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“O you who believe! Fear your lord, verily the earthquake of the hour is a tremendous thing”

The Prophet (saw) used to mention some great Ayat from a noble Surah in every Jummah he delivered. Until Umm Hisham Bint Al-Harith said “by Allah I did not learn Surat Qaf except from the Prophet (saw), he used to mention it in every Jummah he delivered. Ibn Kathir said what is meant by is that he used to mention this Surah in the Mosques, Eids and gatherings.

Sayed Qutub the Shaheed of Islam spoke about this Surah and said it is a mighty Surah. It speaks about life and death, the resurrection, the gathering and the judgement. It completes itsself on the weak human with its completeness and comprehensiveness.

Every soul (nafs) is limited; every soul is limited brothers. Every saying and every action is written and counted. This Surah moves the soul greatly, it shakes it enormously and places fear in it.

Allah(swt) says in these Noble Ayat:

“And indeed We have created man, and we know what his own self whispers to him. And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein”.

Allah (swt) knows exactly what is in our soul, what we think, what comes to our minds. Allah knows mans inner most desires and motives better than man himself because He created us. He (swt) knows the secrets and what the hearts conceal.

Allah is nearer to man than his own jugular vein. The jugular vein is the big trunk vein, one on either side of the neck.  The blood which is the vehicle of life travels from the heart to the head, the phrase “nearer than the jugular vein” implies that Allah knows more truly the inner most state of our mind and consciousness than does our own ego.

Oh slave of Allah! You are under the control of the Almighty of the heavens and the earth. You are under the control of the One whose knowledge encompasses everything in this universe, even if it be an atom. Then what is for a human, when He (swt) knows what you say and do? What is for a human when He knows the treachery of the eyes and what the hearts conceal? What is for a human and the One the Supreme asks for him, the One who does not slumber or sleep?

Wherever you go Oh slave of Allah, Allah (swt) is with you, he is with you everywhere you go. On this, if a slave wishes to commit sin where will he go, where will he commit his sin against Allah (swt)? Will he go to a place where no one can see him? He is shy in front of people but is not shy in front of Allah. He hides from the people but does not hide from Allah. Allah is with them and with what they do is all knowing.

Two angels are constantly by him to note his thoughts, words and actions. One sits on the right side and notes his good deed and the other on the left, to note his bad deeds.

By Allah this Ayah is frightening, this Ayah is intense, this Ayah is powerful. One on the left, recording your sin, and one on the right, recording your good deeds. With this in mind, do as you please Oh slave of Allah, do as you like. If good then good and if bad then bad, but remember that there will come a day when you will return to Allah where you will be judged, there will come a day of punishment. Do as you wish, He (swt) in indeed the All-Seer in what you do.

“Not a word does he utter but there is a watcher by him ready (to record it).”

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “The clever one is he who disciplined himself and worked for what is after death, and the feeble one is he who followed his desires, then made (vain) prayers to Allah”

Then what is after this, Oh servants of Allah. What is after the watching of Allah (swt) and his Angels who watch and record your deeds? The human is left with his life eating and drinking, doing as he pleases. Either he is with the Saleheen (the righteous) or with the Fasikeen (the evil-doers). Either he carries Islam or does nothing, either he performs good deeds or he commits sin, and after this is what? Listen to what is after this

“And the agony of death will come in truth: ‘this is what you have been avoiding!’.”

Then the soul will taken, Allah (swt) says in Sarat Al-Munafiqun:

“and spend in charity of that with which We have provided you before death comes to one of you, and he says: ‘My Lord! If only You would give me respite/delay for a little while (i.e. return to the worldly life), then I should give Sadaqah (charity) of my wealth, and be among the righteous. And Allah grants respite/delay to none when his appointed time (death) comes, And Allah is All-Aware of what you do.”

Fear Allah,  oh slaves of Allah. Remember that death is behind you and your grave is in front of you, the soil is your mattress and the worms are your companions and the great fear, the Judgement day will meet you tomorrow with Allah the All-Mighty

I am the home of the worms, I am the home of the creatures, I am the home of the relatives. This is what I have prepared for you, so what have you prepared for me. This is what I have prepared for you, so what have you prepared for me.

So what have you done in preparation of the grave? We ask Allah to make our graves a garden from the garden of Jannah and not make them a pit from the pits of Jahannam. So, what is after the grave?

“And the trumpet will be blown; that will be the day whereof warning (had been given)” this will be the day of resurrection. The Prophet said in a hadith “How can I enjoy myself when the Angel has already placed the horn in his mouth and is waiting the command of Allah.”

What the Prophet (saw) means by this is that there is no time for fun, no time for play, no time for enjoyment, indeed we are living towards the end of time. The first blow of the horn will kill everything every living being will die. The earth will be shaken by quakes.

“When the earth is shaken with her final quake, And the earth throws up her burdens (from within),  And man cries (distressed): ‘What is the matter with her?

“That day it will declare its information (the earth, about all that happened over it of good or evil). Because you’re Lord will inspire it.”

The Prophet (saw) tells us that “The day of judgement will be very hot and the people will be thirsty and hungry. They will be running around, exhausted and tired. They will go to Adam (as) Adam and say, ‘You are the father of all the people, and Allah created you with His Own Hands, and ordered the angels to prostrate to you, and taught you the names of all things; so please intercede for us with your Lord, so that He may relieve us from this place of ours.’ Adam will say, ‘I am not fit for this (i.e. intercession for you).’ Then Adam will remember his sin and feel ashamed thereof. He will say, ‘Nafsi, Nafsi, myself, myself, Go to Noah, for he was the first Apostle, Allah sent to the inhabitants of the earth.’ They will go to him and Noah will say,

‘I am not fit for this undertaking.’ He will remember his appeal to his Lord to do what he had no knowledge of, then he will feel ashamed thereof and will say, ‘Nafsi, Nafsi, myself, myself, Go to the Khalil–r-Rahman (i.e. Abraham).’ They will go to him and he will say, ‘I am not fit for this undertaking. Go to Moses, the slave to whom Allah spoke (directly) and gave him the Torah .’ So they will go to him and he will say, ‘I am not fit for this undertaking.’ and he will mention (his) killing a person who was not a killer, and so he will feel ashamed thereof before his Lord, and he will say, ‘Go to Jesus, Allah’s Slave, His Apostle and Allah’s Word and a Spirit coming from Him. Jesus will say, ‘I am not fit for this undertaking, go to Muhammad the Slave of Allah whose past and future sins were forgiven by Allah.’ ”

All of mankind, all of humanity, the one’s who loved Muhammad and the one’s who didn’t. the one’s who followed him and the one’s who rejected him. The one’s who knew about him and the one’s who didn’t. They will end up having to go to him on the day of judgement. They will say

‘So they will come to me and I will proceed till I will ask my Lord’s Permission and I will be given permission. When I see my Lord, I will fall down in Prostration and He will let me remain in that state as long as He wishes and then I will be addressed.’ (Muhammad!) Raise your head. Ask, and your request will be granted; say, and your saying will be listened to; intercede, and your intercession will be accepted.’ I will raise my head and praise Allah with a saying (i.e. invocation) He will teach me, and then I will intercede. He will fix a limit for me (to intercede for, ask on somebody’s behalf) whom I will admit into Paradise.’

‘So Muhammad (saw) will make shafa’ah (intercede) which is called Al-Shafa’ah al-Uthmah (the major/great intercession) and that is the shafa’ah that will start the events of the reckoning on the day of Judgement. Because the people are so tired they are saying: “We want this to be over with even if we are sent to hell fire. So Muhammad (saw) will make his shafa’ah.

Then the reckoning, accounting, the Hisab will start. Every one of us will stand in front of Allah (swt) holding our book of deeds and Allah (swt)  will go through everything you did. Why did you do this and why did you do that? You will have to answer for everything.

Allah mentions “So whoever does good equal to the weight of an atom shall see it. And whoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom shall see it.” (TMQ 99: 7-8)

Nothing is concealed, even your inner thoughts.

Some Rules of Hisab (accounting, reckoning)

1.    It is justice, if you do good you will see it, if you do bad you will see it. There will be no thulm (oppression) on that day.

2.    you will not be held responsible for what someone else did.

3.    you will be shown your deeds. Even though it is just you will be shown exactly what you have done, why you are going to Jannah or why you are going to hell fire. So everything that you did will come in a physical form. This is when the Mizan (scale) will be erected. This is where the good deeds will be on the right side and the sins on the left side

4.    this rule is beyond justice. It is the Fadl (favour) of Allah, it is the multiplication of good deeds. The requirement of justice is that you are given one Hasanah for one good deed and one sin for one bad deed. But Allah (swt) multiplies the good deeds for you and does not multiply the sins. That is the Fadl (favour) of Allah, the additional blessings that Allah gives the belivers.

So the least is ten fold, but it could be more than 700, 7,000 and can go up to an unlimited amount like the one’s Allah (swt) describes:

“Only those who are patient will receive their reward in full, a limitless reward” [TMQ 39:10]

5.    Finally there will be witnesses, witnesses on our actions, if there is no one who saw it, your hand will witness, your tongue will witness, your feet will witness. Allah (swt) will not establish judgement until there are witnesses who come forth and either witness for you or against you.

6.    if there is a sin committed between you and Allah, then Allah (swt) can forgive you, but if there is a sin committed between you and someone else, that has to be sorted out between you and that other person (example)

The Prophet (saw) asked the Sahabah “do you know who the bankrupt person is?” they said “the bankrupt among us is the person who does not have any wealth. He (saw) said, “The bankrupt of my Ummah, the bankrupt person is someone who comes on the day of judgement with many rewards, prayer, fasting, Zakat, but he had accused this person falsely, he abused another, cursed a third, taken the money of somebody else,  spilt the blood of someone else, so he ends up giving them from his good deeds and if he runs out of good deeds and he didn’t pay them back, then they start giving him some of their sins and he ends up going to hell fire.”

A bankrupt person is not someone who started off poor. A bankrupt person is someone who was rich and then lost their wealth. So this is someone who comes on the day of Judgement wealthy. Wealthy in what? On the day of judgement there is no money, the only wealth that exists is hasanat (good deeds) and he has a lot of them, but because of his dealings with others and because he scored low on the scales of Akhlaq (morals) and he was cursing people, backbiting others, causing fitan (mischief), He has to pay them back. There is no free ride on the day of judgement. Everything must be sorted out. He will pay them back and if his good deeds are not enough, he will start receiving some of their sins and will end up going to hell fire.

Imam al-Shafi’i had a student go to him one day and said so and so speaks against you. Imam Al-Shafi’I instead of standing on the Minbar and giving a fiery Khutbah against that person he smiled and was quite happy and went to the market place and bought some fruits and he went to this person and knocked on his door and he said, ‘I was told that you handed over to me some of your good deeds and I have no way to pay you back other that giving you these fruits. Take it as a gift, thank you very much for giving me some of your Hasanat (good deeds). This is the day of Justice and Allahs name is the Adal (The Just).

Finally, a companion asked the prophet “When is the final hour?” and he replied “What have you prepared for it?” – This is indeed the correct question we should all be asking ourselves. WHAT HAVE I PREPARED FOR IT?