Word 28: Man is creating himself by his actions and knowledge day and night, and he will live in the Hereafter according to it.
Word 28: Man is creating himself by his actions and knowledge day and night, and he will live in the Hereafter according to it.
The following verses of the Holy Quran are very helpful to understanding the above word.
He said, “O Noah, he is not of your family. Indeed, He is an unrighteous deed. So do not ask Me about something you know nothing about. I admonish you, lest you be one of the ignorant.” (Hud:46)[1]
God did not say his action was unrighteous but instead says, “O Noah, he (your son) is not of your family. Indeed, He is an unrighteous deed”.
“On the Day when every soul finds all the good that it has done presented. And as for the evil it has done, it will wish there were a great distance between them”[2] (Al-i-Imran:30).
“And they will say, “Woe to us! What is with this book that leaves nothing, small or big, but it has enumerated it?” They will find everything they had done presently. Your Lord does not wrong anyone”[3] (Al-Kahf:49).
Allameh Hassanzadeh said, “O God, In the past, I thought the past is passed but now I see that everything is gathered on me”. The book of actions mentioned in the Holy Quran is not like the books in worldly life, but we will be the book of ourselves based on our knowledge and deeds. In the Hereafter, we will see that we were recording everything in ourselves, all of it will be present for us.
Ibn Al-Arabi said, “A true master and perfect mystic knows his student’s actions from the beginning to the end”. Once, I was reading the Holy Quran while I was holding up one of my knees. It came to my mind that it was a rude state while reciting Quran. After a few weeks, I went to Allameh Hassan Zadeh’s house. There were few people in his house. Allameh said, “There was a master that said to his student why were you holding up your knee in such a way, while reciting the Holy Quran”, then he looked at me. Allameh Hassan Zadeh was reading my mind many times like the above story. Someone told me that they have written a philosophy essay, they decided to show it to Allameh Hassan Zadeh. When they went to visit him, I was thinking to myself that Allameh will say to my friends that “look to this student (me) that worked hard and he reached a high rank”. When I showed my essay to him, Allameh said, “Yes, show this to me that I say to your friends that you worked hard, and you reached a high rank!!!”. The true Guardians of God reached the Resurrection, and we cannot lie to them or hide our bad intentions behind our nice words. Our alive Imam, Imam Mahdi (A) even knows our thinking.
In the story of Prophet Noah’s son, we have the following verses in the Quran.
“As he was building the ark, whenever some of his people passed by him, they ridiculed him. He said, “If you ridicule us, we will ridicule you, just as you ridicule.” (38) “You will surely know upon whom will come a torment that will abase him, and upon whom will fall a lasting torment.” (39) Until, when Our command came, and the volcano erupted, We said, “Board into it a pair of every kind, and your family—except those against whom the sentence has already been passed—and those who have believed.” But those who believed with him were only a few. (40) He said, “Embark in it. In the name of God shall be its sailing and its anchorage. My Lord is indeed Forgiving and Merciful.” (41) And so, it sailed with them amidst waves like hills. And Noah called to his son, who had kept away, “On my son! Embark with us, and do not be with the disbelievers.” (42) He said, “I will take refuge on a mountain—it will protect me from the water.” He said, “There is no protection from God’s decree today, except for him on whom He has mercy.” And the waves surged between them, and he was among the drowned. (43) And it was said, “O earth, swallow your waters,” and “O heaven, clear up.” And the waters receded, and the event was concluded, and it settled on Judi, and it was proclaimed: “Away with the wicked people.” (44) And Noah called to his Lord. He said, “O My Lord, my son is of my family, and Your promise is true, and You are the Wisest of the wise.” (45) He said, “O Noah, he is not of your family. he is an unrighteous deed. So do not ask Me about something you know nothing about. I admonish you, lest you be one of the ignorant.” (46) He said, “O My Lord, I seek refuge with You, from asking You about what I have no knowledge of. Unless You forgive me and have mercy on me, I will be one of the losers.” (47)
One takeaway from the above verses is that our deeds become ourselves and they make us and will be our rewards or punishment. “He (Noah’s son) is an unrighteous deed”. So, we cannot escape from the torment of God even if we were the son of a holy prophet. It is no difference between Noah’s son and other people’s sons. The only thing that saves us is righteousness. “The best among you in the sight of God is the most righteous”[4] (Al-Hujurat:13). “Do you consider giving water to pilgrims and maintaining the Sacred Mosque the same as believing in God and the Last Day and striving in God’s path? They are not equal in God’s sight. God does not guide the unjust people”[5](At-Tawba:19). “You warn only him who follows the Message and fears the Most Gracious inwardly. So, give him the good news of forgiveness and a generous reward”[6] (Ya-Sin:11). One of the meanings of fearing God inwardly is that believers are afraid of God in their mind also, they do not even allow evil thinking to enter their minds. Because they know that God and His Guardian knows what is in their mind. “Say, Work. God will see your work, and so will His Messenger, and the believers. Then you will be returned to the Knower of secrets and declarations, and He will inform you of what you used to do”[7] (At-Tawba:105).
In the story of Prophet Noah’s son, God Said, “O Noah, he is not of your family”. So, who is Prophet’s family? The answer will be found in the Prophet Abraham (A), “My Lord, they have led many people astray. Whoever follows me belongs with me; and whoever disobeys me – You are Forgiving and Merciful”[8] (Ibrahim:36). Prophet Muhammad (S) said, “Any righteous men or women are my family”.
Another question is how a person can become unrighteous deed (like the son of Prophet Noah (A))? Sometimes people sin without intention or for once but some people become addicted to certain sins. The second group of the above people becomes the unrighteous deed. “And they do not persist in their wrongdoing while they know”[9] (Al-i-Imran:135). Meaning if you know certain action is sin but still persist in it then you become the unrighteous deed.
Note: “If someone leaves known sins, their unknown sins are forgiven“. If you follow this advice when you are a youth, then your souls become full of light. If you are capable of sin but you leave it for God’s happiness, this is the time when you will feel a full blessing from God within yourself.
“On the Day when every soul finds all the good that it has done presented. And as for the evil it has done”. Our actions are written in our book. Someone asked Prophet Muhammad (S) where is this book? Prophet (S) replied this is your Heart. Meaning our Nafs/Soul becomes our book. Our action is written in our soul moment by moment. “On that Day, the people will emerge in droves, to be shown their works. (6) Whoever has done an atom’s weight of good will see it. (7) And whoever has done an atom’s weight of evil will see it. (8)”[10] (Az-Zalzala:6-8). The verse of the Quran says, “People will see their actions”. So, the action will take a certain shape in the Hereafter. For example, someone sees a dog biting him which was because of a shout he had made at his mother.
Someone asked a great scholar “Ayatollah Bahjat”, Please give me advice that I consider. He replied, “Know that whatever you do, you are doing it for yourself in reality”. “On that Day, no soul will be wronged in the least, and you will be recompensed only for what you used to do”[11] (Ya-Sin:54).
If you are doing good or bad deeds or you are helping others, you are doing them for yourself in reality. Because our actions are united with us momentarily. Imam Sajjad (A) was accompanying the caravan, no one knew him, and he was cooking, washing, and serving others on the trip. They reached a point where someone recognized Imam Sajjad (A) and the person told others. Others went to Imam and asked him to stop working but Imam replied, “If you still want me to accompany you, you must allow me to do things as before otherwise I will go with myself”.
Allameh Hassan Zadeh said, “we are making ourselves moment by moment”. So, let us sit down in a quiet place each night and see what we have done during the day. If we did a good deed, thank God and ask for more, and if we did bad action, we ask forgiveness and decide not to do it again. I hope there should not be a time when we reach 60 years old and have not done one good deed for God’s sake. Prophet Muhammad (S) was with some of his companions in the middle of the desert. He said, “look for sticks to make a fire”. Some of the companions said that we are in the desert and there is no wood. Prophet (S) replied, “Go and search, you will find some”. After a while the companions came back with lots of sticks, Prophet Muhammad (S) said, “Sins are like these sticks which cannot be seen by eyes. People think that they have not done any sin, but they will find them if they look carefully. A tradition from an Imam says, “People who are not auditing their actions, they are not from us “Ahl-Al-Bayt”.
Muhammad Mahdi Me’marian
All praise is to God to the extent that He deserves it.
[1] -قَالَ يَا نُوحُ إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ ۖ إِنَّهُ عَمَلٌ غَيْرُ صَالِحٍ ۖ فَلَا تَسْأَلْنِ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ ۖ إِنِّي أَعِظُكَ أَن تَكُونَ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ
[2] -يَوْمَ تَجِدُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا عَمِلَتْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ مُّحْضَرًا وَمَا عَمِلَتْ مِن سُوءٍ تَوَدُّ لَوْ أَنَّ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَهُ أَمَدًا بَعِيدًا
[3] -وَيَقُولُونَ يَا وَيْلَتَنَا مَالِ هَٰذَا الْكِتَابِ لَا يُغَادِرُ صَغِيرَةً وَلَا كَبِيرَةً إِلَّا أَحْصَاهَا ۚ وَوَجَدُوا مَا عَمِلُوا حَاضِرًا ۗ وَلَا يَظْلِمُ رَبُّكَ أَحَدًا
[4] – إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ
[5] – أَجَعَلْتُمْ سِقَايَةَ الْحَاجِّ وَعِمَارَةَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ كَمَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَجَاهَدَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ لَا يَسْتَوُونَ عِندَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ
[6] – إِنَّمَا تُنذِرُ مَنِ اتَّبَعَ الذِّكْرَ وَخَشِيَ الرَّحْمَٰنَ بِالْغَيْبِ ۖ فَبَشِّرْهُ بِمَغْفِرَةٍ وَأَجْرٍ كَرِيمٍ
[7] – وَقُلِ اعْمَلُوا فَسَيَرَى اللَّهُ عَمَلَكُمْ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۖ وَسَتُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
[8] – رَبِّ إِنَّهُنَّ أَضْلَلْنَ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ النَّاسِ ۖ فَمَن تَبِعَنِي فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّي ۖ وَمَنْ عَصَانِي فَإِنَّكَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
[9] – وَلَمْ يُصِرُّوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلُوا وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ
[10] – يَوْمَئِذٍ يَصْدُرُ النَّاسُ أَشْتَاتًا لِّيُرَوْا أَعْمَالَهُمْ ﴿٦﴾ فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ ﴿٧﴾ وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ
[11] – فَالْيَوْمَ لَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا وَلَا تُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ