Heart of the Qur'an: A Commentary to Sura al Yasin

Ayat no. 26-29

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
It was said: Enter the garden. He said: O would that my people had known; Of that on account of which my Lord has forgiven me and made me of the honored ones! And We did not send down upon his people after him any hosts from heaven, nor do We ever send down.
It was naught but a single cry, and lo! they were still. (36:26-29)
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When they killed the believer of Aale Yasin in front of the messengers whom also they killed, he was told, “Enter paradise.” And as he entered paradise, he said, “I wish my community should know that my Lord has absolved me of all sins and placed me among the honored ones. Would that those who killed me knew how much forgiving God is?”

Messengers and divine callers are true well-wishers of all, as they have nothing but sympathy. They want that this creation (people) should get salvation and bliss from God though they are beaten up and even killed at their hands. Yet they never cursed them, but showed only sympathy and said, “I wish these ignorant people accept our admonition and understand.”

As we have mentioned, this paradise is in the grave and it is for the believer to enjoy from the hour of his death until the Day of Resurrection. Though if one is a believer but had committed some sins and died without repentance, one remains in torture in Barzakh for a certain time until one’s account is finally cleared.

Sometimes he gets enough punishment in Barzakh to clean his past sins and so when he comes to the field of Gathering on the Day of Judgment, he does not have to account for any more sins.
Some commentators have said that in the verse, “It was said: Enter the garden,” the news must have been given before the killing of this believer because there is no mention of his killing.

Actually it is not so because the same verse shows that the death took place earlier, “And We did not send down upon his people after him any hosts from heaven, nor do We ever send down.” The words ‘after him’ indicate that it is after his death and hence it is not necessary to specify that he was killed.

A martyr enters paradise at the very moment of his martyrdom

There is one more fine point here. It is not said, “They killed him and it was said to him,” in order to show the contiguity. For example saying that as soon as he was killed he entered paradise. The Quranic wording indicates emphatically that when the last moment of the martyr arrived he was already in his place in paradise; that there was no time gap at all.

Imam Sadiq (‘a) is reported to have said in respect of some noble Shias that there is no distance between you and what will brighten your eyes except the reaching of your life to your neck. You at once reach the place promised by God.

Words of Imam Hasan (‘a) in his last moments

Fifteenth of Ramadan is the auspicious birth anniversary of Imam Hasan (‘a), the elder grandson of Prophet (‘s). In this connection, let us read a narration about the last moments of Imam Hasan (‘a).
In Amali, Tusi has quoted in the chapter of the martyrdom of Imam Hasan Mujtaba (‘a) that at the time of his departure from this world, his brother Husain (‘a) was at his bedside.

His hand was in Husain’s hand. Husain (‘a) asked, “My brother! How are you?” The Imam said, “This is the last day of my life in the world and the first day of my life in the Hereafter, while I am restless due to separation from you and other relatives.”

According to this narration, he immediately added, “I seek pardon from God for what I said. I long to see my grandfather, the Holy Prophet (‘s) and my father, Amirul Mo-mineen (‘a) and my mother Fatima (s.a.). Though I regret the separation from Husain in this world yet I will be very happy to reach my grandfather.”

You too, believing men and women, should be like this. Though you suffer separation from your near and dear ones, you also reach the mercy of the Lord and the nearness to the great good personalities in the Hereafter. In the Barzakh life of grave, you meet the holy spirits of those who proceeded there before you, your friends who are awaiting you.
 
And whoever obeys Allah and the Apostle, these are with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favors from among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good, and a goodly company are they! (4:69)
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So you will need friends after your death, friends with perfect faith, all true and truthful ones having true love and affection.

Also there is no jealousy in paradise and if there is any jealousy in someone he would never enter Paradise.

Friendship becomes manifest there. Believers meet their brothers, who are brothers in the true sense. World like relationship is not there at all.

Hereafter is a place of gathering together. In the Holy Quran, God had promised at two places in Quran that the believer and his children would be together at one place. As for example in the verse:
 
And (as for) those who believe and their offspring follow them in faith, We will unite with them their offspring… (52:21)
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And their affection will be of the highest quality.

We killed them all with a shriek

 
And We did not send down upon his people after him any hosts from heaven, nor do We ever send down. It was naught but a single cry, and lo! they were still. (36:28-29)
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These two verses describe God’s anger. A believer is very dear to Him. Killing of a believer is a very serious misdeed. The Merciful Lord describes His favor and support to Habib Najjar. According to one narration, at that very moment (when Habib was martyred), and as per another narration the next day and according to a third tradition, after three days thereafter, God decided to punish the oppressors.

A wit prior to description He says, “After they killed My favorite servant, We did not send on them any army from heaven – they never deserve that We may send any troops from the sky to finish them. So We annihilated them merely with a heavenly shriek.”

According to a tradition, God ordered Jibraeel to smite them with a frightening cry or shriek. Who can bear the sound of Divine anger? Man is weak. Just look at our own weakness and observe our deeds.

A weak person who disobeys the strong

It is said that once a born-rich person who oppressed others and committed sins went to a religious lecture. One sentence of the speaker changed his condition. It was, “I wonder how a weak person can disobey the strong One?”

He pondered over his weakness and changed his thoughts and deeds completely. It was as if an arrow had pierced his heart, which overturned his lifestyle. He turned towards God.

A time comes when you want to say a word but you cannot utter even a word. You are unable even to move your hand. You become weaker than a mosquito.

Thus Allah says, “We did not send on the community of Habib, after him, an army from heaven and it also does not befit us to do (such a little work which was not necessary for them).”

Our chastisement was but a cry and a shriek and instantly all became silent. The kind of shriek it was is known only to God, which uproots the heart from its position, strangles the throat or kills man due to fear while man has no strength to bear it.

Umar bin Abdul Aziz falls hearing the cry

It is written in Hayatul Haiwan that: It was spring season during the caliphate of Umar bin Abdul Azeez and he was sitting on this throne. The atmosphere changed and rainy winds arrived with many clouds and dazzling flashes of lightning, and the caliph fell down from his throne. The terrible fright shook him.

Yahya bin Muaz Razi who used to give beneficial admonishments said, “O Caliph! This is the fear of the Beneficent Lord.”

If lightning, thunder and the arrival of rains and good tidings of bounties shake you so much, how would you respond to the sound of Divine anger?

After the departure of the Last Prophet (‘s) such kinds of calamities, which generally used to kill all at a time were postponed by the blessing of the Prophet of mercy.
 
And We have not sent you but as a mercy to the worlds. (21:107)
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Devastating calamities were postponed but occasional punishment is there. A few years ago some earthquakes struck Iran and they could also be a kind of divine warnings.
 
Alas for the servants! there comes not to them an apostle but they mock at him. (36:30)
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Meaning: Woe unto such people. Ever since the creation until the time of the Last Prophet (‘s) whenever a warner arrived from God, they made fun of him.

Now, we are also like this. There are people in the Islamic world who, on seeing a religious man, make fun of him. They deride him when he tries to stop an evil. They call him reactionary. They pay no attention to the promises and warnings of the Holy Quran. Rather, as a matter of fact, they give no ear to it like the community of Noah; who used to put their fingers in their ears to avoid hearing the words of their prophet.
 
And whenever I have called them that Thou mayest forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears…(71:7)
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Now, in fact, one does not even come to the masjid to hear the admonitions, to understand the path to success and to hear the invitation or the call of divine messengers.

Words of Imam Sajjad (‘a) and guidance of a man

It is reported in the chapter pertaining to the forbearance of Imam Sajjad (‘a), that the Imam was passing through a lane of Medina with a cloak on his shoulders. One of the mean fellows of the city told his companions, “Let me put my hand today on Ali bin Husain (‘a).” To make fun of the Imam, he caught and pulled the Imam’s cloak from behind.

The Imam turned back and said, “The Day is to come when every wrong doer will be a loser. O Wrongdoers! Your loss will become manifest on the Day of Judgment. God’s frowning will terrorize you, but you are making a mockery of these truths. This world has made you mad, deceiving you fully but very soon you will wake with the cry of death.”
 
And leave those who have taken their religion for a play and an idle sport, and whom this world's life has deceived…(6:70)