The Islamic Bulletin Volume X IX No. 24 Page 18 DAY OF JUDGMENT By Amr Khaled Start thinking about Judgment Day! But I don’t want to be just telling stories, I want you to start imagining, with all your senses that you are there now. I’ll try as hard as I can to draw a picture just as if you were really standing there. But please, forget that I am giving a lecture now, I’m not. We are just sitting together, imagining together what will happen on Resurrection Day (Judgment Day). My aim today is not to scare you. My aim is to tell you the facts about that day. How will it begin? ”The Trumpet will just be sounded, when all that are in the heavens and on earth will swoon, except such as it will please Allah (to exempt). Then a second one will be sounded, when, behold, you will be standing and looking on!” “The trumpet shall be sounded, when behold! From the sepulchers (men) will rush forth to their Lord!” Today we will only speak about one topic— the standing on resurrection day waiting for judgment. After the trumpet is blown, your body parts start to join together, and your bones start to merge once more. Your brain starts thinking, your eyes open and you start to have life back again. Imagine what this great blow will do? It will bring back all the sand of earth that you were made from thousands of years ago. Imagine the greatness and power of this blow? The trumpet width is like the width of earth and skies together. Your grave cracks and opens from the mightiness of the blow. Are you visualizing this great day with me? So now you are back to life, coming out from your grave, naked and covered in sand, with no water available to wash yourself. Your situation is very hard. What will you say? All the people on that day will cry out saying the same word: “myself, myself”. “I don’t care today about anyone except myself.” Imagine the sound of billions of people around you all saying the same word ‘‘myself, myself”. Who came out with you from the same grave? Now regarding your father and your mother— do you remember that day when your father died how much you cried? Do you remember how much you hugged and kissed him and said, ‘‘If I could only see him again for one second?” And now, on the resurrection day, after thousands of years, imagine how much you really missed him. Of course you will hug him and kiss him... or at least that is what you imagine. But no, this will not happen. Allah says: “That Day shall a man flee from his own brother, and from his mother and his father, and from his wife and his children.” Imagine yourself running away from your own father! From your own Mother, from your spouse, from your children! It has been a thousand years since the last time you saw them and you are running! Can you imagine yourself running from your mother, your children and your spouse? Everyone is running, but where to? No one knows where to. We are just running and saying the same word ‘’myself, myself’’ again and again. “Myself—Myself”. Imagine yourself running without an aim. You don’t know where you are going, you are so afraid, and you’re just running and running. You don’t want to be tied down by anyone and you don’t want anyone to stop you from running. Maybe this picture scared you, but I told you that resurrection day it not all fearful. Now imagine the bright and beautiful side: A family coming out from their graves holding hands. Imagine with me— the father, the mother, and the children— all holding hands together. Why is that? Examine the verse which says: “Friends on that day will be foes, one to another, - except the Righteous.” So if a family was righteous in their life will they run away from each other? Of course not. So the verse: “That Day shall a man flee from his own brother, and from his mother and his father, and from his wife and his children.” Who does it apply to? It applies to the disbeliever of God and the people who forgot about God in their lives. For example, if two friends loved each other, and helped each other in obeying God in their life…on the resurrection day they are standing hand in hand. If two friends travel long distances every day in order to listen to Islamic lectures, then the same thing is true for them. It’s up to you. Which picture do you prefer? We are now all gathered on the same land. Imagine nowadays how life is becoming crowded with so many people. That is nothing compared to all the millions and billions standing together on Judgment Day. There are no trees for shade, no water to drink, and no rock to hide behind. ‘’They will all be marshaled before Allah together”. This verse doesn’t mean they are marshaled physically…no, it means that everything in their soul and heart is apparent...everything is obvious. Your cruel side appears, anything sinful you did in your life appears, if you had betrayed your spouse, your friends, your employer… it will all be clear. Yet, look at the good side. Not only will bad things appear, good things will too. If you prayed, if you fasted, if you did anything good in your life, it will also appear. Take a moment now to think about it! What would you like to show on that day? Really, it’s not all fearful, it isn’t all horror. If you can imagine that day clearly, you will give up a lot of bad habits that will make you regret later. So, as you can see, it all depends on what you choose to do in your life. Now, let’s go back to Judgment Day. How long do you think you will keep standing? Guess again! The answer is 50,000 years of standing! Your throat gets dry from thirst, but you still don’t die. Your stomach will nearly burst from hunger, but you still don’t die. Your legs can barely carry you, 50,000 years! Imagine! Who can take all that? Are you scared? Well, don’t be. As a hadith tells us, time passes quickly for a believer, as long as it takes to pray two quick Rak’as. Which one are you? Imagine yourself standing there full of regret and saying, “If only I obeyed Allah”. How long will you stand, 60 years? 60 years is the average life of a human. 20 years? 600 years? 20,000 years? 50,000 years? Or just a small prayer’s length of time because you obeyed Allah’s commandments. And as for the times that you disobeyed Allah, you quickly repented and asked Allah for forgiveness? And not only are you standing; you are without clothes, crowded in a small and confined space. Imagine all the congestion and all the people—squished together. Imagine the pain and fatigue, the heat and the thirst. Who can take all that? Now, let’s start looking at the people around you—one is blind, though he wasn’t in life, another one has vision although he was blind in life. You are confused, which one of them are you? Look at the verses: “But whosoever turns away from My Message, verily for him is a life narrowed down, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Judgment.” He will say: “O my Lord! Why hast Thou raised me up blind, while I had sight (before)?” (Allah) will say: “Thus didst Thou, when Our Signs came unto thee, disregard them: so wilt thou, this day, be disregarded.” Let’s look at another example— the criminals. These are the people who used to spread bad things all over the earth—your so-called Muslim friends who taught you how to use drugs, whispered to you that it was o.k. to date and disobey your parents, made you forget prayer times by partying. Look at the Quranic verses: “And thou wilt see the sinners that day bound together in fetters; their garments of liquid pitch, and their faces covered with Fire”. These criminals will be cuffed with chains, and with liquid pitch in their face, and then fire nears to their face, which will make them start burning and burning. Now, let’s look at a nice example— he is a person with light emitting from all over his body. He is like the moon in a dark land— when he “That Day shall a man flee from his own brother, And from his mother and his father, And from his wife and his children.”
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