Ala-Maududi
(7:38) Allah will say: ‘Enter the fire of Hell and join the nations of jinn and men that have
gone before You.’ As a nation enters Hill, it will curse the one that went before it, and when
all are gathered there, the last of them shall say of the first: ‘Our Lord! These are the ones
who led us astray. Let their torment be doubled in Hell-Fire.’ He will answer: ‘Each will have a
doubled torment; although you do not know.’[30]
30. As it is, each group of people is followed, even as it is preceded, by others. A group which
inherits an error of outlook and conduct from its predecessors passes on the same, in turn, to
future generations. In addition, whereas a group owes its wrong-doing partly to the wrong-doing
of its predecessors, it will also be held responsible for leaving behind an evil legacy for the
future generations. The Qur’an, therefore, pronounces a double punishment on such a group: it
will incur punishment for its own misdeeds and also for leaving behind such a legacy for the
coming generations. A number of traditions elucidate this point. According to one such tradition
the Prophet (peace be on him) said: ‘He who introduces a misleading innovation which does not
please God and His Messenger shall be held guilty for the sins of all those who follow that
innovation without lessening in the least the burden [of sins] of those who followed the
innovation,’ (Cf. Ibn Majah, Muqaddimat Bab Man Ahya Sunnah qad umitat, where the words are
slightly different – Ed.) According to another tradition, he said: ‘The responsibility for all
the murders committed in the world is shared by the first son of Adam [i.e. Cain] for he was the
first to have innovated murder.’ (See Bukhari, Kitab al-Jana’iz, Bab Qawlih ‘alay al-Salam
Yu’addhab al-Mayyit bi Ba’d Buka’i ahlih alayh – Ed.)
We thus know that the individual or group responsible for introducing a wrong idea or practice
is not only responsible to the extent of those sins, but shares the responsibility of the sins
of all those who are influenced by him. As long as the evil effects of that influence continue,
their sins will be continually added to his account. This also shows that a person is not only
accountable for the good or bad deeds that he commits. In fact he is also accountable for the
influence of those deeds on others.
This may be illustrated by considering the case of someone who indulges in unlawful sex. All
those whose bad examples, evil company, and inducements to evil caused a man to indulge in such
an act have a share in the sin that he committed. The persons who influenced him in turn had
been influenced by others. Were this chain of influence traced back to its ultimate origin, the
blame would be fixed on the first person who demonstrated this unlawful way for satiating the
sexual urge.
This does not detract from the fact that anyone who indulged in fornication is also accountable
for the sin he committed. This is so because when he committed a sin he did so because he failed
to make proper use of his capacity to distinguish between good and evil with which he had been
endowed. He also did not pay due heed to the voice of his conscience, and mobilize the power of
self-control given him. Nor did he benefit from the knowledge of good and evil transmitted to
him by pious men nor was he inspired by the noble examples of the God-fearing. Nor did he learn
any lesson from the evil consequences of sexual misconduct. Instead, he totally succumbed to
blind sexual lust which sought gratification at all cost. This much relates to the
responsibility of the person who indulged in sexual misconduct.
But there is another dimension of that person’s evil conduct – his propagation of that same evil
among others which ruined the lives of countless people belonging to his own generation and to
the generations that follow. It is also possible that he might have been afflicted by some
general disease which he then communicated to his own generation and also to the generations
that followed. His sexual misconduct might also have given birth to illegitimate children,
unjustly passing on the burden of their upbringing to others, and making his offspring – without
any justification – co-sharers in the fortunes and even the inheritance of others. The wrong
that is thus perpetrated persists for many generations. Likewise, it is also possible that the
said criminal might, by his cunning, have led an innocent girl to sexually corrupt behaviour.
That in turn is likely to awaken evil propensities in her which wreck the lives and homes of
countless families, even generations. Also, by setting an evil example for his children,
relatives, friends and the society at large a fornicator is likely to cast a bad influence on
people around him and infect others with moral corruption. The evil consequences of such an act
thus linger on for a long time. The moral corruption that ultimately, engulfs the society owes
its origin to the person who initially introduced an evil. Justice, therefore, demands that such
a culprit should also be held responsible for the subsequent evils which may be traced back to
his initial act of corruption.
The same holds true for good deeds. The reward for the heritage of goodness left behind by our
predecessors from the earliest times should inevitably go to the credit of those men of the past
who have continually transmitted that heritage to posterity down to our own time. If our own
generation takes good care of that heritage, enriches it and passes it on to the coming
generation, it also deserves due reward for that. As long as our good acts leave a trace of good
influence on history and continue to cast a good influence on people, mankind will reap the
benefits of those acts.
This is the Qur’anic view of retribution. Every sensible person will agree that such a
dispensation alone can ensure perfect justice. Appreciation of this concept should dispel the
idea of those who believe that men can be fully rewarded or punished for their deeds within the
confines of this worldly life. Likewise, such an appreciation should also dispel the views of
those who believe that the transmigration of souls alone can ensure full justice to all men.
Such people have blundered because they have neither grasped fully the nature and consequences
of human acts nor the nature and requirements of perfect justice. It is obvious that the
consequences of individuals’ acts are not visible during their life-span – say sixty or seventy
years or so. Instead, human activities, both good and evil, influence the lives of countless
people belonging to countless generations. One cannot, therefore, be brought to justice during
one’s own lifetime, since only a small part of the consequences of those acts have yet come to
the surface. Moreover, the limited possibilities available in the present world are quite
inadequate for bringing people to justice. Just consider the hideous crime of someone who pushes
us to a world war. As things stand, the catastrophic consequences of such a crime would affect
the lives of billions of men through the ages. Is there any punishment – physical, spiritual or
material – which can be deemed even remotely, proportionate to that crime? Likewise, no worldly
reward, however valuable, can adequately recompense for the noble services rendered by a
philanthropist which will benefit numerous people for thousands of years.
Having viewed the question from this angle. one readily, concludes that there must necessarily
be life in the Hereafter such that full justice can be meted out to everyone. Here all human
beings are brought together, their full records are made available, and the reckoning is made by
God Himself Whose knowledge embraces literally everything. Additionally, men should be granted
unlimited spans of life, and infinite possibilities should be made available for receiving
compensation.
A little reflection on this will help us see how false the doctrine of the transmigration of
souls is. Those who subscribe to this doctrine fail to realize that eternal life is needed to
mete out recompense to people for the deeds they commit during their relatively brief spans of
life. If one were to believe in the unending cycle of life and death it would become impossible
to reward or punish anyone for his actions, for each span of life would go on accumulating
endlessly. The arrears would never be cleared.
