The Day of Judgement As A Concept

 The Day of Judgment As A Concept

 

Excerpt #30 from my book:  Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking.

Nov 9, 2025

 

Muslims today yearn for our own reformers, our John Calvins and Martin Luthers. It will not happen until we begin to think critically. A good start would be to eliminate this uncalled for dichotomy between the temporal and Hereafter. It would be more helpful to accept the Hereafter and The Day of Judgement as concepts or metaphorically. Thus, if we were to lead a “bad” (sinful) life, our Day of Judgement would come soon enough; likewise, our Hell, as being jailed. Study hard and be diligent and your Day of Judgement could come as early as year’s end with your spectacular examination results and being rewarded with a prestigious scholarship.

 

         If you are in business and give good service to your clients and customers, your Day of Judgment would come soon enough – your lucrative practice or thriving business. If you are not diligent and cheat on your customers, your Day of Judgement and Hell too would come

sooner than you expected, as your being sued for negligence.

 

         Whether my interpretation of Islam a la John Calvin is true or not, Allah hu Allam (only Allah knows). There is no denying however, of the benefits to medieval Christians from their adopting Calvin’s views. As per Max Weber, Calvin gave rise to the famed protestant work ethics and the rise of capitalism.

 

         The Muslim world too was not without its own reformers a la Calvin, and much earlier too. Ibn ‘Ata Allah Al-Iskandari in his Al-Hikam–Sufi Aphorisms (The Book Of Wisdoms) wrote:  “If you want to know your standing with Him, look at the state He has put you in now.” (Aphorism No: 73.) That is Calvin’s wisdom put succinctly. Another, “Hope goes hand in hand with deeds; otherwise it is just wishful thinking.” (No:78). Meaning, du’a (supplications) alone is but wishful thinking. 

 

         Ibn ‘Ata Allah Al-Iskandari was born 250 years before Calvin. Yet when we study ancient Islam, we are content with merely reciting their words of wisdom but little pondering and much less application to contemporary challenges. That would require considerable thought. Mere regurgitation, even if endless, would not do it. 

 

         It is significant–and no surprise–that not a single Malaysian university has a dedicated Department of Philosophy. We do not even know our own past luminaries. Ahmad Tajuddin Rasdi, Professor of Architecture at a private Malaysian university, lamented the sorry state of Malaysian graduates, all on the path towards what he termed “educated ignorance.”

 

         That is a great shame. Islam offers such a rich treasure of intellectual works that could ignite the fire of curiosity and critical thinking among the faithful, and keep it burning for a long time. Even the most cursory review of the history of Islam would reveal that in its first few centuries, the period rightly referred to as the Golden Age of Islam, the faith was characterized by one recurring theme–vigorous questioning and re-questioning of authorities.

 

         Even the Prophet was not spared. He was asked, and often, to prove his prophethood and that the revelations he received were not “mere poetry.” Bless him! He did not try to “outdo” Moses by entering into a “stick to snake” contest, or Jesus in being able to walk on water.

 

         There was a price to pay for those earlier vigorous debates; for many, deadly. It is not coincidental and a tragic commentary that only one of the Prophet’s immediate successors, Abu Bakar, died of natural causes; the other three all in suspicious circumstances if not by outright

assassination.

 

         Those early believers strived to make the Prophet’s teachings relevant to their everyday lives. As Islam spread across cultures, geography, language, and polity, the faithful had to grapple not only with what the Prophet had preached but also separating the universalities of this great faith versus its desert Bedouin specifics.

 

         Thus, the emphasis on tajdid–the constant search for and continuous efforts at renewal of the faith, or more correctly to seek a fresh understanding to guide us better in our everyday lives, whether we are wanderers in the arid Arabian desert or the settled dwellers of the humid

tropical isles of Southeast Asia. The hadith, every century Allah would send a new leader to purify and cleanse our faith of all the accumulated accretions, acknowledges this reality. 

 

         Early Muslims were prolific in their commentaries and the efflorescence of their intellectual activities. The 9thCentury Al Kindi, regarded as the first Muslim philosopher, wrote voluminous treatises. He and others began by translating the works of Greek philosophers and then went on to make their own seminal contributions.

 

         Later scholars like Ibn Rashid and Ibn Sini made significant contributions not only in Islamic theological knowledge but more so in the natural sciences, both physical and biological. Those ancient scholars made no differentiation between religious and secular knowledge. To

them, all knowledge ultimately came from Allah through human efforts. That He chose to impart the concept of zero to a Hindu, the insights on gravity to an Englishman, or the secrets of the polio virus to a Jew is not for us to question but to accept and benefit from those discoveries. Consider that those early Muslims did not hesitate to learn from the godless and polytheistic Greeks. By contrast we Muslims today dismiss the significant achievements of the West as but illusory and the products of Godless minds.

 

Next:  The Fad of Islamization of Knowledge