Sunday, May 2, 2010

Accountability in the Muslim vision of heaven

One might get the impression from the end of a New York Times book review by Mark Oppenheimer, that a Muslim vision of heaven including 'accountability' is some 'minority' view...Actually it's a pretty standard...Below are a few verses from different sections of the Qur'an about people being held accountable on the Day of Judgement for their deeds (and even asked concerning the blessings they enjoyed):

"That day mankind will come forth in scattered groups to be shown their deeds. And he who has done an atom's weight of good will see it, And he who has done an atom's weight of evil will see it." (99:6-8)

"Then, on that day, you will be questioned about the blessings [you had been given]." (102:8)

"He who does an evil deed shall be repaid its like, while he who has faith and does good works, whether male or female, shall enter the Garden, where they shall have provision without measure." (40:40)

"And the earthy will shine with the light of it's Lord, and the Book will be placed open, and the Prophets and the witnesses will be brought, and the people will be judged with full equity, and none will be wronger. And each soul will be paid in full for whatever it had done. And He knows best what they do." (39:69-70)

"And We set up a just balance [scales] for the Day of Resurrection. Thus, no soul will be treated unjustly. Even though it be the weight of a mustard seed, We shall bring it forth to be weighed; and Our reckoning will suffice." (21:47)

"And the Book [of deeds] will be placed and you will see the sinners fearful of that which is [inscribed] in it. And they say: "Woe to us! What kind of book is this that omits nothing small or great but all are noted down?" They will find all that they did placed before them, and your Lord will wrong no one." (18:49)

As for the much-repeated claim about "the fundamentalists who are moved — sometimes to violent suicide — by the promise of being serviced by dozens of dark-eyed virgins" see this earlier post.

1 comment:

  1. I listened to some apologetics by christian scholars especially about the problem of evil and suffering and realized that the clear notion in Islam that "life is a trial" isn't even strong in Christianity. It was rarely used to explain evil and suffering in their lectures...

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