Good Non-Muslim People

USResident · December 25, 2007, 4:03am

Re: Good Non-Muslim People

Great post Br.

If I get your point correctly then it is Allah SWT mercy which grants entry into paradise and then our deeds which get us to a certain position in it.

Auntie Sandleen

Peace All

StirCrasy … Please read above. I have emboldened a quote by you. You said ‘good thoughts and deeds are even more powerful than God, that they are God’, but this is what Muslims mean by the term ‘associating partners’ with God.

According to what I know about the entry to Paradise or not:

Pride - This is the first sin, and a major one. It is in of itself a class of shirk (associating partners with God). Here is why. Pride is termed a cloak of God, it is not befitting for a human to wear this cloak. The moment we tote ‘pride’ we are committing shirk by associating this Divine garment with ourselves. It was pride that led according to Muslim belief that downfall of Haarith who became Iblis - Shaitan. By assuming an Attribute of God (i.e. Pride) we are tacitly calling ourselves God.

Belief - This is most basic of requirements for anyone to eventually enter Paradise. They need to believe in Allah (SWT) or Bhagwan however you call it, but without the conceptual baggage of the terms assocaited with Bhagwan. Such as manifesting in human form, etc. It consists with the belief that God is One.

People will be judged by their actions only in as much as what their intentions have made of them. So if a person intends to please people then their reward will be likewise, but if a person pleases people intending it as worship to God then the reward will be likewise. Muslims should endeavour to make and align all actions to please God and hope that the by-product of their actions lead to pleasing humanity too. Not the other way round, because that would again be Shirk. To perform for the pleasure of man alone is not befitting for a Muslim to do.

Mercy - We as Muslims never say that good deeds are a ticket to Paradise. We know by an aspect of our belief system that there is nothing that we can do to EARN Paradise. Even if we spent a lifetime on Earth doing saintly things. This is because the reward of Paradise is immense one that will last an eternity. Our lives on this rock are but a mere glimpse! One shall enter Paradise only by the Mercy of God and by no other means. Good actions are a means to undertake our functions in accordance with the plans laid out for us. Good deeds brings goodness in our Earthly lives and enriches humanity whilst on Earth. Those hindus who practice good deeds get their reward in this life sure enough and also ensure for themselves that what they have worked for has been given them i.e. peace in this world and happines of their children and respect from people.

Lost deeds - The reason why therefore the good deeds of people is lost if they do so without belief is because those good deeds are intended for this world and not intended for the afterlife.

Wisdom in Judgment - According to my understandings is that those who have not been given the message of truth are bound by the laws their communities have provided. So a just person will be subject to and God will Judge him in accordance with his own law and sense of right and wrong. This argument can be extended to not being given the true picture of Islam. Some people do not know about Islam properly because their idea of it has been perverted by the media, say. They may again find themselves in such a position.

Provided these people conform with their inner fitrah which tells them that God is One, (because this concept does not need Islam) they are then subject by the Mercy of God to enter Paradise. It is important to realise this that no matter which time, or place even the most primitive and isolated people have ingrained in them a sense of ‘Oneness in Diety’ and that should never be compromised.

Rank - People will enter Jannah at different times and in differing ranks. Their rewards will be porportional accordingly … According to our belief the poorest person in Paradise will have more wealth than the bounties and pleasures of this Earthly existence several times over. (Either 3 or 7 times I forgot which).