God is The Ultimate Judge

God is the Ultimate Judge

No soul bears the sins of any other soul. Ultimately, to your Lord is your return,
then He will inform you of everything you had done.
He is fully aware of the innermost thoughts.
(39:7)

Judging is something we do every day. It is a topic that I feel applies to everyone of us and should
be taken into consideration in our everyday interactions with one another. I am not talking about
judging in general, because we make judgments based on lack of information to save time. We make judgments about our surroundings and our spatial orientation constantly. That is why we are easily fooled by optical illusions because our brain sees some cues that are similar to something it has seen in the past and it judges the object based on past experiences.

My concern, however is the judging of other individuals in our community, as well as in other
communities. This form of judgment is un-called for because human beings, as we all know, are not
static objects but are constantly changing their identity and their views.

I will make an example about our own community so that we may all relate. God willing we are all
submitters to God and we are trying to follow His commandments. But even so, we all have different religious viewpoints. Although we are from the same community, we don’t all agree on all minor aspects of Islam. This of course makes our interaction with one another exciting and gives us an opportunity to look at things from another view-point.

Just as our viewpoints differ, so do our levels of righteousness. It would be ideal to think that
every-one who reads the Quran and believes it is the word of God would immediately follow a
righteous life and never sin. Of course we know that this is not the case. We are all at different levels of our belief and, with God’s help, we are trying to improve.

It is because we are at different levels that it is easy to judge and condemn others who have different beliefs or hold different levels of righteousness. This practice, however, should be avoided because as we see in the Quran, it is not our role to judge or condemn people for their actions. Verse 7:2 states, "This scripture has been revealed to you—you shall not harbor doubt about it in
your heart—that you may warn with it, and to provide a reminder for the believers." God
sent us this scripture so that we may follow it and remind and warn people with it. It does not say
that we are to judge and condemn people by it. It is my opinion that it is our own egos and insecurity that makes us want everyone to do and believe as we do.

In the Quran, verse 5:48 states, "For each of you, we have decreed laws and different rights.
Had God willed, He could have made you one congregation. But He thus puts you to the
test through the revelations He has given each of you. You shall compete in right-eousness." Thus God did not make all of humankind one congregation but gave us differences so that we may choose and have a choice in the way we lead our lives. When given a choice it is important to make the choice that you feel is right for yourself, because in the Hereafter we will be our own judges, as stated in verses 75:14-15: "The human being will be his own judge.

No excuses will be accepted." Thus we see that you should judge others in the manner you would want to be judged your-self. Judging people based on their dress, their religion, or appearances rather than their individual beliefs and actions is prejudice, and is not condoned by the Quran.

The Jews said, "The Christians have no basis," while the Chris-tians said, "The Jews
have no basis." Yet both of them read the scripture. Such are the utter-ances of those who
possess no knowledge. God will judge them on the Day of Resurrection, re-garding their
disputes. (2:113)

Islam is not a black and white religion whereby people are either free of sin, or condemned to go to
Hell. There is an in-between, there is repentance, and there is God who is Most Gracious, Most
Merciful, and who knows our fate. Let us not try to play God’s role and condemn and judge people based on what we do not know.

I stated earlier that God put differences among the people of the earth so that we may choose the
way we lead our lives. I would like you to imagine a world in which there were no choices. A sort of Muslim nation whereby they raised no pigs, alcohol was not available, men and women were
isolated from one another, no weapons were made, and the people were forced to pray five times a day to God. Now, the people in this scenario were leading a righteous life but had no choice in the matter. For if they wanted to sin or deviate they did not have the means.

Now imagine a country like America where people have easy access to alcohol and drugs; cult
religions and idols are plentiful, sex and violence are glorified and easily ac-cessible. If someone is
able to lead a righteous life in this atmosphere they are showing much greater strength and will than a person in the other scenario. This is because in America we have a choice. Every day we try to
choose the right thing to do and God willing we do it.

In each scenario the person’s actions are that of a righteous submitter, but what really matters is the
intent and understanding the person has of his or her actions. We need to understand and follow our religion for ourselves and not for fear of parents or other people’s opinions. To do so would defeat the purpose. The only thing we could possibly fear would be God, and if we make our decisions to the best of our ability then we should have nothing to fear.

In conclusion I would like to pass on some advice I learned at a human relations program in which I
was a counselor. This program included people of all different races, religions, and backgrounds. As you can imagine, there was much disagreement when we were asked to present our religious beliefsto the group.

However, there were no problems because we were taught to AGREE TO DISAGREE. This is a priceless piece of advice because it means you don’t have to prove the other person wrong, but rather you can present your beliefs and listen to their beliefs and both parties walk away with new knowledge gained and a choice. A choice to maintain one’s own beliefs or follow the others. As I stated earlier, choice is a good thing.

I feel that if we apply this to our own community we will be better able to understand one another,
less likely to offend one another, and God willing we all make the right choice.

Say, "If I go astray, I go astray because of my own shortcomings. And if I am guided, it is
because of my Lord’s inspiration. He is Hearer, Near." (34:50)

I do not claim that I possess the treasures of God, nor do I know the future, nor do I claim
to be an angel. Nor do I say to those despised by your eyes that God will not bestow any
blessings upon them. God knows best what is in their innermost thoughts. (If I did this,) I
would be a transgressor. (11:31)

O you who believe, you should worry only about your own necks. If the others go astray,
they cannot hurt you, as long as you are guided. To God is your ultimate destiny, all of
you, then He will inform you of everything you had done. (5:105)