What the Heart Cannot Hide

Then, while the books are being read, Allah (swt) says that a person will be asked about deeds done openly and deeds done in private — it is easy enough to be a good Muslim in front of others, coming to the masjid on a Friday in white, with a cap and a tasbīḥ, saying Subḥānallāh, Alḥamdulillāh, Allāhu Akbar, in the best perfume that money can buy, so that everyone takes one for a good Muslim. What matters more is what a person does alone, unwatched, when confronted with temptation — walking past someone dressed immodestly in the street, for instance. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that the first look, unintended, carries no sin, but the second look, and what follows it, is ḥarām; the question is whether the first look becomes deliberately prolonged, whether concessions are sought out, whether the inner control, the tarbiyah of the commanding self, genuinely holds, or whether a person genuinely wishes to please Allah (swt). There is no difference to Allah (swt) between what is public and what is private; all of it, done openly or in secret, is brought before Him.

Once the record has been gone through, those who kept taqwā — who avoided the ḥarāms of Allah (swt), who mastered their own desires even where the temptation was strong, telling themselves, "Allah has forbidden this to me, I cannot touch it" — are sent, in their groups, to Jannah; those who instead followed every whim of the commanding self — the mujrimūn, the fāsiqūn, the kāfirūn, hoping all the while that Allah is Forgiving and Merciful — are driven, in their own groups, to Jahannam as a whole; may Allah protect us all from it. Allah (swt) then says that this — waʿd, the promise, and waʿīd, the warning, together — should be enough for anyone who reflects. Tomorrow will come, sworn to by an oath rarely made: the earth continues turning, and the Day of Resurrection has not yet arrived, but there is no real doubt that it will come, exactly as everything else Allah (swt) has told of comes to pass, for Allah (swt) never fails His promise. The only thing required of a person is to be truly convinced of it in the heart — not merely to hear it and offer a passing agreement, but to be convinced enough that life itself changes as a result, with repentance and a return to the path of Allah (swt), so that a person is roused from his grave to answer Allah (swt) on one of two paths, Jannah or Jahannam, because the reality of that day, whether of Paradise or of Hell, will dawn regardless.

The disbelieving and the sinful are consigned, in Allah's own words, to Jahannam in throngs; for the pious, He describes what awaits them in words of His own:

— a triumph: gardens and vineyards, companions of equal age, and a cup that is full, in which is heard neither vain talk nor lies — Allah's own description of those who master their desires, who possess good character, who understand their function on earth, and who live and teach their families accordingly.