6. The People of the Heights (Dawah Workers)
Chapter seven of the Quran mentions ‘the people of the Heights.’ These people will be made to stand on raised platforms on the Day of Judgement. They will announce God’s judgement to the people of Paradise and to the people of Hell. This reads as follows:
‘A barrier will divide the two groups, and on the Heights there will be men who will recognize each group by their marks, and they will call out to the people of the Garden, ‘Peace be with you!’—they will not have entered, but they will be hoping (to do so). When they turn their eyes towards the People of the Fire, they will say: ‘Our Lord, do not include us with the wrongdoers!’ And the people of the Heights will call out to men they recognize by their marks: ‘What use have been your great numbers and your false pride? And are these the people you swore would never earn God’s mercy?’ (And again turning to the blessed, they will say:) ‘Enter the Garden! You have nothing to fear, nor shall you grieve.’ (7:46-49)
According to al-Qurtubi, ‘the people of the Heights’ in this verse refer to shuhada’. That is, those special servants of God who, in the service of the religion of God, were witness to the deeds of the nations of the world. Some accepted their call, while others rejected it. These preachers of the divine message have been mentioned in the Quran in many different terms such as ‘warner’, ‘bearer of glad tidings’, ‘the caller’, etc. This group, originally formed of the prophets, was later made up of those special servants of God who followed the example of the prophets and performed dawah for the people of their times.
The Final Judgement on human beings, which is going to take place in the hereafter, will be based on the task performed by the witnesses (shahadah) for the people of the world. This task of witness divides the people of the world into two groups: one which accepts this message and the other which rejects it on the Day of Judgement. These two opposing groups will be separated from each other. Then according to their deeds, they will be judged and will be destined to two different sets of consequences.
Though this judgement will be entirely God’s judgement, the announcement of it will be made by those special servants of God who had undertaken the task of dawah (call) and shahadah (witness). This will be a matter of a great honour to them. On the Day of Judgement, high platforms will be raised for ‘the people of the Heights’ to stand on. From there they will be able to see everyone, and will pronounce God’s judgement to the people.
The shuhada’ (those who bore witness to people) and the du‘at (those who called people to the truth), strove very hard in the world to convey the message of God to people. They dedicated their entire lives to this mission, as if it were their own personal work. For this reason, they will be honoured on the Day of Judgement by being asked to announce the final result of the call of truth to the people. They ranked high in the world according to their mission, and they will be referred to as such on the Day of Judgement, according to the result of their actions.
