OCTOBER 7
In the Hereafter
‘Jinn and men! Did there not come to you apostles of your own who proclaimed to you My revelations and warned you of this day?’ They will reply: ‘We bear witness against our own souls.’ Indeed, the life of this world beguiled them. They will testify to their own faithlessness. Your Lord will not destroy a nation without just cause and due warning (6:131-132).
By drawing man towards him through attractive temptations, Satan actually wants to prove the truth of the challenge which he gave to God at the beginning of man’s creation, that he would overpower all but a few of his descendants (17:61). Those who are lured by Satan have clear material interests before them. There are some who engage themselves in the pursuit of magic in the name of genies, while others establish their superiority over the gullible public by linking their poetry or soothsaying to a genie patron, that is, they claim to have been inspired by a genie. In the Hereafter, it will be evident that those who went astray, or those who led people astray, did not do so due to any misunderstanding. Indeed, they knowingly ignored the truth; it was not a case of their remaining unaware of it but of their being unable to rise above worldly temptations. They could not bring themselves to sacrifice their temporary gains. It is patent that the guidance sent to them by God through His chosen servants was so clear that no one could have remained ignorant of the truth. But their love of this world was responsible for drawing a veil over their eyes. They did not follow the path of guidance, despite the fact that they were fully informed of it.
In the Hereafter all those artificial props which made people unmindful of reality will vanish. Then they will see clearly how it happened that truth came before them, but they rejected it outright, resorting to falsehoods as excuses. It will become obvious to them how their error was shown to them as plain as daylight, and how they managed to find beautiful words to refute the truth, thinking that they would succeed in proving that their stand was the right one.
God forgives lapses, but He will not forgive insolence.
