Non believers - Islam - Paradise

[Amatullah]

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Who are said to be the believers ? Are Christains/jews/Hindus can be believers even though they are not part of Islam ? How are Hindus different from Christains and Jews ? if a person does not follow Islam but he does good deeds and he is a good soul can he be in heaven ?

<b>Answer: </b>

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

......

The Prophet (saws) said in one of his traditions: A baby, when he is born, is born on "fitrah"(on his natural religion), but his parents make him into a Jew, or a Christian.

Now lets see if we can use logic and intelligence to drive the point home. There are many things which are natural (fitrah) of human beings. When they are born, there is absolutely no need of coaching or teaching the newborn baby to suck from his/her mother`s breasts. This is absolutely natural. However much science might have advanced, and however much technology may have come up with teaching methods and aids, tell me, how are you going to teach a new born baby to suck life-giving milk from his/her mother`s breasts. Just imagine, for a moment, if the baby, for any reason is not able to do this natural thing, he will probably die of starvation!!!

Similarly, also, is the feeling of right and wrong in our hearts, which we have learnt to call "conscience". We know deep down in our conscience whether something is right or wrong. Stealing, cheating, backbiting, slander, adultery, murder, etc. are all considered wrong in any religion and nation. Charity, good manners, obedience to parents, building of hospitals, taking care of orphans, etc. are all good deeds in any religion and nation. One might argue, that these values are taught or acquired, but the fact of the matter is that whatever one does, he knows deep down in his conscience whether it is right or wrong.

So is also the concept of One God. This is a natural phenomena. It does not matter, if the person is a staunch atheist. At the worst point in his life, there comes a time, when he calls out to some supernatural being or force to help him, although he may claim to be an atheist. This phenomena is in-built into the human being by the All-Mighty God. And if you ask most religious beliefs, Who created the heavens and the earth?, Who grows the vegetation?, Who created the sun and the moons and the planets and the galaxy?, Who created human beings and animals?, etc. the answer will always be in one way or another ... the One God.... Creator of the Universe and everything in it.

We can call all these things by any name we want, but the fact is some things are "natural" or "fitrah" of mankind, as termed in the Quran.

So if a baby born in a Hindu family or a Jew family or a Jain family, there will come a time when he attains maturity, when he will try to look for a deeper meaning to this life ... start asking questions about why are we here on this earth? Is it all an accident? Are we here to live for 80-100 years and then die and be burnt or be buried? And thats it!! Or is there anything else after this worldly life? Is there a Creator who created this fantastic world and everything in it? Then comes in the natural thought of a "super-natural" being or "God". These answers, the human being cannot get from experience, and thus he is prone towards a belief or religion.

According to Islam, Allah, not only created man for a purpose, but sent Prophets to guide them and sent books and laws to guide mankind unto salvation. Please also keep in mind here that there are only three divine religions in the world today, in the true sense of the word: Jewism, Christianity and Islam. All the others are either movements or mythology. If the man cannot find answers that apply to his reason and intellect in his born religion, then he begins searching for the Truth, and invariably he will find it.

But the problem with the world today is that we have become too shallow in our thoughts and engrossed in luxuries and collecting wealth. We just dont give due importance to the deeper meanings of life. We use all our intelligence and hard work to live this life, but give little thought to the life hereafter. Maybe we are confused about so many ideologies, all claiming salvation, and give up using logic and reason, and just settle for the religion of our forefathers. For everything else in the world, we do not do anything without reason!! When we wear clothes, we check out the fashion, the material, the price, and then buy them. When we look for a house, we check out the location, the re-sale value, the price and then make our decision. When we buy a car, we check out the company, the car itself, the value, then we make a decision.


A child born into parents who were uneducated, never says or reasons that since his parents are uneducated, he will remain uneducated. He wants to attain the best education possible within his means and outdo his parents in this world.

Similarly if a father had one store he owned and ran all his life, a child never claims that I will not open a chain of stores, because my father had just one store!!

Also the son of a street-cleaner never claims that he will grow up to be a street-cleaner, simply because his father was a street-cleaner!!

Then whey does a child born into any religion, just take up the religion of his parent`s choice?

The reason is that when it comes to following religion, most of us just keep our reasoning at home, and blindly follow the religion we are born into. Even though we may not get all the answers to our deeper questions, we just let them be in a corner of our brain, and not "rock the boat", so to speak! We just live this life like animals: eat, sleep, re-produce, and die!!! But our Creator has given us the faculty to think and reason ... but man seldom uses it to search the Truth!!! If he truly does search for the Truth, he will find peace and happiness in Islam, as millions of converts and true Muslims, are living in today.

I have tried to answer your question using logic, and now lets go to the Holy Quran and see if it answers the question.

Islam is a natural religion, and everything is based on logic. There is nothing illogical about Islam and everything in Islam is based on wisdom and common sense. The One God who created the heavens and the earth and everything in between, created man for a reason. He made no mistake in the creation of the heavens and the earth!! He made no mistake in the creation of the sun, its temperature and its distance. Do you know that if the sun was closer to earth by a small distance, we would all die of heat, and if the sun was at a little more distance than it is, we would die of cold!!! He made no mistake in the creation of the moon ... science tells us that the movement of the moon controls the tides of the seas... if the moon moves a couple of degrees away from its course, we would all be submerged in water!!! He made no mistake in the creation of man ... his eyes are perfectly placed! his nose is perfectly placed just above his mouth! His ears and mouth and hands and legs are perfectly placed!! His internal systems are perfectly placed and function to perfection for the appointed time!!! Look at everything else in creation... how perfect it is.... Then how can we imagine, that this Creator who created everything to perfection can make a mistake in guiding mankind unto him!!! In His perfect knowledge

and wisdom, He made mankind and sent him to this earth. To guide him He sent His Messengers and His books.... did He make a mistake here? I think not!!!!

One more thing to note here is a human is not as free as we would like to think. He has to breathe to survive..(no choice here!)…he has to eat at some intervals (no choice here!)… he has to eat either vegetation or animals (can’t eat rocks, stones, etc. no choice here!)…..he has relieve himself at some interval (no choice here!) …. He has to rest at some intervals (no choice here)….his eyes, his nose, his ears, his mouth, his hands, his legs, his organs are places in their places (no choice here!), he has to drink water at intervals to quench his thirst (no choice here!), etc. He has absolutely no choice in most matters. The only choice that the All-Wise God gave us was to choose the Path that leads to His Mercy, and this choice is only for a limited period of maximum 50-80-100 years!! Think about it, that is actually the only choice we have … and that too He has commanded and directed us to submit our only will to Him and live our lives according to His Will. And that is the only thing we are being tested upon. Who lives his life in obedience to His Wills and Commands, and who lives his life according to his own whims and fancies, and thus a life of disobedience to God’s commands.

The one who lives his life in obedience to God, will be rewarded in the hereafter. And the one who lives his life independently of God, will fail the test and thus incurred God’s Wrath and Anger upon himself.

One thing also we must understand of the All-Mighty and All-Wise is that He is also All-Just. All beings are His slaves ... they are all equal... He favors no one over another, except the one who is more pious!! Do you think he will be unjust to His slaves? Do you think He will have mercy on somebody simply because he is related to his Prophets? Do you think He will have mercy on somebody simply because he wailed and beat himself in love of a martyr? No... Never.... He is The All Just. He will judge everybody according to the syllabus he has sent down. Whoever follows the syllabus and recognizes it as such, and is God Fearing, that is the one, His mercy is promised upon.


Thus our job as muslims today is to invite mankind to Islam and the Last Book of Allah.. the Al Quran. First and foremost, we must live by it and then invite mankind to it. If they believe in it and do according to the syllabus, fine... they become our brothers in Islam. If not, they are allowed to follow any religion they want to attain salvation, as long as they are convinced that they will stand in the court of the Almighty one day and give account for their beliefs and deeds on this earth.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Al Maidah verse 3: Today I (Allah) have perfected your religion for you and completed My blessing on you, and have approved Islam as the way of life for you.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale-Imran verse 85: And whoever adopts any deen other than Islam, that way shall not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he shall be among the losers!

Thus only those who believe and worship Allah alone, associating no partners with Him, follow His Last Messenger, Mohamed (saws), follow the teachings of His Last Book, Al Quran, does righteous deeds, and is God Fearing, Allah has promised him His Mercy and Paradise.

Allah says in Chapter 3 Surah Ale-Imran verse 131-137: And guard yourselves against that Fire which has been prepared for the disbeliveers, and obey Allah and His Messenger: it is expected that you will be shown mercy. Hasten to follow the path that leads to forgiveness from your Lord, and to the Garden, which is as vast as the heavens and the earth, and has been prepared for the God-Fearing people. They are those who spend their wealth freely in the way of Allah, alike in prosperity and in adversity; who control their rage and forgive other people. Allah likes such good people very much, who, if ever they commit a base deed, or wrong their own souls by the commission of a sin, remember Allah instantly and ask for forgiveness from Him for their shortcomings, for who, but Allah, can forgive sins? (The God Fearing people are) those, who do not knowingly persist in the wrongs they did. These will be rewarded with forgiveness from Allah and with Gardens in Paradise beneath which canals flow, and they will reside therein for ever: and how excellent is the reward of those who do good deeds!

Thus the main difference between a true muslim and a non-believer is not of birth or nationality, but rather of knowledge. Allah has blessed us to be Muslims, but unfortunately, we have never appreciated this great blessing and mercy of Allah. We have just never bothered to open and read and understand the message our Lord and Creator has sent for our guidance. May Allah make us of those who appreciate His Bounty and Blessing upon us. May Allah make us of those who read and understand His Message – The Holy Quran, so that we can be rightly guided. Ameen.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan

[Maey]

Asallamu Alaykom Burhan,

This is a very comprehensive topic and masha'allah it's wonderful to see so much knowledge about the Qura'an. I only have one thing i would like to say in answer to the original question of whether people of other faiths who have done good deeds in their life...will they go to heaven?

Allaho A3lam first of all. I was reading a book by Sheikh Yassin Roushdy about the mercy of allah and about his forgiveness.

In summary, Allah is the most knowledgable about who he chooses to give mercy to and when. A person might live all his life following another faith and reach the point of wisdom at a time before he dies and Allah chooses to forgive him and grant him mercy.

There was a Hdith (please forgive me as i'm translating this straight from Arabic so i might not be using the correct terms)

Two men who were friends from (beni Iisrael). One of them was strict with prayer and a doer of good deeds and the other was the opposite. The faithful one saw the other commit sins on regualr basis and kept warning him day after day. One day the sinner said to him " Leave me to god, have u been sent as a guardian to me?" the good man said "Wallahy u will not be forgiven by god or entered into paradise" When they died, and stood before God, the faithful (good) one was asked "do you have knowledge about the way i choose to act or do you have the powers which i have?" i.e. How can you decide for me whether someone will be sent to hell or to Al Janna?

God ordered for the faithful one to be sent to hell.....then the sinful one was told "enter heaven with my mercy".

This is a hadith told by Ahmed and Abo Dawood by Aby Horayra (Rady Allaho 3anho)

I have translated this to the best of my ability wallah A3lam wastaghfarolah if i have conveyed anything wrong without knowing.

The thing i got from this hadith is that God's mercy is never too far... his will to who shall die a beleiver and a muslim is only up to him. we are to advice people and bring them closer to Islam, without giving them fear that god will not have mercy as he is the Merciful one. Al Rahman AlRaheem the wise one Al Hakim.

i'd appreciate your feedback on what i have said

thank you

[Muslimah]

as salam alykom Maey

The hadeeth u quoted is true, however, u must also remember that it involves a command for us not to judge who will go to hell or otherwise but he /she has to be a believer first.

So the point of believing or not is a major issue here.

For example I can never judge a Muslim regardless of his/ her apparent attitude if he is going to hell or heaven, most importantly never judge whose deeds are accepted.

As for non believers here is an Ayah:

"Verily, those who disbelieve, and die while they are disbelievers, it is they on whom is the Curse of Allâh and of the angels and of mankind, combined" (Quran 2:161)

Look at the Ayah carefully, he is a disbeliever but has to die as such. Because Allah the Merciful gives a chance after the other waiting for the servant to come back, only until he/she dies he is labelled as such and certainly shall face this destiney. So in other words we still can not call people kafirs haphazardly until they die on such a state.

I hope I helped

wallah u a`alam, what ever is correct is from Allah and whatever is wrong is from myself and shaytan

[Maey]

Yes you are quite correct.. I didn't quote that...

Verily, those who disbelieve, and die while they are disbelievers, it is they on whom is the Curse of Allâh and of the angels and of mankind, combined" (Quran 2:161)

In my message i was only trying to say that we can never know how a person will die..a disbeleiver or a beleiver...i was only trying to convey that it is not up to us to judge like you said while a person is living whether they will go to Al Nar or to Al Janna. But like you said, a person needs to be a beleiver and not a moshrek...as Allah said he will forgive all except Al Shirk.

Allaho A3lam..

Thank you Muslimah

[Muslimah]

wa iyaki Ukhti

so Alhamdulelah now at least we came to the same conclusion

[Amatullah]

I am not Burhan (the one who answered the question), I just copied it from email I recieve from his site because I found it beneficial.

brother or sister Maey

The hadith you quoted is about 2 of bani Israel who were before the time of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), and they were from the believers at that time.

But after Islam came anyone who doesn't accept Islam is not a believer because it is the last complete religion that Allah choose for us, and there are ayat proving that.

==============

<i>Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam. Those who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians) did not differ except, out of mutual jealousy, after knowledge had come to them. And whoever disbelieves in the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah, then surely, Allah is Swift in calling to account. </i>

So if they dispute with you (Muhammad SAW) say: "I have submitted myself to Allah (in Islam), and (so have) those who follow me." And say to those who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and to those who are illiterates (Arab pagans): "Do you (also) submit yourselves (to Allah in Islam)?" If they do, they are rightly guided; but if they turn away, your duty is only to convey the Message; and Allah is All-Seer of (His ) slaves. (chapter 3:19-20)

<i>Do they seek other than the religion of Allah (the true Islamic Monotheism worshipping none but Allah Alone), while to Him submitted all creatures in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly. And to Him shall they all be returned. (83)</i>

Say (O Muhammad SAW): "We believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us, and what was sent down to Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma'il (Ishmael), Ishaque (Isaac), Ya'qub (Jacob) and Al-Asbat [the twelve sons of Ya'qub (Jacob)] and what was given to Musa (Moses), 'Iesa (Jesus) and the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between one another among them and to Him (Allah) we have submitted (in Islam)." (84)

And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.(85) (chapter 3)

[Maey]

sorry for using the wrong name Amatullah

yes i totally beleive that anyone who doesn't die muslim is not a beleiver. so Al Hamdulelah that i am a muslim.

I think i probably went off topic when looking at the original question now... i will write again trying to remain on topic this time

Question: Who are said to be the believers ? Are Christains/jews/Hindus can be believers even though they are not part of Islam ? How are Hindus different from Christains and Jews ? if a person does not follow Islam but he does good deeds and he is a good soul can he be in heaven ?

*** To be a beleiver you must beleive that there is only one God Allah and no other, that he has no children or mother and that Mohamed (SAWS) is his holy messenger. That Islam is the Religion Allah has chosen for us because of it's perfection and that the Qura'an is our holy book. Al Qura'an al Karim as well is the only holy book that has not been re-worded or written by a human. I know for example that there are many versions of the bible ....there is only one version of the Qura'an that is studied by ALL muslims. It has also been stated by people from different religions that the Qura'an was written by prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and that he was helped by a christian Priest. (i came upon this over the internet.

There are many miracles in the quran that have been scientifically proven today such as the development of the human embryo to a fully formed baby or the many benefits of honey for example that could have never been a conclusion of a human mind as they did not have the technology we have today. Therefore, this is one proof of many other proofs in our Holy book which leads us to beleive without a doubt that it is the book of Allah.

Doing good deeds then without beleiving in the above mentioned points would be looking at a speck on a picture rather than looking at the picture as a whole. Why should one do good deeds if they don't beleive in hasanat or fulfilling God's commands? how will we be rewarded for our good deeds if we don't beleive in the creator of humans for which we do the good deeds to please?

Being a Hindu / Jew / Christian is different in beleifs than Muslims.

We as Muslims do not associate another Human as God or God's child. We do not do good deeds to please anyone but Allah Subhano Wa Ta'la. We do not ask anyone else for forgiveness for our sins..for help in our times of trouble.. to reward us the way he..and only he sees fit. Subhanak ya Allah. We beleive in each human carrying their own sins and that no other person can be burdened with our sins.... if so, then why not commit sins since they have all been sacrificed by another human.

To be a true beleiver, you need to Beleive in Allah the one and only god, the merciful, the great. To be a Mowahed (not associate any other god with him). that is the true and most important beleif.

Walahu Alam i have written this to the best of my ability...Astaghfarulah if i have written something wrong unknowingly. I need your input guys

[honeycomb]

salam,

i've asked these questions myself when i was younger. it does gave me a headache. but now as i read the quran more, i came to realise that - Allah will NOT ask me another person's deeds when i meet Him on Judgement Day. i will be shown & asked only about my deeds. even the prophets will not be held accountable for his followers deeds, right...

thus, for the other followers or my fellow muslims - i just let God be the Best Judgement for them. the important things is, i do my deeds accordingly to please Allah...

that's how i make my life simpler...

anyway, once in class my chinese classmates asked my islamic lecturer, will they go to hell just bcoz they don't believe in Allah. my lecture wisely answered : "if u pray to another God, then is it logical that u seek heaven in another God?" he's very wise & said it with a sweet smile, as not to offend...

[Muslimah]

<i>Originally posted by honeycomb </i><b></b>

\"if u pray to another God, then is it logical that u seek heaven in another God?\" he's very wise & said it with a sweet smile, as not to offend...

as salam alykom

I like this very much simple and easy Mash a Allah

[Muslimahmuslima]

“There are four (who will protest) to Allaah on the Day of Resurrection: the deaf man who never heard anything, the insane man, the very old man, and the man who died during the fatrah (the interval between the time of ‘Eesaa (Jesus, upon whom be peace) and the time of Muhammad SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)). The deaf man will say, ‘O Lord, Islam came but I never heard anything.’ The insane man will say, ‘O Lord, Islam came but the children ran after me and threw stones at me.’ The very old man will say, ‘O Lord, Islam came but I did not understand anything.’ The man who died during the fatrah will say, ‘O Lord, no Messenger from You came to me.’ He will accept their promises of obedience, then word will be sent to them to enter the Fire. By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, if they enter it, it will be cool and safe for them.”