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Talk given to medical students at the Kulliyah of Medicine, International Islamic University, Kuantan, on 28th January 2000 by Prof Omar Hasan Kasule, Sr.
DISCUSSION ISSUE #1:
Last Day: Reward and Punishment 89:21-30
These verses start with description of the physical destruction of the universe at the start of the Last Day. Allah the almighty will then come to judge people on their performance on earth. Hell, the abode of the wrong-doers, will appear on that Day. The humans will then remember their actions on earth, good or bad, but that remembrance will be of no benefit at that stage. Both the righteous and the wrong-doers will express regret about their work on earth but in different ways. The righteous will regret that they did not do more righteous deeds while on earth. The wrong-doers will regret their evil deeds and wish they had done more righteous deeds. Allah’s punishment for the wrong-doers on that Day will be more severe than any other punishment that has ever been given. The righteous on the other hand will have an entirely different treatment. Their souls in their calmness will be invited to go near their Lord to get their rewards. They will be pleased with themselves. Allah will be pleased with them and will invite them to join the righteous in paradise. The invitation to return to the Lord is also made by the angels to the souls of the righteous at the time of their death and also at the time of resurrection from the grave.
The following lessons are derived from these verses. While on earth we should strive to do good deeds and avoid evil deeds, ma’aaswi, because there will be no opportunity after death to improve our record. The righteous can never be satisfied with their good deeds and they always want to do better that is why they will also be regretting on the Last Day. This means that no truly righteous person can claim to be perfect in their work and such a claim is proof that they are not truly righteous but are pretenders. The wrong-doers will suffer grievous punishment but the righteous will be rewarded. Unlike the bounties of the earth that never satisfy humans and they continue craving for more, the rewards of the Hereafter will be sufficient and the righteous will be pleased. The highest of these rewards is getting the pleasure of Allah, ridhallah, and being near Him.
DISCUSSION ISSUE #2:
Challenge to Humans to Excel 90:11-20
These verses describe the challenge to humans to rise to a level of excellence above their personal interest of acquiring and keeping material goods. This challenge is a difficult road that only the strongest can take. The difficult road is described as parting with material goods in deeds of charity and righteousness such as freeing the slaves, feeding the hungry, the orphans, and the indigent. Those who are capable of these actions qualify to be among the believers who encourage one another to be patient and kind. They are indeed the people of the right. In contrast the people of the left are those who rejected the signs of Allah and they will in an all-engulfing hell.
The lesson we learn from these verses is the high degree of excellence that humans can reach by conquering and overcoming their greed and covetousness for material goods through acts of charity.
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