TWO CATEGORIES
Grades of Piety
PARADISE is the ultimate abode of the pious servants of God. As the Quran tells us, the inhabitants of Paradise will fall into two broad categories: the especially exalted class of good people, who are nearest to God or, muqarrabun (56: 11-26), and righteous people in general, who are called ‘Companions of the Right Hand’. Magnificent rewards are reserved for the first group―the foremost in faith, while rewards of a general nature are reserved for the other group.
What will be the basis of the difference between the two categories? The Quran tells us that those who gave of their wealth before the Prophet’s victory and who took part in the initial struggles are of a higher standing than others who did not. They have a ‘degree greater’ (57: 10). The difference does not relate just to the period in which they lived, but to the nature of their faith. This is what will determine the final categorization.
Truth stands by itself, in abstract form. At the very outset, it is like an ideology, which is supported solely by the force of logic. Later when truth enters the phase of victory and influence, it no longer assumes the shape of a mere intellectual exercise, but rather becomes a tangible reality, visible to one and all.
When truth enters the phase of victory and influence, it no longer assumes the shape of a mere intellectual exercise, but rather becomes a tangible reality, visible to one and all.
In the initial stages, truth is recognizable only through verbal argument, whereas, in the later stages, concrete evidence is there to support it. In the first phase, as soon as a man accepts the truth, he becomes a stranger among his own people. One who accepts it in a later phase immediately becomes respected and popular. In the first phase a man stands to lose, whereas in the second, he is the gainer. In the first phase one is likely to sink into oblivion, whereas in the second, one scales the heights. It is the difference made by the kind of sacrifices one has made, which decides whether one is to be placed in the first or the second category.