Losers and Loss in This Transient World and in the Hereafter

Published in April 11, 2018

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

Introduction:

1- This is an email message we have received from a respectable person who lives within the corrupt Egyptian society; we quote most of it along with our reply here, because this message has stirred painful memories of our past life.

2- The male sender of the message writes the following: (... My father makes fun of me and insults me by repeating that I am a "loser"; within his point of view, I am a "loser" because I never get along with the ways of the world we live in; i.e., I lose many chances and opportunities in life because I never flatter people hypocritically and I never conceal my sentiments and stances; when I see a spade a call it a spade; when I see a mistake or something wrong, I rebuke the ones who have done mistakes or broke the law intentionally and expose them, especially those corrupt people around me where I work. I am an assistant professor in biology at one of the Egyptian universities, and I face the corrupt people fearlessly ... This is why my straightforward, upright nature and my frankness drove my fiancée to leave me and marry someone else; because I talked to her in earnest and I criticized many things and many people around us; she accused me of living like the cave-man in the stone era and that I am a "loser" who cannot get along with the ways of the world we live in ... I'm still an assistant professor and my due promotion is suspended; many conspiracies were made against me to force me to tender my resignation or get fired, but all of them failed – thank God – and I'm still keeping my job; yet, my MA thesis discussion is being postponed on purpose under many unreal pretexts (though I've submitted it many months ago), because I have exposed several (financial and otherwise) corruption cases at the university where I work and I have notified the police. The number of my enemies and foes at work increases with the passage of time; they hate my guts! They label me as the ""loser""! The dean of the faculty where I work could not help or protect me; he told me that I might lose my job if I remain stubborn and would refuse to get along with the ways of the world we live in! If I got fired, the label of ""loser"" will stick to me forever and my father (and my foes) will feel schadenfreude as their prophecies of my being a "loser" would come true ... My father is an Azharite sheikh; he has advised me several times while speaking furiously that I must get along with the ways of the world we live in so as not to suffer more losses in my life and career. I refuse to participate within such corruption around me or to remain silent as if I do not know about it. Am I adopting the wrong stance? Are people in the society I live in adopting the wrong stances? The few friends I have ridicule my way of thinking and my deeds and assume that as if I were in a Quixotic mission to set things right in the whole world! I have no friends at all at the university now; I feel lonely and ostracized, but this is not my real problem; the harsh words of my father hurt me so much and I remember them more often than not, and even within my nightmares, I hear the harsh words of my father and feel so sad. My mentality and his are two poles apart; he deceives the gullible masses within the Friday sermons he delivers at the local mosque; I stopped listening to his silly sermons because he quotes silly hadiths and because I am now a Quranist Muslim; I perform the noon prayers alone in my room as your writings have taught me. Within a discussion with my father at home, I tried to refute some hadiths that my father uttered using my specialization in biology; he laughed and called me a ''loser'' again, though I have been an excellent student in high school and during my university years and my postgraduate studies. When I told my father recently that I am a Quranist Muslim who rejects hadiths and fiqh, he laughed and told me that I'm the worst "loser" he has ever seen in the whole course of his life! I'm now addicted to your great Quranism website, though some of your books are too difficult for me to understand; I love science but history is not my forte. I admire most your life-story and how you courageously faced Azharite ignoramuses (to whom my father belongs) in Egypt in the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s ... Please write to me any words of wisdom to support and encourage me; I know that I am in the right and that people around me are in the wrong; but I need your soothing words ... Sorry if my message is too long; thank you very much, Dr. A. S. Mansour, for your taking time to read and reply to my message ...).

OUR REPLY:

Firstly:

1- We assure the sender of this message that he is in the right and that he is on the right track to please and gratify the Lord God; may the Dominant Lord God reward him in this life and in the Hereafter. The problem is that the Egyptian society is too corrupt now; otherwise, the honest, upright ones like this young assistant professor would have been appreciated, honored, and promoted to a better position.   

2- The cultures of this transient world differ a lot; within free, democratic societies, talents are encouraged to flourish and grow, and honest, truthful people are respected and they are successful; if some people fail, these societies stand by them and give them more chances until they achieve success; likewise, the handicapped in these societies are employed while considering what would suit their abilities. 

3- In contrast, within societies where tyranny, hypocrisy, and corruption dominate, people harm one another and are very authoritarian and unjust; they commit many minor and grave injustices against one another, and within the social hierarchies, they flatter those in higher ranks and humiliate those in lower ranks.   

4- Within such corrupt societies, only hypocrites, flatterers, corrupt ones, sinners, and evil ones are 'successful' and 'winners' and they belong to the 'masters' or the affluent retinue members of the deep-state who control the government, the military, the media, religious life, the judiciary system, etc. They have no real knowledge and absolutely no values or morals; they are experts in flattering rulers and those in high-rank positions; they vie in flattery and hypocrisy to obsequiously please their masters; they persecute, hate, and crush those honest, upright people especially if they are outstanding and excellent in their field of specialization, as the presence of such truthful people pose a veritable threat to the corrupt ones and inveterate liars. The corrupters never feel relieved unless they get rid of honest, upright people by silencing them, firing them, or letting them immigrate or die! They do their best to make honest, upright people vanish from their sight so as not to let their corruption get exposed and so that they continue within their corrupt ways undisturbed.    

5- Within such corrupt societies, things are upside down; the 'winners' are the thieves who consume ill-gotten money and spread injustices and corruption, and they are deemed as 'respectable', because superficial people respect the wealthy, affluent, powerful ones regardless of the origin of their money. People respect such corrupters however vile and mean they are, because they control money, power, and authority. The honest, upright, truthful people are mostly poor and have no privileges; the superficial people assume them to be 'losers', because they are never corrupt and never commit crimes; the corrupt ones and criminals never trust the honest, truthful, upright people. The more injustices, thefts, and crimes are committed by the corrupt ones, the more wealth, stature, rank, power, authority, and respectability they gain. This is because those masters/heads of the deep-state or the regime can control and use the corrupt ones and hypocrites any way they like by threatening to expose their crimes and corruption within scandals in the media. In contrast, honest, upright people cannot be controlled or threatened because they are truthful individuals who have not committed any crimes of corruption; they cannot be trusted or even needed by the affluent ones of the deep-state; they are controlled by being never given promotions so as not to allow them to stir more trouble and expose corrupters. This is why the corrupt ones within such a corrupt society describe honest, upright, truthful ones as 'losers'.          

6- The above is within this transient world that contains both transparent, democratic societies and corrupt societies controlled by tyrants and the affluent retinue members of the deep-state.

Secondly:

1- Things are different in the Hereafter regarding who are the real winners and who are the real losers.

2- The real winners are those who are made to avoid Hell and are made to enter into Paradise: "Every soul will have a taste of death, and you will receive your recompense on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever is swayed from the Fire, and admitted to Paradise, has won. The life of this world is merely enjoyment of delusion." (3:185). The winners in Paradise are the pious ones: "Not equal are the inhabitants of the Fire and the inhabitants of Paradise. It is the inhabitants of Paradise who are the winners." (59:20); "Whoever obeys God and His Messenger, and fears God, and is conscious of Him within piety - these are the winners." (24:52).

3- Winners on the Last Day are those who combine monotheistic faith with many good deeds; faith alone is not enough, because not all believers will enter into Paradise since some of them have no enough good deeds in terms of quantity and quality; this is the description of the winners or successful ones among believers: "Successful are the believers. Those who are humble in their prayers. Those who avoid nonsense. Those who perform charity. Those who keep their chastity. Except from their spouses, or their dependents - for then they are free from blame. But whoever seeks anything beyond that-these are the transgressors. Those who are faithful to their trusts and pledges. Those who keep to their prayers. These are the inheritors. Who will inherit Paradise, wherein they will dwell forever." (23:1-11).

4- Those winners on the Last Day have many good deeds in terms of quantity and quality, and this allows them to be fit to enter into Paradise: "Those whose scales are heavy - those are the successful. But those whose scales are light-those are they who have lost their souls; in Hell they will dwell forever." (23:102-103); "The scales on that Day will be just. Those whose weights are heavy - it is they who are the successful. But as for those whose weights are light - it is they who have lost their souls, because they used to disbelieve in Our Verses." (7:8-9).

5- The losers on the Last Day are those who lose their souls in Hell: "...Those who believed will say, "The losers are those who lost themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection." Indeed, the unjust ones are in a lasting torment. " (42:45); "...Say, "The losers are those who lose their souls and their families on the Day of Resurrection." That is indeed the obvious loss." (39:15).

6- The worst type of losers includes those clergymen/imams of the earthly, man-made, fabricated religions who ascribe lies and falsehoods to God and repel people away from His Path (i.e., the Quran). God says in the Quran: "Those are the ones who lost their souls, and what they had invented has strayed away from them. Without a doubt, in the Hereafter, they will be the biggest losers." (11:21-22).

Thirdly:

1- The corrupt ones in such a corrupt society accuse our son, the sender of this message, of being a loser who suffer many losses in this life; this is the same accusation leveled by the affluent retinue members of disbelievers against believers in all eras; e.g., those affluent, powerful disbelievers among the people of Shuaib the prophet said the following to the believers of their time: "The elite of his people who disbelieved said, "If you follow Shuaib, you will be losers."" (7:90). God has smitten and destroyed these disbelievers, and He describes them as losers: "...Those who rejected Shuaib - it was they who were the losers." (7:92).

2- All disbelievers in all eras are described in the Quran as losers who will suffer the biggest loss on the Last Day: "...and every stubborn tyrant came to his loss. Beyond him lies Hell..." (14:15-16). Moses said the same to those who ascribed lies and falsehoods to the Lord God: "Moses said to them, "Woe to you. Do not fabricate lies against God, or He will destroy you with a torment. He who invents lies will lose.''" (20:61). God says the following about the disbelievers who lived during the lifetime of Muhammad: "He thus cuts off a section of those who disbelieved, or subdues them, so they retreat as losers." (3:127); He says the following about all misguided losers among the human beings who reject piety and good deeds and corrupt their souls by evil deeds and sins: "Loser is he who corrupts it." (91:10). Those who committed injustices in this world and they died without repentance will be among the losers on the Last Day: "Faces will be humbled before the Living, the Watchful. Whoever carries injustice will lose." (20:111).

Lastly:

We assert the following pieces of advice to this dear son who sent us the above message.

1- Please, our son, do not feel so distressed and depressed by what your father and other people do and say; there are other honest, upright, truthful people just like you who adhere to morals and virtues and they face many troubles and hardships because of their moralistic attitude. You should bear in mind that all cares, troubles, hardships, and torments of this world are transient and temporary; every dark night is followed by dawn and sunshine. God says in the Quran: "With hardship comes ease." (94:5).

2- Hence, any losses within this world are also transient and temporary; compensations and ease, bestowed by Almighty God, always follow such worldly losses. The vicissitudes of life include changing one's conditions between such opposite states: poverty/wealth, illness/health, weakness/strength, hardship/ease, sorrow/happiness, and adversity/prosperity. God says in the Quran: "...Such days We alternate among the people..." (3:140).

3- All types of losses in this transient world can be accepted within patience; in contrast, the worst and irrevocable loss is in the Hereafter when losers enter into Hell forever, with no sleep, no fainting, no lessening of torment, no life, and no death. You, and all pious monotheists, must adhere to piety all the time to get saved on the Last Day and be made to enter into Paradise: "What about someone who covers his face against the terrible torment of the Day of Resurrection? To the unjust ones it will be said, "Taste what you used to earn."" (39:24). So please, our son, do not be angry with your detractors and mockers; in fact, you should feel sorry for them and feel sad over their fate in the Hereafter in Hell if they die without repentance.       

4- You should know, our son, that your detractors and mockers know inwardly that you are in the right and they are in the wrong; inside the inner layers of their minds, they respect your moralistic attitude; yet, as a self-defense mechanism, they ridicule and attack you because they hate the Quranic Truth; they need to reassure themselves by any means, but in vain, that they are guiltless and that their conscience is clear. God will be with you, our son, if you rely on patience and on the adherence to regular prayers: "O you who believe! Seek help through patience and prayers. God is with the patient ones." (2:153).  

5- Even if people reject you and make you suffer ostracism and exclusion, your adherence to monotheism, prayers, and patience will make God be with you and you will be with Him; there is nothing better or greater than being with the Dominant Lord God and siding with Him. God says in the Quran: "So be patient. Your patience is solely from God. And do not grieve over them, and do not be stressed by their schemes.God is with those who are pious and those who are charitable." (16:127-128).

6- As always, God says nothing but the Absolute Truth.