rather, they said, “We found our fathers following a way, and we are guided by their footsteps”’ (^[12]). Answer to Question 3: First, you must know what punishment is; after that, you may choose whether or not to object. Read this verse: ‘You were certainly heedless of this, so We have removed your covering from you, and today your sight is sharp’ (^[13]). Know that punishment is nothing but the disclosure of reality to the human being and leaving him with what he himself chose. Whoever chose only this earth and this world will discover his choice: his covering will be removed so that he sees realities as they are. He will see every envious person as a scorpion surrounding him, and every forbidden desire that he carried out as pus and iron clubs by which he-and no one else-bound himself. This earth is the brink of Hell, but you do not know. Rather, you believe it to be the eternal Garden, and for that reason you yearn to own and acquire as much of it as can be acquired. So do you find any justice greater than the justice of Allah, Glorious and Exalted? He will not do you any evil; rather, He will only realize for you your choice. Whoever chose this earth, or that which is even more material than it, will remain in it or be transferred to layers beneath it in Hell. This is his choice. All that Allah will do is remove the human being’s covering so that he sees the reality and sees and knows his choice. Moreover, even the removal of the covering is among the necessary consequences of the greatest sphere’s advancing toward the Hereafter. Thus, punishment in its reality is nothing but your own choice. He, Glorious and Exalted, warned you against this choice, but you do not love sincere advisers. Answer to Question 4: If Allah is established for you, then what He informed us of is established for you. If you disbelieve in Allah, tell us so that we may establish His existence for you, although I say: blind is the eye that does not see Him, Glorious is He. Ahmed Alhasan