Satyarth Prakash

16. "They shall never continue to be the companions of paradise. (2:75)

C. ~ As the soul is finite, its deeds - good or bad - cannot be infinite. It cannot, therefore be sent to an everlasting hell or heaven. Should God do so, His justice will be destroyed, or would He be considered and an enlightened Being. If there is one judgment day for all souls, their virtuous and sinful acts must be equal. Human deeds being finite their fruits - reward or punishment - cannot be infinite.

The Mohammedans believe that the world had been in existence for less than or eight thousand years. One should like to know if God was sitting idle before Creation and will do the same after the day of judgment. These are all childish things, because God is ever active and awards every soul reward or punishment in proportion to the nature and amount of its virtuous and sinful feeds. Hence what the Qoran teaches (on the subject) is not right.

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The Response

Firstly, the translation and the reference, both are incorrect. The verse in question is 2:82 and the correct tranlation is,

"The are the Companions of Paradise; therein shall they abide."

Swamiji forgot his own prescribed punishment of bribery. He says,

"Let the king punish properly the magistrate who accepts bribe ether from the plaintiff or the defendant in a case and, therefore, gives an just decision, confiscate all his possessions, and banish him to a place from which he can never return." [Sayarth Prakash, Chapter 6]

A bribe is taken in few minutes while the punishment being given is of a lifetime. Is this justice? Thus your own  criterion is going against you. The truth is that in a Judicial system there are many such crimes for which the punishment is not proportional to the period of crime, but to the severity of the crime. Swamiji has ignored this fundamental principle.

It is true that the deeds of humans are not infinite, reason being the short lives we have been provided with. However, the mercy of Allah is not finite. We believe in the Grace of God and that he gives us more than what we deserve and forgives our sins. This was beautifully explained by the Noble Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

إِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ رَحِيمٌ مَنْ هَمَّ بِحَسَنَةٍ فَلَمْ يَعْمَلْهَا كُتِبَتْ لَهُ حَسَنَةً فَإِنْ عَمِلَهَا كُتِبَتْ لَهُ عَشْرًا إِلَى سَبْعِمِائَةٍ إِلَى أَضْعَافٍ كَثِيرَةٍ. وَمَنْ هَمَّ بِسَيِّئَةٍ فَلَمْ يَعْمَلْهَا كُتِبَتْ لَهُ حَسَنَةً فَإِنْ عَمِلَهَا كُتِبَتْ لَهُ وَاحِدَةً أَوْ يَمْحُوهَا اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَلَا يَهْلِكُ عَلَى اللهِ إِلَّا هَالِك

"Your Lord is Most Merciful. Whoever intends to perform a good deed and does not do it, it will be written for him as a good deed. If he performs it, it will be written for him as ten deeds, to seven hundred, to multifold. Whoever intends to commit an evil deed, but does not do it, it will be written for him as a good deed. If he commits it, it will be written for him as a sin, unless Allah erases it. Only those who deserve destruction will be destroyed by Allah." [Bukhari; Book 8; Hadith 498]

He further said,

يَقُولُ اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ :مَنِ اقْتَرَبَ إِليَّ شِبْرًا اقْتَرَبْتُ إِلَيْهِ ذِرَاعًا وَمَنِ اقْتَرَبَ إِلَيَّ ذِرَاعًا اقْتَرَبْتُ إِلَيْهِ بَاعًا وَمَنْ أَتَانِي يَمْشِي أَتَيْتُهُ هَرْوَلَة

Allah says, "Whoever draws closer to Me by a hand's span, I will draw closer to him by a forearm's length. Whoever draws closer to Me by a forearm's length, I will draw closer to him by an arm's length. And whoever comes to Me walking, I will come to him running." [Muslim Book 35; Hadith 6498]

Swamiji and his followers need to open their hearts to receive the Grace of Allah. They can very well judge that if our negative 'ones' outnumber our positive 'tens', then we do not deserve Paradise and Bliss. Allah is The Just and we need to understand Him with all of His attributes.

Age of this world

I would like to know which chapter of the Qur'an mentions the age of this world to be eight thousand years? The Qur'an does not fix any age of the world or universe. We Muslims believe that the universe was created by Allah and did not exist eternally. Swamiji himself holds this belief that God is the 'Creator of all'. Quoting the Gayarti Mantra, Swamiji writes in Satyarth Prakash,

"...Thou art unborn, without any symbolical distinction and organization, Omniscient, Sustainer and Ruler of the Universe, Creator of all, Eternal, Protector and preserver of the Universe,..." [Satyarth Prakash; Page 34; Yajurveda 36:3]

Further, Swamiji writes,

"All objects to this world such as the earth, are subject to the processes of formation, that is, are the product of definite combination. They can never be eternal, because a thing which is the product of combination can never exist after its component parts come as under." [Satyarth Prakash Chapter 8; Point 22]

Therefore, whatever age of the creation is given by Swamiji, he cannot deny that creation is the result of combination and as such can never be eternal as he himself writes. So by Swamiji's own crtierion his Ishwar must have been idle before bringing forth the creation and will again go idle after dissolving this creation. Whatever was happening before this creation is out of our limited domain and grasp. For us we only are to say,

وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

"He created all things and has knowledge of all things." [Qur'an 6:101]