"To Your Lord Is its Finality" (Quran 79:44)
Published in January 31, 2017
Translated by Ahmed Fathy
Introduction:
We have mentioned before in our book titled "The Quran Is Enough" that the so-called hadiths ascribed falsely to Prophet Muhammad are thematically divided into three topics/sections: 1) hadiths about preaching and invocation, which are quite futile and useless, because Quranic verses in that respect are the best discourse and more than enough for real believers, 2) hadiths about legislations, which are refuted categorically by the Quran that tells us that the sole mission of Muhammad was to convey the Quran as a preacher and a warner; he was asked many times about many things, and he would not answer but wait for the Quranic answer; this is why we find the Quranic patterns: "Say,…" and "They ask you about … Say…", and 3) hadiths about the future, the unseen, and the unknown, and they are refuted in the Quran by virtue of the Quranic fact (repeated in many verses) that Muhammad never knew anything about the future, the unseen, and the unknown, and he never talked about them at all. Within this aspect, Muhammad was asked many times by his contemporaries about the timing of the Hour (i.e., the end of the world, or Doomsday when it is destroyed in the Day of Resurrection). Many verses have answered such a question, and they include the following ones that we will tackle blow in this article, hoping that God will guide us in understanding them in the best manner: "They ask you about the Hour, "When will it take place?" How could you have any knowledge of it? To your Lord is its finality. You are just a warner for whoever dreads it. On the Day when they witness it-as though they only stayed an evening, or its morning." (79:42-46).
Firstly: "They ask you about the Hour, "When will it take place?" (79:42)
1- God says in the Quran that the timing of the Hour is the type of knowledge that pertains only to Him and never to any mortals: "With God rests the knowledge of the Hour. He sends down the rain, and He knows what the wombs contain. No soul knows what it will reap tomorrow, and no soul knows in what land it will die. God is All-Knowing, Well-Informed." (31:34); "To Him is referred the knowledge of the Hour…" (41:47); "And blessed is He Who has sovereignty over the heavens and the earth and what is between them. He alone has knowledge of the Hour, and to Him you will be returned." (43:85).
2- Despite the above, contemporaries of Muhammad asked him several times about the timing of the Hour, as we discern from the following verses: "They ask you about the Hour, "When will it come?" Say, "Knowledge of it rests with my Lord. None can reveal its coming except He. It weighs heavily on the heavens and the earth. It will not come upon you except suddenly." They ask you as if you are responsible for it. Say, "Knowledge of it rests with God," but most people do not know. Say, "I have no control over any benefit or harm to myself, except as God wills. Had I known the future, I would have acquired much good, and no harm would have touched me. I am only a warner, and a herald of good news to a people who believe."" (7:187-188); "The people ask you about the Hour. Say, "The knowledge thereof rests with God. But what do you know? Perhaps the Hour is near."" (33:63).
3- Despite the above assertions about the Hour and about Muhammad who could never predict the future, let alone to know the timing of the Hour, the polytheistic Muhammadans denied all the above Quranic verses and fabricated hadiths ascribed to him about the Hour, with graphic details about its purported signs presaging it, and what may (in their erroneous view) happen during the Last Day, especially their myths about intercessions and getting Hell-dwellers out of it. When Quranists would recite to any groups of Muhammadans tens of Quranic verses that debunk the myth of intercession (by prophets or any mortals) and Sunnite myths about the Last Day, the Muhammadans would look blind and deaf at Quranists as thought they were not seeing them or not hearing the verses quoted by Quranists. If Quranists would explain to them how these verses contradict the myths and falsehoods of the so-called hadiths (authored by Al-Bokhary and dozens of other Middle-Ages authors), the Muhammadans will get furious because their deities (Al-Bokhary and others) are thus undermined and refuted; hence, these Muhammadans really deny the Quran and disbelieve in it. this is a fact we perceive in daily lives of the Muhammadans worldwide.
Secondly: "How could you have any knowledge of it?" (79:43)
1- This question is in the interrogative style that asserts surprise at those who were linking Muhammad to any knowledge related to the Hour. Of course, the aim of this question is to make Quran-believing people deny and disown all hadiths ascribed to Muhammad, in that respect and indeed on any other topic.
2- Accordingly, we understand that Muhammad never talked about the Hour or any other topic of which he had no knowledge at all, especially because the next verse (i.e.,79:44) gives a decisive response.
Thirdly: "To your Lord is its finality." (79:44)
1- This means that to God alone pertains all knowledge of the Last Day. The same meaning is repeated in 7:187-188, to show that such knowledge is confined to God only. Indeed, the same style of confining certain notions to God is used many times in the Quran such as the Islamic testimony of monotheism: (There is no God but Allah) and in the following two verses: "With Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except He…" (6:59); "Say, "No one in the heavens or on earth knows the future except God; and they do not perceive when they will be resurrected."" (27:65).
2- The thing added in 79:44 is that the Hour is described as ''finality'' and this Absolute finality of the Last Day cannot be imagined by our limited minds and perceptions, and hence, the Quranic discourse uses figurative style to make us understand in a way that would be compatible with our human minds.
3- Hence, this knowledge that pertains to God and is confined to Him alone, as for Muhammad, God tells him the following verse below.
Fourthly: "You are just a warner for whoever dreads it." (79:45)
We read here how the role of Muhammad was confined to convey the Quran, to preach it and warn with it. Hence, those who believed in the Last Day paid heed and believed in the Quran conveyed by Muhammad, whereas the stubborn deniers who disbelieved in the Quran, Muhammad was to move away from them. Each individual is supposed to think of what is really beneficial; especially religion and one's future in the Hereafter. Many people think if religion in their minds, and mostly, they care for this transient world more. Many of who consider themselves as religious believe in falsehoods and myths of earthly, man-made, fabricated religions, especially the ones containing myths of 'saints' and intercessors and mediators that will make them be 'redeemed' and enter Paradise without being judged at all or to get out of Hell after a while of expatiation, etc. Indeed, real believers of correct, true faith are the ones seeking guidance with all their might, thus deserving to be guided by God. Hence, God has said the following to Muhammad: "We did not reveal the Quran to you to make you suffer. But only as a reminder for him who fears." (20:2-3). Therefore, Muhammad had no reason to seek to guide people and follow them to try hard to convince them, as his responsibilities never included guiding others; rather, those who seek guidance will be guided by the Lord. "Their guidance is not your responsibility, but God guides whom He wills…" (2:272). Muhammad had nothing to do with those who will enter Hell: "We have sent you with the truth-bringing good news, and giving warnings. You will not be questioned about the dwellers of Hell." (2:119). Hence, Islam contains no such notion of begging others to coax them incessantly to convert; rather, the Quran tells Muhammad, and all real believers as well, to avoid those who stubbornly refuse the Quranic message (i.e., the Remembrance of God) and leave them to their fate that they have chosen: "So avoid him who has turned away from Our Remembrance and desired nothing but the present life." (53:29).
Fifthly: "On the Day when they witness it-as though they only stayed an evening, or its morning." (79:46)
1- When one dies, one's soul enters into the metaphysical realm/location called Barsakh in the Quran, where it will remain until the Day of Resurrection: "…And behind them is the barrier of Barsakh, until the Day they are resurrected." (23:100). This Barsakh is a state of timelessness and souls feel nothing at all, as if one is asleep (exceptions to this Quranic rule, as per the Quran, the tortured souls of disbelievers among the people of Moses' Pharaoh and the people of Noah and the blessed souls of those who were killed for God's sake who enjoy in Barsakh paradise till Doomsday). Upon the Day of Resurrection, disbelievers (deniers, criminals, sinners, etc.) will feel that they have slept for a day or part of a day, while believers, who are in deep knowledge because of the divine revelation in which they believed, know that they remained in Barsakh until the Last Day: "On the Day when the Hour takes place, the sinners will swear they had stayed but an hour. Thus they were deluded. But those endowed with knowledge and faith will say, "You remained in God's Book until the Day of Resurrection. This is the Day of Resurrection, but you did not know."" (30:55-56). The disbelievers will not be convinced that they remained in Barsakh for centuries before being resurrected: "…On the Day when they witness what they are promised, it will seem as if they had lasted only for an hour of a day…" (46:35). But people who used to live in the same time and place and used to know one another will see and remember one another, feeling how earthly life was fleeting and short: "On the Day when He rounds them up-as if they had tarried only one hour of a day-they will recognize one another…" (10:45). "On the Day when the Trumpet is blown-We will gather the sinners on that Day, blue. Murmuring among themselves: "You have lingered only for ten." We are fully aware of what they say, when the most exemplary of them in conduct will say, "You have lingered only a day."" (20:102-104). This is the meaning of 79:46.
2- Hence, timelessness o Barsakh applies to everyone (with exceptions mentioned above) among all humanity from the first human generation till the last one; all of them will be resurrected while feeling they have slept for a day or a part of a day. This same feeling will be experienced by sons of Adam (the murderer and the murdered one) and the last person on earth to die before the Last Day, among Adam's progeny.
3- Hence, this means that between one and the Last Day is one's lifetime + a day or a part of a day! Let us suppose that a man is 60 years old celebrating his birthday, and he is predestined to live until his 61st birthday, this means that he will be resurrected after one year and a day or part of a day!
4- In Mecca, God has commanded to say the following: "Say, "I offer you a single advice: devote yourselves to God, in pairs, or individually; and reflect. There is no madness in your friend. He is just a warner to you, before the advent of a severe punishment."" (34:46); and we focus here on the phrase ''…before the advent of a severe punishment". This means that this severe punishment is very near to them. This Quranic verse addressed them 14 centuries ago, as per ways people count time on earth. One may not wonder why the disbelievers are warned against a very near punishment in Hell; as this means that Barsakh timelessness will make one feels that when one dies and is resurrected, as if one has slept for a day or a part of a day. Hence, let us suppose that a disbelieving man had heard Muhammad utter this verse, 34:46, and he died several years later as a denier of the Quran and he refused Islam. This means that this man's torment in Hell will be after those years + a day or a part of a day. This means that it is a near advent of severe punishment, as per 34:46. Of course, the same warning is addressed to us and all human beings in all eras until the end of times. Each of us has a limited lifetime that diminishes per the rate of 60min/hr. and 24hr./day and then, the Resurrection Day is nearer that we think: our lifetime + 1 day or part of a day (i.e. Barsakh timelessness). Hence, all of us are marching toward the eternal life in the Hereafter after we die (hopefully in Paradise and not in Hell), and this verse will apply to each of us during the Last Day: "On the Day when they witness it-as though they only stayed an evening, or its morning." (79:46); and as always, God says nothing but the Truth.