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Salvation In Islam: The Non-Muslim Question

June 23, 2016

In the final analysis, we realize that heaven and hell are neither the exclusive preserve of the muslim, christian nor jew, except those among them whose fitrah remains pure in its deeds and its intentions, subsumed in the mercy of a loving and omnipotent God

The question of salvation in Islam is a delicate one. Although, growing up, the lines were never blurred. I was forced to first, assume and subsequently accept (both on the grounds of taqlid) the fairly settled spiritual destination of the 'infidel' or 'unbeliever'. I would denigrate the christian and chant aspersions to his hearing, convinced the act was some sort of sixth pillar of the islamic creed. It excited me, after all it was the easiest of all acts of faith to practise (well, i didn't like praying very much, least of all fasting) and to others who paid any attention, it made me appear more like a child of spiritual promise than the devout ward who would pray all 5 times and entertain a christian guest. Therefore, i binarized (as many of still do) the idea of salvation into two fixed columns; for the divinely chosen muslim - everlasting bliss and ultimately heaven and for the divinely cursed christian (or non-muslim) eternal damnation and consequently, hell... I was wrong
For centuries, this topic had generated an uproar among numerous mainstream islamic scholars, questioning in the main what 'submission to islam' encompassed, the true extents of God's mercy transcending his justice and whether the non-muslim could expect any teleological reprieve
Q2:62, which i reckon is just as responsible for the diversity in perspectives as the complexities that trail a commentary on it provides: "indeed those who have believed and those who were jews or christians or sabians, those among them who believed in Allah and the last day and did righteousness, will have their reward with their lord, and no fear will there be concerning them nor will they grieve".  This verse, as Mahmoud M. Ayoub would have it, is one of many general statements in the Qur'an in which faith is raised above any religious or ethnic identity. Of course exegates tend to argue its abrogation or circumscribe its applicability to a particular group as at the time of revelation, but that is strictly within the theological battlefield of historical investigation, and Allah knows best. Nonetheless, these views will be analyzed seriatim on the merits inshaAllah.
Examining the mercy-justice predicament, we find a co-habitation of two themes; the Ahl-al-fitrah pathology (questioning whether a warner to every community communicates in any sense a warner/messenger to every individual) and the theme of eternal damnation (whether 'abd' or 'abada' as contained in Q98:6 and other verses meant 'forever' in the strictest sense or 'for a long time' as Arabic morphologists contend)
Accordingly, Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad Al-Ghazali (Hujjatul Islam) an accomplished polymath and a colossus of Shafi'i Jurisprudence in his book Faysal Al-Tafriqah attempts to create a distinction between unbelievers according to the law but not according to reality. Thus, he argues that non-muslims may be classified as belonging to one of three categories: first, those who never even heard of the name Muhammad; second, 'blasphemous unbelievers' who know of Muhammad's true character and third, those who fall in between the two groups: these people knew the name muhammad but nothing of his character, true message or attributes except from reports alleging that he was some arch liar or magician professing the so-called word of God. Long story cut short, Ghazali argues that this latter group, like the 1st in his three-pronged classification, were not provided with enough incentive to compel them to investigate any further. As such, the first and the third groups will ultimately be forgiven due to God's mercy.
       He furthermore argues on the eternality of heaven and hell that beyond the well-considered categories of unconditional salvation promised those who combine faith and good deeds and unmitigated perdition for those who do not, there are those who despite their faith in the basic tenets, err in its interpretation, have doubts regarding either the tenets themselves or the correct interpretations or combine good deeds with evil ones. This latter group, on the folly of their ways, will only be punished for a short period of time, the argument being that having committed a finite number of sins within a defined time-frame, their punishment will equally be finite
Shaykhul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, arguably the greatest Hanbali jurist of all time cites Q17:15 as a counter to both ash'arite and mu'tazilite schools and re-iterates the message of the verse that no one will be punished until a messenger comes to him/her. In his Magnum Opus Fatawa, he comments:
      
       "God the exalted sent the messengers and revealed the books so that religion can be entirely for God.. God sent Muhammad. He therefore does not accept (a religion) from anyone WHOM THE INVITATION TO ISLAM (da'awah) has REACHED, except the religion with which He sent Muhammad, for this invitation is, in general, for all created beings" - Emphasis mine
Coursing from the asseverations above, we notice the dependance of what constitutes religion, or in our case islam, upon an express invitation without which no consequence for irreligion may be founded. As such, da'awah to the faith (being a prerequisite) must have reached the individual. With regard therefore to who is deemed to have received the message and who isn't, ibn Taymiyyah identifies three groups: the followers of the prophet i.e. believing muslims; deniers of the prophet (people of error/Ahl-al-dilal) and the 'people of ignorance' (ahl-al-jahiliyyah). This latter group is not restricted to pre-islamic periods but constitutes the multitude post-Muhammadans who were/are ignorant of the prophet and/or his message and it is for this last group that his Exposé of Q17:15 applies.
On the fate of hell's inhabitants, he maintains that while heaven is permanent, citing Q11:108 and 56:33 and emphasizing that heaven is a product of God's mercy, that mercy itself being a characteristic of God's Essence, may only be like God, unceasing. On the other hand, ibn Taymiyyah holds that neither the Qur'an nor hadith were ever explicit on the continuum of hell or it's inhabitants punishments, acknowledging Umar Bn Khattab who was reported to have said: "if the 'people of fire' (ahl-an-nar) were to remain in the fire to the extent of the number of stones in a mountain, then there would be a day in which they would leave it" (this report is mutawattir, having more than one chain of narrators in support of it's authority) 
       Furthermore, he cites a statement attributed to ibn Mas'ud that a time will come where NO ONE will remain in Hell and that it's inhabitants will only tarry in it for 'ages' - (which is ibn Taymiyyah's translation for Q78:23's use of the word 'Ahqaba'... As such, read in line with Q11:107-8 ibn Taymiyyah explains that 'khalidina fiha' (i.e. abiding in hell) is only for the duration of one's stay in it and not an explicit reference to the eternality of hell itself.
Like his teacher (ibn Taymiyyah) Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyyah re-asserts his flexible interpretation on salvation and equally argues that God's punishment is premised only upon a refutation of an express invitation (da'awah) where it reaches the individual in the most proper manner. Similarly, he argues for the continuity of heaven and putting forth a twenty-five point argument, elaborates the non-eternality of hell
In the final analysis, we realize that heaven and hell are neither the exclusive preserve of the muslim, christian nor jew, except those among them whose fitrah remains pure in its deeds and its intentions, subsumed in the mercy of a loving and omnipotent God. Faith would be seen to traverse and transcend the narrow definitions of the Salaf apologists and other 'orthodox' sects and accordingly, da'awah would be subject to the soundness and vitality that comes with it's transmission and Allah Knows best


~seulement por la verite~   

 

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