Misleading without knowledge: a double burden on the Day of Resurrection
﴿That they may bear their burdens in full on the Day of Resurrection, and of the burdens of those they mislead without knowledge. Indeed, evil is what they bear.(An-Nahl: 25)
Introduction:
One of the greatest forms of deprivation, and the most severe evidence of lack of success, is for a person to insist on disobeying his Lord Almighty, who has bestowed upon him countless blessings. He does not content himself with disobedience, but rather openly declares it and calls for it, until the last moment of his life! This is despite the lessons and evidence around him, as if he had not heard the words of God Almighty:So consider, O you who have insight﴾ [Al-Hashr: 2], But how many lessons and how little consideration! And God Almighty spoke the truth:For it is not the eyes that are blinded, but the hearts within the breasts that are blinded.(Al-Hajj: 46) Al-Baghawi, may God have mercy on him, said: “It means: harmful blindness is blindness of the heart, but as for blindness of sight, it is not harmful in matters of religion.”[1].
And those who insist on falsehood and openly declare it, and lead others astray, God has threatened them by saying:﴿That they may bear their burdens in full on the Day of Resurrection, and of the burdens of those they mislead without knowledge. Indeed, evil is what they bear.(An-Nahl: 25).
I ask God Almighty to reward our deeds and words, and return us to Him in a beautiful way.
Sayings of scholars regarding the interpretation of the verse in question:
Ibn Katheer, may God have mercy on him, said: “The Almighty said:That they may bear their burdens in full on the Day of Resurrection, and of the burdens of those they misled without knowledge.﴾; That is: We have decreed that they should say that; So that they may bear their burdens and the burdens of those who follow them and agree with them. That is, they will be charged with the sin of going astray within themselves, and the sin of seducing others and following their example. As stated in the hadith: “Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward like the rewards of those who follow him. This will not detract from their rewards in the slightest. And whoever calls “He went astray, a sin equal to the sins of those who followed him, without that detracting from their sins in the slightest.”[2]And God Almighty said:And they will bear their burdens, and burdens with their burdens, and they will be asked on the Day of Resurrection about what they were inventing.(Al-Ankabut: 13).
Thus it was stated on the authority of Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with them both, in the verse:That they may bear their burdens in full on the Day of Resurrection, and of the burdens of those they misled without knowledge.﴾, it is like saying: ﴿Let them bear their burdens and burdens with their burdens(Al-Ankabut: 13), and Mujahid, may God have mercy on him, said: They carry their burdens; Their sins, and the sins of those who obeyed them, and the torment will not be lightened at all for those who obeyed them.”[3].
The educational features deduced from the verse in question:
First:Islamic law is governed by clearly defined commands and prohibitions regarding the monotheism of God Almighty, first, and then in all aspects of life, their precision and majesty. God Almighty said:And whatever the Messenger has given you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it, and fear God. Indeed, God is severe in punishment.(Al-Hashr: 7).
Al-Saadi, may God have mercy on him, said: “This includes the foundations of the religion and its branches, its apparent and its hidden, and that what the Messenger brought is obligatory for the servants to adopt and follow, and it is not permissible to contradict it, and that the Messenger’s text of the ruling on a thing is like the text of God Almighty, there is no license for anyone and no excuse for him to leave it, and it is not permissible to give precedence to anyone’s statement over his statement.”[4].
And he, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “I left you in Al-Bayda, whose night is like its day, and no one deviates from it except one who is perishing.”[5].
And he, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, spoke the truth when he said: “No one deviates from it except one who perishes,” and it came in the holy hadith: “O My servants, these are only your deeds. I am recounting them for you.” Then I will repay it to you. So whoever finds good, let him praise God, and whoever finds other than that, let him blame no one but himself.”[6].
Second:A Muslim must beware of leniency in adhering to what God Almighty has commanded, and avoiding what he has forbidden. Today is work without accountability, and tomorrow is account without work. It is good for a person to think repeatedly before undertaking any work. To ensure that it is free of any legal prohibition; So that he does not fall under the punishment of God Almighty by disobeying His commands, and what is worse than that is if others follow this prohibition, then the catastrophe becomes greater and greater, and the count of bad deeds becomes current until the Day of Resurrection. God Almighty said:And they will bear their burdens, and burdens with their burdens, and they will be asked on the Day of Resurrection about what they were inventing.(Al-Ankabut: 13).
Al-Maraghi, may God have mercy on him, said: “The callers to misguidance bear the sin of their misguidance within themselves, and another sin is due to them leading astray those whom they led astray, without diminishing the burdens of those people or removing them from them in any way. This is justice from God and mercy from Him toward His servants.”[7]; We ask God for safety and wellness.
Third:One of the greatest dangers these days is the spread of misguided imams and preachers of deception through social media. These people embellish falsehood with their actions and words, and unfortunately some young men and women, male and female, who do not distinguish between the bad and the good, and between the dirt and the fat, are attracted to them. Al-Maraghi, may God have mercy on him, said: “The benefit of his saying:Without knowledge“An explanation that they mislead those who do not know that they are misguided, and that they are upon falsehood, and in that is a warning that their plots are not spread against any intelligent person, but rather they are imitated by the ignorant and stupid.”[8]. The Holy Qur’an has warned against imams of misguidance. God Almighty said:And We made them imams, calling to Hell, and on the Day of Resurrection they will not be helped.﴾ [Al-Qasas: 41], Ibn Ashour, may God have mercy on him, said: “The imams: the plural of imam, and he is one who is followed in an action of good or evil, and the meaning of making them imams who call to hellfire is: He created their souls turned to evil, and turned away from listening to guidance, and their presence among people was like that.”[9].
Al-Maraghi, may God have mercy on him, said regarding the imams of misguidance: “They continued to mislead others and improve disobedience to them, and thus they committed two crimes, and were subjected to two punishments: the punishment of misguidance and the punishment of misleading.”[10].
It is the duty of the concerned authorities and all official and unofficial educational institutions, scholars and preachers – students of knowledge and reformers – to stand firmly against the imams of misguidance and enlighten people about their evils, and the contradiction of what they call for with the Book of God Almighty and the Sunnah of His Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace.
Fourth:In contrast to the warning of the Holy Qur’an against imams of misguidance, it clarifies the virtue of imams of guidance. God Almighty said:And We made them imams who guided by Our command, and We inspired them to do good deeds, to establish prayer, and to pay zakat, and they were Our worshipers.(Al-Anbiya’: 73).
Al-Saadi, may God have mercy on him, said: “This is one of the greatest blessings of God upon His servant, that he be an imam by whom the guided are guided, and those who follow him follow him, and His saying:They are guided by our command﴾; That is: They guide people with Our religion, not commanding according to their own desires, but rather by God’s command and religion, and following His pleasure, and the servant is not an imam until he calls to God’s command.And We inspired them to do good deeds.They do it and call people to it, and this includes all good things, from the rights of God and the rights of His servants.And establish prayer and pay zakat“This is out of sympathy between the specific and the general, due to the honor and virtue of these two acts of worship, and because whoever completes them as he was commanded is upholding his religion, and whoever neglects them will have lost anything other than them, and because prayer is the best of deeds in which it is due to him, and zakat is the best of deeds in which there is kindness to his creation.}And they were ours(i.e., not for anyone else)AbedinThat is, they persevered in heart, verbal, and physical worship for most of their time, so they deserved for worship to be their description, so they were characterized by what God commanded creation to do, and for which He created them.[11].
It is the duty of the concerned authorities, all official and unofficial educational institutions, scholars and preachers, students of knowledge and reformers – to support the Imams of guidance with all means of support: materially and morally, so that goodness may spread by spreading virtuous Islamic morals, and lofty values and principles among people.
Fifth:Deviating from the approach of God Almighty and His straight path by committing transgressions and sins is a clear misguidance and a great danger. God Almighty said:And whoever disobeys God and His Messenger has gone astray in a clear error.(Al-Ahzab: 36).
Muhammad Tantawi, may God have mercy on him, said: “Whoever disobeys God and His Messenger in any matter, has strayed from the truth and what is right, clearly and clearly.”[12].
Among the greatest and most dangerous sins in this world and the hereafter is polytheism to God Almighty. Sins other than polytheism to God Almighty are trivial. Because it is the will of God Almighty to forgive her. For God Almighty says:Indeed, God does not forgive anyone associating anything with Him, but He forgives anything other than that to whomever He wills. And whoever associates anything with God has certainly invented a great sin.(An-Nisa: 48), and God Almighty said:Indeed, God does not forgive anyone associating anything with Him, but He forgives anything other than that to whomever He wills. And whoever associates anything with God has indeed strayed far astray.(An-Nisa: 116).
It is stated in the Holy Hadith: “O son of Adam, if you were to come to Me with an earth’s worth of sins, and then you met Me not associating anything with Me, I would bring you an earth’s worth of forgiveness.”[13].
Sixth:The verse included the subject of the article: ﴿Let them bear their full burden﴾ [An-Nahl: 25], and perhaps in a word ﴿CompleteSome kind of threat.
Al-Baghawi, may God have mercy on him, said: “Let them bear their burdens, the sins of their souls, in full, but perfection is only mentioned, because the calamities that befall them in this world and the good deeds they do in it will not atone for anything on the Day of Resurrection, and for the burdens of those who lead them astray without knowledge, without proof, so they turn them away from faith. Indeed, what they bear will be worse than what they bear.”[14].
Ibn Uthaymeen, may God have mercy on him, said: “They carry their burdens in full, but as for the burdens of those who are invited, they do not carry them in full, and if they carried them in full, nothing would be left for the invitees. This is because the one praying does not bear the entire burden of the one who is invited, and if he bore it completely, nothing would remain for the one who was invited, but the burden is on the one who invites and the one being called, God forbid.” Al-Maraghi, may God have mercy on him, said: “And what is meant by his saying ﴿Complete“It does not diminish anything from it.”[15].
Seventh:Some people believe that the pious and righteous people do not commit lapses or mistakes, and you may find someone who blames them or belittles them when they fall short. We say: The pious and righteous people are human beings like others, but they quickly come to their senses by returning to God Almighty, seeking forgiveness and repenting. God Almighty said:Indeed, those who fear, when a swarm of Satan touches them, remember, then they will see.([Al-A’raf: 201], and God Almighty said:)And those who, when they commit an immoral act or wrong themselves, remember God and ask forgiveness for their sins, and who can forgive sins but God, and they do not insist on what So they did it knowingly(Al Imran: 135).
Beautiful is what Ibn Taymiyyah said, may God have mercy on him: “It is not a condition for the pious and the like that a sin should not be committed by them, nor that they be infallible from mistakes and sins. If this were the case, there would not be a pious among the nation. Rather, whoever repents from his sins will be among the pious, and whoever does what expiates his sins will be among the pious, as God Almighty said:If you avoid the great sins that you are forbidden, We will pardon your sins and admit you to a noble entrance.(An-Nisa: 31)[16].
Eighth:Because man is vulnerable to error and negligence, due to his human weakness, and because Satan lurks in wait for him, based on the words of God Almighty:He said, “Because you have deceived me, I will surely follow your straight path for them.”(Al-A`raf: 16).
Al-Tabari, may God have mercy on him, said: “I will turn the children of Adam away from worshiping and obeying you, and I will mislead them as you misled me, and I will mislead them as you misled me.”[17]The Muslim must strive against himself in confronting Satan’s hostility, by not responding to what he calls him to do, and let it be his motto when he is whispered and tempted to sin, starting with seeking refuge from him, then the Almighty says:﴿I fear God, Lord of the worlds(Al-Ma’idah: 28)And also the Almighty’s saying is a story about Joseph, peace be upon him, when the wife of the Almighty tempted him:He said, God forbid, indeed, my Lord, He has made my abode good. Indeed, the wrongdoers will not succeed.([Joseph: 23].
Ninth:How often is God Almighty’s promise in the Holy Qur’an to His servants who deviate from the straight path, by asking them on the Day of Resurrection about the sins they committed in this world. As in the Almighty’s saying:And they will be asked on the Day of Resurrection about what they used to invent.([Al-Ankabut: 13], and His Almighty said:)Then to your Lord is your return, and He will inform you of what you differed about.(Al-An’am: 164), and God Almighty said:Then to your Lord is your return, and He will inform you of what you used to do. Indeed, He is All-Knowing of what is in the breasts.(Al-Zumar: 7)This is a great feast and a grave danger to those who continue to be heedless and turn away from the approach of God Almighty, but God’s mercy is vast, for He has opened the door of repentance wide for whoever wants to return to Him. Ibn Baz, may God have mercy on him, said: “A person must hasten to repent, even at the moment of death, because the door to repentance is open no matter what, as long as his mind is with him, and he must hasten to repent and beware of sins.”
God Almighty has commanded His servants to repent sincerely, and He Almighty said:O you who have believed, repent to God in sincere repentance. Perhaps your Lord will atone for you your sins and admit you to gardens flowing from Beneath it are the rivers﴾ [Al-Tahrim: 8], And God Almighty rejoices over the repentance of His servant, as the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, told us: “God is more rejoicing over the repentance of one of you than he is over his lost property when he finds it.”[18].
The Muslim must hasten to repent and adhere to the upright law of God before it is too late, for the opportunity is good and may not return, and regret after it is of no use.
Tenth:We conclude the article with an important benefit about the confusion or doubt that may occur among some people between the verse that is the subject of the article and the Almighty’s saying:No female bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another, and if a burdened woman is called upon to bear it, none of it will be borne, even if it be a relative.﴾ [Fatir: 18]; Al-Shanqeeti, may God have mercy on him, said: “The answer is that these misguided people only bore the burdens of themselves, because they bore the burden of misguidance and the burden of being led astray. So whoever enacts a bad practice will bear the burden of it, and the burden of whoever acts upon it. This does not detract from their burdens in the slightest, because his enacting it for others is one of his sins, so he took it.”[19]Al-Shaarawi, may God have mercy on him, said: “This is one of the issues that some Orientalists stopped at, trying to accuse the Qur’an and its style of contradiction. He wondered: How does the Qur’an contradict itself, so he says:No bearer of faith shall bear the burden of another(Al-An’am: 164), and we say: For every burden there is a path and a reckoning, so a person bears the burden of his misguidance alone if he does not mislead anyone else with it, but if he tries to mislead others, then he bears the burden of this misguidance.[20].