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Egyptian Muslim Intellectual
The story of the people of the pit is a good example of endurance
and steadfastness. These people burned to death those who believed in
Allah, but the believers never gave up their faith. Allah perpetuates
their story in a whole Qur'anic surah, Al-Buruj. Sheikh Sayyid Qutb
comments on the verses relating the story of these great people.
[Slain
be the men of the Pit, the fire abounding in fuel, when they sat
around it, watching what they did to the believers. They took
vengeance on them for no reason save that they believed in
Allah, the All-Mighty. The Praised One, the Sovereign of the
heavens and the earth, Who witnesses all things.] (Al-Buruj
85:4-9)
In the above verses, the reference to the event
of the men of the pit (ashab al-ukhdud) starts with a
declaration of anger with them: [Slain be the men of the Pit].
It also gives an impression of the enormity of the crime which
invokes the displeasure and anger of the All-Clement and makes
Him threaten the perpetrators. Then we have a description of the
pit: [The fire abounding in
fuel.] The literal meaning
of pit is a hole in the ground, but the surah defines it as
"the fire" instead of using the term trench or
hole
in order to give an impression that the whole pit was turned
into a blazing fire.
The men of the pit aroused Allah's wrath for the
evil crime they committed [When they sat around it, watching
what they did to the believers.] They sat over the fire,
very close to this horrifying process, watching the various
stages of torture, madly enjoying the burning of human flesh in
order to perpetuate in their minds this ghastly scene. The
believers had not committed any crime or evil deed against those
people: [They took vengeance on them for no reason save that
they believed in Allah, the All-Mighty, the Praised One, the
Sovereign of the heavens and the earth, Who witnesses all
things.]
That was their only crime: that they believed in
Allah, the All-Mighty Who can do what He wills, the Praised Lord
Who deserves praise for every situation and Who is praised even
though the ignorant do not praise Him. He is the Lord Who
deserves to be believed in and worshiped. He is the sole
sovereign of the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He
witnesses all things and He is a witness to what the men of the
pit have done to the believers. This verse carries a reassuring
touch to the believers and a powerful threat to the conceited
tyrants. Allah has been a witness and He suffices for a witness.
The narration of the event is completed in a few
short verses which charge the heart with a feeling of repugnance
towards the terrible crime and its evil perpetrators. They also
invite us to contemplate what lies beyond the event, its
importance in the sight of Allah, and what it has aroused of
Allah's wrath. It is a matter which is not yet completed: Its
conclusion lies with Allah. As the narration of the event is
concluded, we feel our hearts overwhelmed by the magnificence of
faith as it exalts the believers and attains its triumph over
the hardships and over life itself. We feel the elevation of the
believers as they rid themselves of the handicaps of human
desires and worldly temptation.
The believers could have easily saved their
lives by accepting the tyrants' terms. But what a loss humanity
as a whole would have incurred! How great the loss would have
been had they killed that sublime concept of the worthlessness
of life without faith, its ugliness without freedom, and its
baseness when the tyrants are left free to exercise their
tyranny over the souls after they have exercised it over the
bodies. But they have won a very noble and sublime concept while
they felt the scorch of the fire burning their bodies. Their
noble concept has triumphed as it was purified by the fire. They
will, later on, have their reward from Allah and their tyrannic
enemies will have their retribution.
The surah goes on to explain that those who
persecute the believers, men and women, and do not repent shall
suffer the chastisement of Hell, the chastisement of burning.
But those who believe and do righteous deeds shall have gardens
with flowing rivers; that is the great success. What has
happened on earth in the first life is not the end of the story.
There remains a part which will come later. There remains the
allocation of awards which will restore the balance of justice
and provide the final settlement of what had taken place between
the believers and the tyrants.
That it will come is certain and confirmed by
Allah: [Those who persecute the believers, men and women]
and persist with their evil ways, careless, unrepentant [and
do not repent shall suffer the chastisement of Hell, the
chastisement of burning.] Burning is specified although it
is also implied by the chastisement of Hell. It earns its
specific mention in order to serve as a counterpart to the
burning in the pit. Although the same word signifying the action
is used, the two types of burning are dissimilar in intensity
and duration. The burning here is by fire lit by human beings
while the burning in the hereafter is by fire lit by the
Creator. The burning here is over in a few minutes while in the
hereafter it goes on for ages unknown except to Allah. The
burning here is accompanied with Allah's pleasure with the
believers, and with the triumph of that noble human concept
referred to earlier, while in the hereafter the burning is
attended by Allah's anger and man's abject degradation.
Paradise symbolizes Allah's pleasure with the
righteous believers and His reward to them. But those who
believe and do righteous deeds shall have gardens with flowing
rivers. That is the real escape: [that is the great success.]
The Arabic term used here connotes escape, success, and triumph.
To escape the punishment of the hereafter is to achieve success.
How to describe, then, the reward of gardens where the rivers
flow! With this conclusion, justice is restored and the whole
question is finally resolved. What has taken place on earth is
no more than one part; the matter remains unfinished here. This
is the fact emphasized by this initial comment on the pit
incident, so that it may be fully comprehended by the few
believers who have accepted the faith in Makkah, and by every
group of believers subjected to trail and tyranny in any period
of history.
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