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WHERE
IS THE SUPREME PLACE OF
MUSTERING?
True
knowledge of
everything is with
God.
The
sublime wisdom which the
Wise Creator displays in
everything (by attaching
many instances of wisdom
to a single small thing)
is also manifested in
the revolution of the
earth: it does not
revolve aimlessly,
rather, it draws the
periphery of a huge
circle into which,
through its revolution,
it continually empties
the outcomes of all
events that have
occurred within it. On
the Day of Judgment,
everyone will see the
outcome of his whole
life.
This
huge circle drawn by the
earth through its
revolution will,
according to a Prophetic
tradition, be centered
on the area of Damascus
but in its expanded form
in accordance with the
dimensions of the
Hereafter. The outcome
of all events on the
earth is continually
transferred to the
registers or tablets of
the Place of Mustering,
which is yet behind the
veil of the Unseen, and
it will be visible on
the Day of Judgment to
the inhabitants of the
earth in their forms
peculiar to the
Hereafter. The earth, as
a field (of seeds to
grow and be harvested
for the Mustering) or as
a stream (which carries
forward the deeds of
mankind) or a measure of
grain, a bushel (which
measures and empties the
outcome of the deeds of
mankind), will have
produced by the end of
time enough quantities
to fill up that great
Place of Mustering. The
earth functions as a
seed, from which the
Place of Mustering will
be growing, like a tree,
with all its content.
Just as a radiant dot
becomes a radiant circle
by being spun fast, so,
too, the earth, so small
as a dot when compared
with the greatness of
the universe, is a
means, through its rapid
and purposeful movement
and with the outcome of
its life, for the
formation of the Place
of Mustering.
WHERE
IS HELL?
None
but God only knows
the unseen.
Say:
Knowledge is only
with God .
(67:26)
Hell
is reported in some
Prophetic traditions to
exist under the earth.
The earth, through its
yearly movement draws a
large cycle which will
be the place of
mustering after the
resurrection. This
implies that Hell is
under the orbit of the
earth. The reason why it
cannot be seen is that
it consists of fire
which gives no light,
and accordingly is
veiled. In the cycle
around which the earth
revolves many creatures
exist though we cannot
see them because they
emit no light. In the
same way as the moon
becomes invisible when
it is hidden from the
light of the sun, so
such spheres and
creatures as emit no
light cannot be seen,
even though they are in
front of our eyes.
There
are two Hells, one
minor, the other major.
The minor Hell is under
the earth or in its
center. As geology
teaches us, heat
increases by one degree
centigrade for every 33
meters towards the
center of the earth.
This means that, at the
center of the earth,
there is a temperature
of 200,000˚C, given
that the radius of the
earth is six thousand
kilometers. This is in
agreement with a
Prophetic tradition
concerning the subject.
The
minor Hell is employed
to fulfill in this world
and the intermediate
one, many of the major
Hell’s functions. It
will be expanded into
the major Hell in the
other world. As the
earth will empty out its
contents into the place
of mustering, which will
be built in the orbit of
the earth’s annual
movement, so, too, it
will transfer the minor
Hell to the major one at
the command of God. What
caused some leading
figures of the Mu’tazilite
school to form the wrong
opinion, namely that
Hell would be created
later, is that Hell has
not yet been fully
expanded so as to
contain all its future
contents. Besides, the
stations of the other
world are veiled from us
so that, in order to see
them, we would have to
either have eyes as
penetrating as
star-light or to
diminish the universe
into small enough areas.
The major Hell however,
as implied in some
Prophetic sayings, has
some sort of relation
with this world. Intense
summer heat, for
instance, is described
as ‘coming from the
heat of Hell’.
Though
we can neither see the
major Hell with our eyes
nor comprehend it with
the mind’s eye, we can
nevertheless glimpse
something of its nature
through (the telescope
of) the Divine Name, the
All-Wise:
The
major Hell appears to
have deputed to the
minor one, which is in
the center of the earth,
certain of its
functions. The
sovereignty of an
Omnipotent One of
majesty, a Wise One of
perfection, Who owns the
absolute power of the
commanding words Be!
and it is, has bound
the moon to the earth,
and the earth to the sun
with perfect wisdom and
order, and set the sun,
together with its
satellites, moving,
according to a theory,
towards the “sun of
the suns” with a speed
almost as great as the
speed of the earth’s
revolution around the
sun. He has also made
the stars, which may be
likened to the electric
lamps people hang up to
adorn special occasions,
as luminous evidences
for the sovereignty of
His Lordship and the
greatness of His Power.
It is not impossible for
such a power and wisdom
to make the major Hell
function as the source
of the ‘heat and fire’
of the stars which look
to the heaven of the
other world and to
illuminate them with the
light of Paradise. He is
also able to make some
sections of Hell a place
of torment and a dungeon
for people who deserve
it. It is also not
impossible for the power
of the Majestic,
All-Wise Creator, who
makes a fruit-stone the
size of a thumbnail
contain a tree, to make
the minor Hell
encapsulate the major
one until an appointed
time.
In
conclusion, Paradise and
Hell are two fruits
growing on the tip of a
branch extending from
the tree of creation far
into eternity. They are
two opposite outcomes of
the chain of being. The
places of these outcomes
are on opposite ends of
the chain, the degraded
one on the lower end,
and the luminous,
sublime one on the
upper.
Paradise
and Hell are also two
storerooms of the flow
of worldly events and
the spiritual products
of the earth. One of
these storerooms, which
is being filled with
evil products, is below
while its opposite is
above. They are also two
pools, where two streams
of beings are emptied,
one carrying the wicked
and foul ones while the
other carries the good
and pure. Paradise is
the place where the
Divine favor and mercy
manifest themselves. And
Hell is the place where
the wrath and awe of God
are exhibited. The
Gracious, All-Merciful
One, Who is the
All-Majestic and
All-Omnipotent,
manifests Himself
(through His Names and
Attributes) wherever He
wishes.
The
existence of Paradise
and Hell was clearly
argued in the Tenth and
Twenty-ninth Words. We
would like to add here
only that the existence
of the fruit is as
evident as that of the
branch, the results as
that of the chain, the
storeroom as that of the
products, the pool as
that of the stream, and
the place of
manifestation as that of
mercy and wrath.
How
will the Place of
Mustering be built, and
how will people be
gathered together there?
Will they be naked? How
will we be able to meet
friends there and find
God’s noble Messenger
to request his
intercession? How will
God’s Messenger meet
countless people
personally? How will the
people of Paradise and
Hell be clothed? Who
will show us the way?
The
answers to those
questions are found very
clearly in the books of
Hadith. So, I will only
mention a few points
relevant to our way:
The
earth draws a huge
circle through its
annual movement and
empties every year into
the tablets of that
circle the immaterial
outcome of its yearly
life - the immaterial
consequences of what has
happened on it
throughout the year. On
the Day of Judgment, the
total outcome of the
earth’s whole life
will take on the form
peculiar to the
Hereafter. As the earth
will submit, on the Last
Day, the minor hell in
its center, it will also
empty its contents into
the Place of Mustering,
which will be built on
the annual orbit of the
earth.
It
has been decisively
proved that the dead
will be resurrected on
the Day of Judgment and
assembled in the Place
of Mustering.
How
a single person - God’s
Messenger - will meet
everyone can be proved
by this analogy. Just as
a single sun can be
present, by virtue of
being a luminary, at the
same moment in countless
different places, so
too, God’s Messenger
can, through the
luminosity of his
spirit, be present at
the same time in
thousands of different
places and meet millions
of people.
God
Almighty supplies in
this life a natural
covering for His living
creatures except man.
So, as a requirement of
His being All-Wise, He
will provide a natural
covering in the Place of
Mustering for people who
will be naked of
artificial clothes. Man
wears artificial clothes
in this world not only
to shelter from cold and
heat or to cover his
private parts but also
as a sign of his
commanding position over
other species of
creation and disposal of
them. If this was not
so, he would be clothed
quite simply. Without
this wisdom, requiring
man to be clothed
somewhat elaborately, a
man dressed in rags
would be ridiculed among
other conscious beings.
However, since this
wisdom will not be
sought in the Place of
Mustering, there will be
no need for man to be
dressed in artificial
clothes.
The
guide for those who,
like you, sheltered in
the world under the
light of the Quran, will
be the Quran itself.
Look at the opening
verses of the Quran
beginning with Alif-Lam-Mim,
Alif-Lam-Ra and Ha-Mim,
and see what an
acceptable intercessor,
what a true guide and
what a sacred light, the
Qur’-an is.
Concerning
the clothes of the
people of Paradise and
Hell:
A
man of Paradise desires
to get, at the same
time, uninterrupted
pleasure from every
section of Paradise.
Paradise has innumerable
kinds of beauties with
which he has continual
intercourse. So, he
clothes himself in
specimens of those
beauties, thus each
becoming a miniature
paradise. In the same
way as a man grows in
his own garden a sample
of each kind of flower
in his country, or a
shopkeeper lists the
examples of the items in
his shop, or a man makes
a piece of furniture out
of the specimens of the
creatures with which he
has a relation, a man of
Paradise will be dressed
by God’s Mercy in a
special garment showing
the beauties of Paradise
in a way to please each
sense and feeling, and
satisfy each faculty, of
theirs, especially one
who has been able to
worship God in the world
with all his senses and
faculties and therefore
deserves all the
pleasures of Paradise.
The garments to be worn
by the people of
Paradise will not be of
the same kind; every one
of them, from the most
outer to the most inner,
is of a different level
to please senses and
feelings in a different
way with its different
particular beauties. It
is likewise in
accordance with wisdom
and justice that, since
the people of Hell
committed in the world
sins with their eyes,
ears, hearts, hands,
intellects and so on,
they will be dressed in
garments of different
kinds which will each
cause them to suffer a
special torment and be
like a miniature hell
for them.
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