Page 96 - The Worst Slander: Idolatry

94 THE WORST SLANDER: IDOLATRY

most beauteous attributes in an even more intense form in
the Hereafter which has no end. Since believers who pos-
sess true faith understand this truth, they are immune to all
forms of grief, sorrow, and emotionality. Allah reveals this in
the Qur'an:
Those who say, "Our Lord is Allah," and then go straight
will feel no fear and will know no sorrow. (Surat al-
Ahqaf: 13)
But the idolaters suffer the pangs of infinite separation in
their hearts when the people whom they love and to whom
they are devoted die. Every person and thing they preferred
over Allah and ascribed as equal to Him will be a source of
suffering in this world and in the Hereafter. This provides
endless subject-matter for songs, poems, novels, and
movies, the great majority of which are dedicated to themes
of unrequited love, separation, betrayal, abandonment,
death, and the ensuing pain and suffering.
Thus the pains that begin in this world will continue eter-
nally in the next, and with a far fiercer spiritual and physical
pain. In the Qur'an Allah speaks of a fire in Hell that reach-
es right into the heart (Surat al-Humaza': 5-7) Every form of
heartache in this world constitutes a part of the far worse
suffering experienced by the idolaters in Hell. Allah visits His
vengeance upon those who betray Him and groundlessly
attribute equals to Him, both here and in the Hereafter.

Fear

Another factor that leads people to idolatry is fear. When
this emotion, which should be directed solely toward Allah,