The Qur’an says:
O you who believe, save yourselves and your families
from the Fire whose fuel will be men and rocks, over which will be appointed
stern and severe angels as wardens who would never disobey what God would
command them, and would do what they will be commanded. (66:6)
Any person who believes that a Day of
Final Justice is bound to dawn would do everything possible within his
means to save himself and his family from the Fire of Hell. Consequently,
whenever he would find any of his close ones deviating from the right path,
he would hurry to bring him back. His attempt would be at least equal in
earnestness to that of someone attempting desperately to rescue a close
one from the flames of a threatening fire. The fear that his attempt would
earn for him the displeasure of others would not deter him from pursuing
his objective. Indeed, a temporary unhappiness of some relatives and friends
is far easier to face than the accountability in the Hereafter if this
responsibility is avoided. The Prophet of Allah (sws) had warned thus:
Each one of you is a shepherd, responsible [to the Almighty]
for [the conduct of] his herd. (Muslim, Kitabu’l-Imarah)
Love and sympathy for others, if carried
too far, make an individual lazy and unmindful about religious matters.
Emotional attachment to the religion of Allah, as a result, gradually drops
to a level where open violations of the Almighty’s injunctions even by
one’s wife and children fail to move him to take corrective measures. He
satisfies his feelings of religiosity by the deceiving thought that time
itself would reform them gradually. There are many who instead of reforming
their kin, spare no efforts to justify their faults. This highly unbecoming
attitude is adopted even by those who have taken up the task of reforming
the entire society.
The obvious reason why people do not
take up the responsibility of reforming their near ones seriously is that
they fail to realise that true love does not demand individuals to meekly
overlook the irreligious conduct of their family and to allow them to be
swallowed by the flames of Hell as a result; it requires, instead, that
they should somehow be dragged away from it, even though the process might
necessitate some discomfort to them. Remember, anyone who remains unconcerned
at the un-Islamic behaviour of his close ones is not loving them, but is,
in reality, callously allowing them to move closer to the wrath of the
Almighty.
The Holy Qur’an warns us that
many people would find themselves along with their families in an unenviable
fate on that Fateful Day. It says:
You would see them brought before the fire, abject in
disgrace, looking stealthily. And those who believe will say: ‘Indeed losers
are those who have failed themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection.’
Be informed that these transgressors will suffer a lasting torment. They
will have no protector to help them than God. He whom God allows to go
astray has no way [to revert]. (42:45-6)
O
We, therefore, pray to the Almighty:
‘O Lord, give us of good in the world, and give us of good in the life
to come and save us from the torment of the Fire.’ (2:201) Amen.
|