The unbelievers will be addressed: “Indeed, greater than your present loathing of yourselves is God’s loathing of you when you were called to the faith and you rejected it.” They will say: “Our Lord! Twice have You caused us to die, just as twice You have brought us to life! Now that we have recognized our sins, is there any way out?” [They will be told]: “This is all because when God alone was invoked, you denied this truth; whereas, when partners were associated with Him, you believed in them! All judgment rests with God, the Exalted, the Supreme One.” He it is who shows you His signs and sends down sustenance from the sky for you. Yet only those who turn to God will take heed. (The Forgiving, Ghafir; 40: 10-13)

The verses just before this passage drew an image of certain angels, the carriers of God’s throne and those surrounding it. It shows them in supplication, address their prayer to God appealing for His grace to be bestowed on believers, their brethren in faith. Now the surah gives a contrasting image of the unbelievers who find themselves in a totally different capacity. Everyone is looking for support, but none is to be found. In fact all bonds with all beings and things in the universe are severed. They are called out so that they can listen to the rebuke coming from all directions. The arrogance they demonstrated in this life is turned now into humiliation. They want to place their hopes in someone, but none is available to encourage their hopes:

The Arabic text uses the strongest word for hate. We see them addressed from all corners and told that God’s loathing of them when they were called upon to believe and still rejected the faith is far stronger than their feelings of hate toward themselves as they realize to what end they have brought themselves.

Aishah, the Prophet’s wife, reported that the Prophet used to say in his supplication during prayer: “My Lord, I seek shelter with You from the torment in the grave, from the test of the Imposter claiming to be the Messiah, from the tests of life and death and from sin and debt.” Someone said to him: ‘You often pray for shelter from debt.’ He said: “When a person is unable to repay his debt, he talks and lies; he promises and fails to honor his promises.” (Related by Al-Bukhari).

The Prophet used to include this supplication in his prayer, as its penultimate component, which means that he used to say it after the tashahhud and before finishing the prayer with salam. The first thing the Prophet appealed to God to protect him from is the “torment in the grave.” Some people question whether such torment is real. The facts that the Prophet included it in his supplication, and that the hadiths mentioning it are authentic, are sufficient evidence that it is true.
How it happens? Is it limited to the soul or does it affect the body? How can the dead body feel the torment? All such questions relate to matters beyond our world. We cannot begin to understand them because there is nothing in our human experience to indicate how they happen. It is sufficient for our purposes to remember the Qur’anic verse relating to Pharaoh’s people: “Before the fire they are brought, morning and evening, and then on the Day when the Last Hour comes, it will be said: Cast Pharaoh’s people into the worst suffering.” (40: 46) It is clear that the verse mentions an action that takes place before the Day of Judgment. It may be that one form of the torment in the grave is that these people are brought before the fire every morning and evening. This leaves them in dread of what will happen to them when they are finally cast into it.

This issue is very important to mention when calling people towards Allah. Allah repeatedly reminds us in different parts of the Qur’an of His favours upon us. He says (what means): “…And [He] subjected for you the ships to sail for you through the sea by His command and subjected for you the rivers. And He subjected for you the sun and the moon, continuous [in orbit], and subjected for you the night and the day. And He gave you from all you asked of Him. And if you should count the favour [i.e., blessings] of Allah, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, mankind is [generally] most unjust and ungrateful.” [Qur’an 14: 32-34]

There are many other verses in the Qur’an in which Allah reminds us of the favours that He has bestowed upon us. One way of calling people towards Allah is to remind them of the favours of Allah upon them, so that they may be grateful and not to be amongst those about whom Allah says (what means): “…And Allah is full of bounty to the people, but most of the people do not show gratitude.” [Qur’an 2: 243]

And also Says (what means): “By the night when it covers, and by the day when it appears...” [Qur’an 92:1]

And also Says (what means): “By the morning brightness and by the night when it covers with darkness...” [Qur’an 93:1]

And also Says (what means): “By the time...” [Qur’an 103:1]

When Allah swears by something of His creation, it directs our attention to the benefit of that thing. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, further emphasised the value of time in many authentic Hadiths. For example, Mu’aath bin Jabal related that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “The slave will not go forward on the Day of Judgment until he is asked four questions: about his age and how he spent it, about his youth and how he used it, about his wealth and how he acquired it and spent it, and about his knowledge and what he did with it.”

His actions, both personal and public, were divinely guided, so much so that he became the epitome of lofty, righteous conduct and character; he was loved and looked-up-to by the first Muslims, who emulated, imitated, and admired him by incorporating his actions completely into their own practical lives.

(Say: If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your faults) (Aal `Imran 3: 31)

Allah’s love and pleasure with a believer, man or woman, is conditionally dependent upon the level at which he or she loves and obeys Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him); that love should be reflected as adopting the Prophet’s habits, qualities and personality into his lifestyle.

Challenges of the Contemporary World

Muslims living in non-Muslim majority areas are constantly under the pressure to prove the steadfastness of their faith, or else relinquish it for the secular lifestyle.