The Pit of Fire

Yusuf Ibn Adam

“By the skies replete with galaxies, and by The Promised Day, and by the witness and what is witnessed.” (85:1-3)

Infinite are the layers that unfold from the words of the Lord of all that exists, but there are at least three that I call the attention of the reader to: the past historical layer, the layer of the circumstances of the revelation, and a third; the understanding that may be inferred by the example that is mentioned.

When Allah, The Most Glorious, addressed the faithful during the days of the revelation, or mentioned the words that were to form their speech, His words remain and apply to the faithful of all ages; and when He, The Ever Living One, addressed the deniers of the revelation, or mentioned their rejecting speech, such are to be recognized as the words deniers predictably would use for all time to come.

When Allah, The Most High, speaks to Pharaoh in his last drowning moments, He, All Praise is His, informs the tyrant that his body will be preserved and resurface in a later time, to serve as a sign of the ultimate destiny of tyrants, to a people that would arrogantly challenge Him, The All Powerful, in the same manner as he, the Pharaoh, did so by foolishly saying;

“I am your lord most high!” (79:24)

“Today We (Allah) will preserve your body so that you may be a sign for those after you. But most of mankind are negligent of Our signs.” (10:92)

Thus, the Holy Recital, if understood with deeper insight, tells of occurrences that happened in the past, but are not limited to the past; and of words that were spoken in the past, but are not limited to the past; and of destinies that came to those already gone, but are a warning about the destiny that awaits those who are to come, and that perhaps are here now.

“Have you heard the stories of the armies of the Pharaoh and of Thamud? Rather, those who disbelieve live in denial. Allah surrounds them on all sides.” (85:17-20)

Helplessly witnessing the plight of the faithful Muslim martyrs of the Holy Land, I am certain of their blessed state with Allah, The Avenger, while overwhelmed by painfully righteous anger, caused in part, by also witnessing the apathy, the neglect and the cowardice of the lovers of the illusions of this world, who have power, means and responsibility, but don’t do what is right. Rather, live for wishing one more day to chase another dollar.

“O You who have faith, do not take the Jews and the Christians as your friends and allies. They are friends of one another (which, by the way, is a recent historical phenomenon between them). And whoever from you takes them as friends, then certainly he is from them. Indeed, Allah does not guide the wrongdoers.” (5:51)

To invoke Allah’s help is to be done once the right actions have been taken. Otherwise, the blessed Prophet would have said to trust in Allah and then tie your camel, but no, he (May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said to “... tie your camel and trust in Allah”, and order matters. Dua’a without right action is as good as superstition, and in the same way that Allah revealed a complete system of life which was turned into a mere set of culturally bound religious rituals, so also invocations have been taken as a kind of magic formula just to be repeated, as if results will come out of thin air. Dua’a is not wishful thinking.

Now, turning the initial argument in this article, in Surat al-Buruj (85) of the Holy Qur’an, we find a glaringly painful reminder that calls us to the truth of what we see unfolding today in Palestine. And if not before our very eyes, then in the small screens that have become windows to this temporary world these days. This is to be understood, and with plenty of evidence, by those who have eyes to see.

And as you read these words, ponder on the situation in Palestine, its witnessing and what is witnessed, and the morbid spectacle of it all; entertaining to some, nightmarish to others. And all the while, most of the so-called Islamic governments sit on the side, pretending to care, for fear that their people turn on them, for they are terrified that their time is short, for indeed it is.

All the words the blessed Prophet spoke, must and will come to pass, and no one can frustrate their fulfillment, because they were not his words.

“Indeed, those who persecute the faithful men and the faithful women, and then repent not; theirs will be the punishment of hell, and theirs will be the punishment of burning.” (85:6)

Zionists have taken off their gloves, and pulled down their mask, and no longer care to be perceived as victims of a supposedly unjust persecution that they now ironically themselves perpetrate, all the while accusing others of what they themselves do, thus revealing their tyrannical and, frankly, satanic nature.

“Indeed, your Lord’s punishment is violent!” (85:12)

Be it the pit of fire unto which the faithful of the past were thrown, or the pit of fire that Gaza has been turned into, on both occasions people sat and watched, some relishing in it and others in painful helplessness. What a tragic resemblance of today’s situation is revealed to us in the Truthful Qur’an.

May all the tears of the mothers, the desperate cries of the children, and the helpless anguish of the fathers, weigh heavy on the scales of justice on That Day. And may all the martyrs find themselves in the inconceivable heights of Allah’s pleasure. May Allah, The Most Beautiful, bless with eternal peace and bliss, our beloved Prophet Muhammad, his purified family and righteous companions, and forgive us, for He is The Oft-Forgiving.

“And He is The All Forgiving, The Loving One. Lord of the Majestic Throne. Doer of whatever He wills.” (85:14-16)

And may the tyrant rejecters among humans and jinn, burn in the pit of fire that speaks and is forever.

“Indeed, whosoever denies (The Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad) from the People of the Book and the Polytheists, will abide in the fire of hell forever. They are the worst of creatures.” (98:6)

“On That Day when We (Allah) will say unto hell: ‘Are you filled?’ It will say: ‘Is there any more?’” (50:30)