ASK MAULANA

Your Questions Answered

Greed is a sin. How would you consider someone who does good deeds (including prayer, charity etc.) simply out of desire for Heaven, and not because he loves doing good or for the love of God. Can this sort of desire for Heaven be a form of greed?

Greed is a social evil. When one is greedy, one tries to take something which is meant for all members of society. Social greed is a kind of social exploitation. Thus, greed is essentially a manifestation of selfishness. But when one expects something in the world of Paradise, it is a reward from God Almighty.

When a person who seeks to enter Paradise performs good deeds, he is living according to the creation plan of God rather than being greedy. According to God’s creation plan, human beings have to lead their lives in this world in such a way that they can be held deserving of being settled in the heavenly society of Paradise. If a person leads his life in this world while being conscious of this scheme of things devised by God for his life, then he is fulfilling his duty. And it is in appreciation of his conduct that God rewards him with Paradise in the Hereafter.

How would you consider someone who abstained from bad deeds simply out of fear of Hell, and not because he genuinely wanted to stay away from evil?

Being cautious of doing something that would take one to Hell is not really the fear of Hell. Rather, it is a means not to deprive ourselves of the blessings of God. When we are born into this world, there are numerous blessings and bounties granted to us by God. Without these, we would not be able to lead our lives on this planet. One who consciously realizes this fact would try to live in this world in a way that God’s mercy and blessings continue for him even in the world of Hereafter. One who does not acknowledge God’s blessings and His favours will have to later face the consequences of such disregard.

God is just. In His wisdom, He arranged for people to be born in families that are associated with different religious and/or ideological traditions. Because of this, most children grow up socialized into believing that the particular religion they were ‘born into’ is the best one or even the only true one.

If there is only one true religion and people who do not follow it will go to eternal Hell, as some people say, is it just of God to make some people to be born into families that follow this particular religion (because of which they are socialized into believing this religion), while He causes other people to be born into families that follow some other religion (because of which they are socialized into following these other religions). This second category of people did not consciously choose to be born into such families.

Now, if God is just, why would He send the latter people into Hell forever? After all, He was the one who arranged for them to be born into families that follow religions other than the one that is said to be the only true one, because of which they were socialized into believing their religion is true.

Some people will say that this belief—that only those who follow one particular religion (in the sense of believing in a set of beliefs and performing a set ritual practices) will go to Paradise and that all others will go to eternal Hell—indicates a wrong image of God, one of God as being supposedly unjust. They would also say that such a belief is inherently intolerant and aggressive. How would you respond?

Reward and punishment in the Hereafter are not dependent on one’s birth into a family or a particular religion, but is, rather, dependent entirely on self-discovered truth. A person, to whichever religion or family he belongs, will succeed in the Hereafter only if he has been successful in self-discovery of the truth and the realities of life.

Successful People
The people who ultimately are
successful are those who are
undaunted by disadvantageous
circumstances; who waste no time
in lamenting over them.