Crime and Punishment

Qur'aanic Verses 40:47 & 40:48:

Transliterations:

47. Wa-ith yatahajjoona fee alnnari fayaqoolu aldduAAafao lillatheena istakbaroo inna kunna lakum tabaAAan fahal antum mughnoona AAanna naseeban mina alnnari

48. Qala allatheena istakbaroo inna kullun feeha inna Allaha qad hakama bayna alAAibadi

Translations:

47. And when they quarrel in the Fire, the weak ask the proud, “We were just your followers. Would you therefore relieve us of a portion of the Fire?”

48. The proud say, “We are all together in this. Allah has already pronounced the Judgment on His subjects.”⁵ 

^{Study Note:}

5. This contentious discourse among the inmates of Hell has a lesson to teach to the Muslims of today. Despite Allah’s declared abhorrence (Verse 6:159) against formation of sects, the Muslims have persisted in grouping themselves into numerous sects like Sunni, Shia etc. Someone declares a deviant view, and, others, aided and abetted by the Satan, flock together around that view. And, lo, a sect is formed! Rank and file of any such sect just blindly follows its leaders. Most of the followers do never bother to cross-check their leaders’ contentions with the Qur’aan. If the leaders’ contentions are such as to make them liable for punishment in the Hereafter, the blind followers too would get the same punishment.

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The above is an extract from yet-to-be-published Qur'aanic Studies Manzil VI.

Mohammad Shafi