Testimony by the Most Veracious of Witnesses (that Muslims are unaware of)

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Testimony by the Most Veracious of Witnesses

 

The Noble Qur'an makes it clear that the testimony given by sinners

in the court of divine justice will be utterly unique in nature,

bearing absolutely no similarity to the juridical procedures of this

world.

 

The verses of the Qur'an that speak of the giving of testimony on the

day of resurrection proclaim that the hands, feet and even the skin

of the sinners will disclose the hidden sins that they committed

during their lives and that were previously unknown to all but God;

the sinner will stand revealed, to his utter dismay and terror. The

animation of these witnesses and the testimony they will bear to the

events that have happened in the world show that all the deeds we

perform are recorded both in the external world and in the various

organs and limbs of our bodies. When the conditions of this world are

replaced by those of the hereafter, on the day when, as the Qur'an

puts it, " secrets are made manifest and none will be able to conceal

anything or seek help from anyone. " (86:9-10) all the deeds that have

been recorded will pour forth and begin to bear witness.

 

We can indeed observe in this world a pale and feeble example of what

is meant by things acquiring speech.

 

A doctor, for example, understands the language of the body. The rate

of the pulse may indicate fever, and yellowness of the eye proclaims

the presence of jaundice. To give another example, we can tell the

age of a tree from the circles within its trunk.

 

It is nonetheless true that we cannot know the exact modality of the

testimony that will be given in the hereafter. However, once the veil

is lifted from men's sight, their power of vision will increase and

their level of perception will be raised. They will embark on a new

life with enhanced means of perception and will see many things that

surrounded them in this world although they were unaware of them.

Thus the Qur'an says:

 

" You were in a state of negligence; now We have lifted the veil from

you so that your sight is today keen. " (50:22).

 

Other verses speak of the multiplicity of the witnesses that will

come forward:

 

" Let them fear a day on which their tongues, their hands and their

feet shall bear testimony against them. " (24:24).

 

" A day on which all the enemies of God will be drawn into the fire as

they stand next to their destined abode, their ears, their eyes and

the skin on their bodies shall testify to the sins they have

committed. They will address their limbs in astonishment, saying,

`How do you testify concerning our deeds' They will answer, `God who

gave speech to all creatures has also given us speech. First He

created you, and now He brings you back to Him. You concealed your

ugly deeds not in order that your ears, eyes and skins should not

give witness today, but because you imagined God unaware of what you

hid from other men. It is this groundless assumption that has brought

about your perdition, for today you are in the ranks of the losers. "

(41:19-23).

 

This verse stresses that man is unable, in the last resort, to

conceal the sins he has committed with his limbs. This is not because

he under estimates his bodily form, which in the end turns out to

have been a means for recording his deeds, but because he imagines

that things are essentially autonomous and that much of what he has

done will be beyond the reach of God's knowledge. It is this

unawareness of the fact that nothing in creation is hidden to God

that casts men into the pit of eternal wretchedness.

 

The Qur'an further proclaims:

 

" Today We place the seal of silence on the mouths of the unbelievers

and transgressors. Their hands shall speak to us, and their feet

shall bear witness to what they have done. " (36:65).

 

Imam al-Sadiq, upon whom be peace, said the following in

clarification of this matter:

 

" When men are gathered together before God on the day of

resurrection, everyone will be given the record of his deeds. When

they see the list of their crimes and their sins, they will begin to

deny them and they will refuse to confess. Then the angels will bear

witness to those sins having occurred, but still the sinners will

swear that they have done none of the deeds of which they are

accused. This is referred to in the verse, `On the day when God shall

resurrect them all and they will swear lyingly to God as they once

swore lyingly to you' (58:18). It is then that God will place a seal

on their tongues and cause their bodies to begin speaking about what

they have done. " (Tafsir al-Qummi, p. 552)

 

Irrefutable witness

 

Even more remarkable is the fact that the deeds man has performed

will themselves take shape before his astonished eyes. This must

definitely be regarded as the most veracious form of testimony

possible; it closes off before the offender any defense, deception or

flight from chastisement, and strips him of denial and sophistry. No

crime remain unproven, and the sinners will be overtaken by shame and

humiliation.

 

The Qur'an says:

 

" On the day of resurrection they will find whatever they have done

confronting them. " (18:49).

 

Or again:

 

" There will be a day on which everyone who has done a good deed will

find it confronting him, and those who have done evil will wish that

it were kept far distant from them. God warns you against His

punishment for He is in truth compassionate toward His servants "

(3:30).

 

Since it is impossible for deeds to disappear in the hereafter, the

most that sinners can hope for is that a distance be maintained

between them and their deeds, a clear expression of their disgust

with what they them selves have done.

 

In addition to all the forgoing, and still more important than it,

God describes Himself as the witness to all the deeds of men:

 

" Why do they not believe in the signs of God? He is a witness to all

that you do. " (3:98).

 

The Qur'an also mentions the prophets and those who have drawn close

to God as witnesses to man's deeds:

 

" The earth will shine with the light of its Lord. The record of men's

deeds will be brought forth and the prophets and the martyrs shall be

summoned to bear witness and judge among men so that none shall be

wronged. " (39:69).

 

It should be borne in mind that such witness and testimony will not

be restricted to the outer aspect of men's deeds. What is meant is

rather testimony to the quality of deeds with respect to their good

or their evil, and whether they represented obedience or sin: in

short, the inner aspect of deeds.

 

The giving of witness on the day of resurrection is a sign of honor

and respect for those who are called upon, but it also indicates that

while in this world they had a certain awareness of men's inner

beings, that they were able to observe them just like their outer

beings and thus to record their deeds with precision and inerrancy.

It is obvious that conventional knowledge and sense perception are

quite inadequate for testimony of this kind; it depends on a more

profound mode of awareness that is able to embrace the inner

dimensions of man, an awareness that transcends our normal capacities

and permits an unfailing distinction to be made between the pure and

the impure.

 

Such testimony is based upon a clear vision of reality, and as such

it is infallible.

 

The Qur'an says:

 

" Tell men that whatever they do God will display to them whatever

they do, and the Messenger and the believers are aware of it. Then

they shall return to God Who knows the hidden and the manifest, so

that they will be requited for their good and their evil. " (9:105).

 

According to commentaries on the Qur'an, what is meant here by " the

believers " is the Inerrant Imams from the Household of the Prophet,

peace and blessings be upon him and his family. They are

distinguished from other Godfearing people by the special grace and

favor they have received from in that they are both inwardly pure and

have been utterly purified by God. It is for this reason that the

giving of testimony in the hereafter has not been vouchsafed to all

men of piety.

 

Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, said in a certain tradition:

 

" No group or class of men can bear witness to the deeds of men except

the Inerrant Imams and the prophets of God. The generality of the

community has not been described by God as witnesses, because in this

world there are people whose testimony cannot be trusted even for a

handful of grass. " (Tafsir al-Mizan, Vol. I, p. 332)

 

* * * * *

 

All the deeds of men have a profound effect on their beings. If

someone knows that injustice and crime are sinful but nonetheless

engages in them at the behest of his instinctual nature, a

contradiction will arise in his inner being that will burn and

torment him profoundly. But is it not he who has created this

contradiction?

 

If envy gnaws away at a man's inner being, is anyone responsible

apart from himself?

 

Imam al-Sadiq, upon whom be peace, said:

 

" Sin cuts more deeply than a knife. " (Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. LXXIII, p.

358)

 

All of our words and deeds are stored in the vast and mysterious

archive of our body and our soul, and they will be brought forth in

the tribunal of resurrection. The totality of our acts, good and bad,

are stored up within us and will ultimately take shape to confront us.

 

The reckoning of men's deeds that will take place in the hereafter

will, then, be utterly unique. No one may hope to obfuscate the truth

or to deny the contents of the precise record that is laid before

him. Everyone will be compelled to accept the truth and to submit to

its consequences. The hands, the feet and the skin will be called on

to give witness; God from Whose knowledge not at single atom in the

heavens and earth is hidden and Who is aware of the falling of leaf

from a tree, will also be a witness; and the prophets and the Imams

will bear their witness to whatever we have wrought.

 

It is obvious that it is impossible for us now to understand and

perceive fully all these dimensions of the inevitable reckoning that

will follow resurrection.

 

http://www.al-islam.org/Resurrect/r18.htm