Refutations To Sporadic Doubts

Muslims have a “holier than thou” belief, as they see all others as “evil”. They therefore believe that all non-Muslims are condemned to Hell.

Some critics argue that Muslims have condemned the majority of mankind to Hell. While this view may be true about some extremist fundamentalist Muslims, however the Shia mainstream belief based on Quranic evidence, believes that non-Muslims are of 3 kinds:

a) defiant denier of clear truth which has been manifestly explained;

b) the ignorant who hasn’t accepted the true final message, but is blameworthy because even though they could have, but they didn’t make the necessary efforts to discover the truth;

c) the ignorant disbeliever, who isn’t blameworthy because, for acceptable reasons, they failed to discover the truth, which they otherwise would have humbly submitted to; or that their sincere research led them to mistaken and misguided conclusions.

The fate of each of these three groups is different, as is explained in this article, based on Quranic evidence.

Some Muslim pluralists correctly argue that no Prophet ever condemned humanity to hell. They may refer to verses such as:

“We said, ‘Get down from it, all together! Yet, should any guidance come to you from Me, those who follow My guidance shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve.”1

In it, the progeny of Adam (a) has been promised to be sent Divine guides, and salvation from Hell, if follow the divine message.

However, such critics incorrectly surmise that religious Muslims have gone astray, and consequently see the world and its people as evil.

What seems to be the case is that they most likely have in their mind, various extremist takfīrī groups that have existed throughout the history of Islam, who have promoted the harsh treatment of both non-Muslims and Muslims who belong to other schools of thought. These violent groups believe that only they have the correct understanding of the true religion, and that anyone who disagrees with them is guilty of idolatry (shirk) and disbelief (kufr), and is condemned to hell. They do not believe this only with regard to non-Muslims. In fact, they regard the majority of Muslims as hell-bound and even permissible to kill. However, this belief is in direct contradiction with the Holy Quran:

“O you who have faith! When you issue forth in the way of Allah, try to ascertain: do not say to someone who offers you peace, ‘You are not a believer,’ seeking the transitory wares of the life of this world. Yet with Allah are plenteous gains. You too were such earlier, but Allah did you a favour. Therefore, do ascertain. Allah is indeed well aware of what you do.”2

In this verse, Allah, The Almighty, condemns some Muslims for declaring others as not being believers, without evidence.

While such pluralists’ criticism is valid only against these extremist groups, however, the majority of Muslims do not share this outlook towards humanity or the world, especially when they are taught to recall Allah (SWT) as “The Most Compassionate” (Rahmān), and “The Most Merciful” (Rahīm), at least 20 times (if not more) in their daily prayers’ recital of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa. Therefore, it is unfounded for such apologetic pluralists to claim that the Muslims of the world look at others as evil!

Surely, such “thinkers” must know that Islam sees all human beings as endowed with God-given dignity, i.e., humanity’s ability to reason, communicate, innovate, and navigate on both the land and sea; although, it does not include to wrongfully dominate, as had happened in different eras of Islamic history, when the general Muslim affairs were not under the control of the infallibles (a). True honour is found in both worldly leadership and spiritual enlightenment under the guidance of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) combined. The Quran also guides the believer that the world is a grace and a blessing from God to the human being and that there is nothing evil about it.3 Of course, those people who know the truth but follow their own selfish desires and act against humanity and reality, are destined for hell.

The Quran says:

“Remaining in it [forever]. Evil is their burden on the Day of Resurrection.”4

“Indeed Allah has cursed the faithless and prepared for them a blaze,(64) in which they will remain forever, and will not find any guardian or helper. (65) The day when their faces are turned about in the Fire, they will say, ‘We wish we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Apostle!’ (66) They will say, ‘Our Lord! We obeyed our leaders and elders, and they led us astray from the way.’ (67) Our Lord! Give them a double punishment and curse them with a mighty curse.’”5

“Every soul will be recompensed fully for what it has done, and He is best aware of what they do. (70) The faithless will be driven to hell in throngs. When they reach it and its gates are opened, its keepers will say to them, ‘Did there not come to you [any] apostles from among yourselves, reciting to you the signs of your Lord and warning you of the encounter of this day of yours?’ They will say, ‘Yes, but the word of punishment became due against the faithless.’ (71) It will be said, ‘Enter the gates of hell to remain in it [forever]. Evil is the [ultimate] abode of the arrogant.’ (72)6

However, it is evident that the majority of human beings do not fall into this camp. Even if most people in the world are not Muslims or Shīʿa, this is because they are unaware of the truth, and not because they are only willfully following their own desires.

In essence, those who do not accept the religion of truth, fall into one of three categories:

The first group are those who consciously oppose the divine law and religion and, despite their knowledge and awareness, are actually at war with the truth. This group are stubborn, obstinate, and hostile and, even while knowing that they are wrong, are not willing to accept the truth in order to preserve their own individual or collective interests, or because of their unwarranted prejudices and sensitivities: “They impugned them—though they were convinced in their hearts—wrongfully and defiantly. So observe how was the fate of the agents of corruption!”7 It is clear that if members of this group leave this world in this state, they will be subject to punishment on the Day of Judgement.

The Quran says:

For those who defy their Lord is the punishment of hell, and it is an evil destination. (6) When they are thrown in it, they hear it blaring, as it seethes, (7) almost exploding with rage. Whenever a group is thrown in it, its keepers will ask them, ‘Did not any warner come to you?’ (8) They will say, ‘Yes, a warner did come to us, but we impugned [him] and said, ‘Allah did not send down anything; you are only in great error.’ (9) And they will say, ‘Had we listened or applied reason, we would not have been among inmates of the Blaze.’ (10)8

The second group are those who are unaware (jāhil) but blameworthy (muqaṣṣir), meaning that they have the ability to investigate and ask questions, but whether because of laziness, apathy, or worldliness, they do not ask about the truth, so that the truth does not reach their ears, and so that they do not have to hear about their religious and human duties:

‘they would put their fingers into their ears and draw their cloaks over their heads, and they were persistent [in their unfaith], and disdainful in [their] arrogance.’9

Obviously, such individuals, who did not find the truth and did not follow it, will, on the Day of Judgement, not be able to make any excuses, no matter how uninformed they were. The Quran describes:

“Mankind’s reckoning has drawn near to them, yet they are disregardful in [their] obliviousness. (1) There does not come to them any new reminder from their Lord but they listen to it as they play around,”(2) their hearts are distracted…”10

In his commentary on this verse, Al-ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī explains that the phrase “their hearts are distracted” illustrates a lack of sincerity in seeking divine guidance, leading to their ultimate failure.

What may add to the culpability of such individuals is the freely accessible information about Islam today, with the sheer ease of finding resources.

However, while such people will not have any excuse in front of Allah (SWT) on the Day of Judgement, the mainstream Shia view is not that they are immediately going to be condemned to Hell. Rather, their final judgement will be based on a collection of many variables, most importantly, Allah (SWT)’s discretion.

The third group are those who are unaware but who are not blameworthy. These are individuals who did not have any connection with scholars or learning or, even if they lived close to a centre of learning and had access to scholars, it did not occur to them that their behaviour might be wrong such that they might need to correct it and learn the proper way to behave. This group, if they do not find the truth, will have their excuses accepted on the Day of Judgement so long as they adhered to the moral values of right and wrong that they understood on the basis of their intellects.11 If they were good people in this world, then it is hoped that God will treat them with kindness and affection.12 This is because Allah (SWT) will choose to grant His Universal Mercy on whomsoever He wills, of whichever race or class the recipient may be, based on their sincere search for truth and willingness at heart to accept it.

The Quran says:

“With it Allah guides those who follow [the course of] His pleasure to the ways of peace, and brings them out from darkness into light by His will, and guides them to a straight path.”13

“The faithless say, ‘Why has not some sign been sent down to him from his Lord?’ Say, ‘Indeed Allah leads astray whomever He wishes, and guides to Himself those who turn penitently [to Him].”14

“He has prescribed for you the religion which He had enjoined upon Noah and which We have [also] revealed to you, and which We had enjoined upon Abraham, Moses and Jesus, declaring, ‘Maintain the religion, and do not be divided in it.’ Hard on the polytheists is that to which you summon them. Allah chooses for it whomever He wishes, and He guides to it whomever returns penitently [to Him].”15

It is this group that also constitute the majority of the world’s population, and the Quran attests that many will be guided by the truth of the Divine message:

“…and thereby He guides many; and He leads no one astray thereby except the transgressors.”16

The Quran says about the amount of people who will be allowed to enter Paradise:

“A multitude from the former [generations] (39) and a multitude from the latter [ones].”(40)17

In other words, countless of nations from the past and subsequent communities will be led to Paradise. This is because, in the present era, even though information is widely available, true and false information has been mixed together18 and it is difficult for many people to distinguish truth from falsehood.19 The toxic atmosphere of the media and the ever-increasing cultural attack against Islam is so persistent and pervasive that it is difficult for an impartial outsider to find the truth about Islam.20 Therefore, people must be encouraged to adopt an open-minded and tolerant attitude to learning the truth about Islam, Shīʿism, and Islamic teachings, even in these toxic conditions.21 Such people are also considered to be saved according to the teachings of Islam.

An important point that must be made about extremist Muslims, such as the various takfīrī groups is that it is not the case that everyone who is a Muslim or claims to be a Muslim will automatically enter Paradise.22 Pay close attention to this point: From the perspective of Islamic law, a Muslim in this world is someone who expresses his belief in the Two Testaments of Faith (shahādatayn), even if they are at heart a hypocrite, or a wicked and immoral person.

To emphasize, Sayyid Moneer al-Khabbaz relates a fatwa from His Eminence Ayatollah al-ʿUẓmā Sayyid Ali Sistani (May Allah prolong his presence) that:

“A Muslim who is not a Twelver (Ithnā ʿAsharī) is a Muslim both in reality and appearance, not merely in appearance. Therefore, his acts of worship—such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage—are valid and discharge his obligation if they meet the required conditions.”

Sayyid Munīr al-Khabbāz adds that this opinion is not exclusive to Sayyid al-Sīstānī (d). Rather, he was preceded in this view by his teacher, the late Sayyid al-Burūjirdī, who was the Marjaʿ of the Shīʿa in his time, as well as his teacher, the late Ḥujjat al-Kūhkamrī, one of the prominent scholars of the holy city of Qom. It was also addressed by the late martyr Sayyid Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr in his commentary on the book al-ʿUrwa al-Wuthqā and by the late Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥusayn Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ.23

To return to the point, while such a person might be recognized as a Muslim in his individual and communal life, this does not mean that he has truly submitted to God, that his belief is genuine,24 or that he will be granted paradise and eternal happiness. Perhaps this person is a hypocrite or a criminal and, therefore, deserves divine punishment. In this regard, God has warned the hypocrites that they will be consigned to hell even if they make an outward show of Islam:

“Allah has promised the hypocrites, men and women, and the faithless, the Fire of hell, to remain therein. That suffices them. Allah has cursed them, and there is a lasting punishment for them.”25

The same is true of Muslims who commit crimes against others.26 It is possible that a person claims to be a Muslim and all the rules pertaining to how a Muslim should be treated apply to him in this world, but through his wrongdoing, he earns himself eternal punishment in hell, as Allah (SWT) says in the Quran:

“Should anyone kill a believer intentionally, his requital shall be hell, to remain therein; Allah shall be wrathful at him and curse him and He shall prepare for him a great punishment.”27

To conclude, it is evidently not the case that every disbeliever (in the sense of someone who has not attained true belief in God because of external barriers) will necessarily be sent to hell nor that every Muslim (in the sense of someone who proclaims the shahādatayn) will automatically be admitted to paradise. God will shower His grace and mercy upon the disbelievers who did not reach the truth through no fault of their own, whereas Muslims who knew the truth but turned away from it will be subject to his wrath. Therefore, both those disbelievers who willfully and obstinately reject the truth and Muslim criminals and hypocrites will be punished by being sent to hell.28

However, their punishment is contingent upon them not repenting. If they repent and change their ways, then God will forgive them for whatever sins they have committed against Him.29 And as for those who have transgressed against His creatures, He may also forgive them, if the wronged also pardon the transgressors against them. Rather, Allah (SWT) may also encourage them to do so, by offering them further recompense, and they will receive His mercy and kindness. Rather, Allah (SWT) also offers Divine Pardon for the disbeliever who had come out in battle against Muslims, and for the superficial believers who fled the battlefield:

“Then Allah sent down His composure upon His Apostle and upon the faithful, and He sent down hosts you did not see, and He punished the faithless, and that is the requital of the faithless. (26) Then Allah shall turn clemently after that to whomever He wishes. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.”(27)30

So, according to the mainstream Shia view, as per the Universal Divine Mercy, the vast majority of people in the world do not fall within the latter two categories, meaning they are neither hypocritical, nor sinful Muslims nor are they willful disbelievers. Therefore, we vehemently reject the notion that most people are evil.