Page 146 - Allah is Known through Reason

Every soul that has sinned, if it possessed all that is on earth, would fain
give it in ransom... (Surah Yunus, 54).

The attitude of those who champion disbelief in the world is also
expressed in other verses:
Every time a new people enters, it curses its sister-people (that went
before), until they follow each other, all into the Fire. Says the last about
the first: "Our Lord! it is these that misled us: so give them a double
penalty in the Fire." He will say: "Doubled for all": but this you do not
understand. Then the first will say to the last: "See then! No advantage
have you over us; so taste you of the penalty for all that you did! "(Surat
al-Araf, 38-39)

As is evident, it does not really make much difference whether one is
a member of those who are foremost in disbelief or of those who lag
behind. As a result, both groups suffer a great loss and deserve an ever-
lasting penalty for the sins they have committed in the world. In the
Qur'an, Allah has described in detail the spirits and the circumstances that
these people will have and the penalty they will suffer on the day of res-
urrection, the day of account, and in hell.

THE DAY OF RESURRECTION
When Allah mentions the day of resurrection in the Qur'an, He calls
it "the day that the caller will call (them) unto something not known…"
(Surat al-Qamar, 6) The terror of this day is something that human beings
cannot know because they have never encountered anything like it.
Only Allah knows the arrival time of that day. People's learning about
this day is limited to what is related in the Qur'an. The day of resurrection
will come all of a sudden when nobody expects it.
This day may seize people when they work in their office, sleep at
their home, talk on the phone, read a book, laugh, cry or drop their chil-
dren off at school. Furthermore, this seizure will be so horrifying that no
one will have seen anything like it in his lifetime.
The day of resurrection starts with the sounding of the trumpet (Surat
al-Muddaththir, 8-10). When this sound is heard all over the world, those
who have not used the time given to them by Allah for gaining His good

146 Allah is Known Through Reason