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The Day: Al-Qariah & At-Takathur and the Masih

Surah Al-Qariah (Surah 101 – The Calamity) describes the coming Day of Judgment like this:

What is the (Day) of Noise and Clamour?

And what will explain to thee what the (Day) of Noise and Clamour is?

(It is) a Day whereon men will be like moths scattered about,

And the mountains will be like carded wool.

Then, he whose balance (of good deeds) will be (found) heavy,

Will be in a life of good pleasure and satisfaction.

But he whose balance (of good deeds) will be (found) light,-

Will have his home in a (bottomless) Pit.

Al-Qariah 101:2-9

Surah Al-Qariah tells us that those who have a heavy balance of good deeds can hope to do well on Judgment Day. 

But what about those of us whose balance of good deeds is light? 

Surah At-Takathur (Surah 102 – The Rivalry in World Increases) warns us

The mutual rivalry for piling up (the good things of this world) diverts you

(from the more serious things),

Until ye visit the graves.

But nay, ye soon shall know (the reality).

Again, ye soon shall know!

Nay, were ye to know with certainty of mind, (ye would beware!)

Ye shall certainly see Hell-Fire!

Again, ye shall see it with certainty of sight!

Then, shall ye be questioned that Day about the joy (ye indulged in!).

At-Takathur 102:1-8

Surah At-Takathur tells us that Hell-fire threatens us on Judgment Day when we shall be ‘questioned’. 

Can we prepare for that Day if our balance of good deeds has been light? 

The Prophet Isa al Masih came specifically to help those of us who have a light balance of good deeds.  He said in the Gospel that

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

John 6:35-51

The Prophet Isa al Masih claimed that he ‘came down from heaven’ and that he will give ‘eternal life’ to anyone who believes in him.  The Jews who listened to him demanded he prove this authority. The prophet referred to the previous prophets who prophesied his coming and his authority.  We can see how the Taurat of Musa predicted his coming and also the prophets after Musa PBUH.  But what does it mean to ‘believe in him’?  We look at this here.

Isa al Masih also showed his authority through signs of healing and over nature. He explained in his teaching

14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”

16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

20 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

John 7:14-44

The Living Water he promised was the Spirit, who came at Pentecost, and now gives Life freely shielding us from the death of Judgment Day. We only need to acknowledge our thirst.

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