349. Punishment for Firon, and his followers in the mornings and evenings each day.

Verse (40:46) of the Quran says that Firon and his followers will be subjected to punishment in fire in the mornings and evenings every day and on the ‘Day of Judgment’ they will be handed over a more severe punishment.

This points to the severe torment on the doomsday, and the lesser one in the grave. 

To know more about this please refer to points 332, and 166.

348. An end to the advent of prophets.

Allah says in this verse 40:34 of the Quran “earlier Yusuf brought clear evidence of which you were skeptical, and we when passed away you said no more prophets would emerge. Allah misguides those who doubt limitlessly. 

Allah warns about a community that rejected prophets believing there would be no more prophets after Prophet Yusuf.

We believe no prophet would ever come after Prophet Muhammad, similarly there was a community that believed no prophet would come after Prophet Yusuf, but indeed there were prophets following him. In the same way a person by the name of Mirza Ghulam argued, though the belief there would be no more prophets after Prophet Muhammad existed even now, declared himself as a prophet after Prophet Muhammad. (To know about no more prophets after Prophet Muhammad and to know about Mirza Ghulam please refer to explanation point 187.) 

 It was wrong on the part of those people to declare Prophet Yusuf as the last of the prophets, whereas it was not. Since there are evidences to prove there would be no more prophets after Prophet Muhammad, there should be a declaration by these people (Mirza Ghulam followers) but they failed to understand the difference. 

Let’s take the instance of a fair price government shop, where there is an announcement of distribution of free rice to 50 people.

 After distributing the free rice to the first person, the shop denies it to the remaining 49 people; it would amount to irregularity in distribution and be punishable. Denying rice thus to anyone of the remaining 49 is an offense. At the same time while distributing rice to the 50^th person, denying to the person next to him cannot be termed as irregularity.

Since there was no end to the coming of the prophets after Prophet Yusuf, declaring prophets would not come at all after Prophet Yusuf is absolutely wrong.

But there are ample evidences to show there would be no prophets after Prophet Muhammad. And declaring someone as a prophet after Prophet Muhammad’s demise is punishable.

 Hence the declaration there would be no more prophets after Prophet Yusuf is wrong, and at the same time declaring there would be no prophets after the demise of Prophet Muhammad is correct as per this verse.

A very important aspect to be noted here is, these people who believed in the false prophets after Prophet Muhammad’s demise challenge there could be no prophets after their false prophets pass away. This shows them being in utter falsehood.

347. What do the words two deaths and two lives mean?

Verse (40:11) of the Quran says those who transgressed will wail in the hereafter as “we were given life twice as were put to death twice.”

We understand the words “we are given life twice” as we are born once in this world for the first time and the second is when we are resurrected in the hereafter.

But we die only once, and the Quran quotes we are put to death twice. Verse 2:28 serves as an answer to this question. In this verse (2:28) of the Quran Allah says “before being created you were dead and Allah infused life into you”.

Here Allah refers to the status we were before being created. Based on this the transgressors are said to be wailing in the hereafter. 

346. Exemption from getting swooned on the day of Judgment

In this verse (39:68) of the Quran it says, when the bugle is blown for the first time, all those creations that existed in the heavens and earth will swoon except those that are exempted at per the will of the Almighty.

 From this verse we come to understand, some in the heavens and the earth are exempted from swooning at the time of first sounding the bugle starting the destruction of the world. 

The Quran and the prophet’s words explain about who are those that were given exemption.

Verse 69:17 of the Quran says on the day when the bugle is sounded, the heavens will be changed to a different one and the angels will be found lining the heavens with eight of the angels bearing the ‘Arsh’ with Almighty in it.

This verse clearly states while all others swoon, the ones that bear the ‘Arsh’ and those lining the heavens are exempt from swooning. This has been taken as meaning except those chosen by Allah. Similarly, Prophet Muhammad says ‘when the bugle to awaken all men is sounded, I will be the first to awake, only to see Prophet Musa holding on to the ‘Arsh’ of Almighty. This I do not know whether due to his swooning earlier while on earth when he wished for Allah’s appearance, or he had swooned only to be awakened earlier to me.’ (Hadith Book Bukhari: 2411, 2412, 3408, 6517, 6518, 7472) 2411, 2412, 3408, 6517, 6518, 7472) 

 If Prophet Muhammad is seen as quoted to refer the first reason, it would mean the exempted is Prophet Musa also.

It should not be understood as some angels at the sounding of the bugle who were not destroyed would never be destroyed, because verses 55:26, 28:88, of the Quran say everything will be decimated.

55:26, 28:88. And verse 25:58 says the One Who remains alive forever is Allah the Almighty. Verse 2:255, 3:2 of the Quran say ‘He’ is the ‘One Who’ remains forever. Those that were exempt from the first sounding of the bugle will also be ultimately decimated.

345. One of the pieces of evidence to prove God does exist.

 Verses (30:37, 39:52) of the Quran say, God provides in plenty to those he wills, and in measures to others, and says there are many testimonies in this for those communities that ponder. We come across great scholars, great experts, intelligent persons, hard workers, and a lot of others reeling in poverty, and on the other side we find people without any skill, and those who work less, and those without any knowledge about certain fields, and those who are unable to plan properly, are involved in huge investments in businesses and industry. We find the better qualified becoming less successful in their ventures. 

 This proves the existence of God. If it is taken as man comes to possess riches because of his wits and skills, then how do people without any talent come to own huge amounts of riches? 

This is a possibility only when the Almighty brings into practice what He wills. If there was no God the talented and the skilled would remain as the wealthiest and the rest would continue to live in penury and poverty. 

That such a situation is not prevalent in the world, proves without doubt that God does exist and for those who ponder, this is the evidence. 

344. Was Muhammad a prophet at birth?

Verses (28:86, 42:52) of the Quran say Prophet Muhammad was unaware of any belief or faith before being chosen as the as the messenger of God.

These verses are a death blow to all kinds of imaginative stories spun around the life of Prophet Muhammad. 

 One of the stories around Prophet Muhammad’s life history, is that, he was appointed as the messenger of God by Him before Adam (the first human being) was created. 

 Had Prophet Muhammad been created and appointed as God’s messenger before Adam could come into existence, why would Allah say in verse 42:52 of the Quran as follows “You did not know earlier about faith and scripture”.

 Can a person already appointed as God’s messenger be unaware of faith and scripture? Hence, we come to understand Prophet Muhammad was not aware about himself being appointed as the messenger of God before he was 40 years of age and was neither a messenger by then. 

 He was unable to confirm himself whether the message he received was divine or otherwise. Only after it was confirmed by a person known as Warakka could he heave a sigh of relief. (Hadith Book: Bukhari 4, 3392, 4954, 6982)

 Hence, we could come to a conclusion the yarn that Prophet Muhammad is a born prophet, and being appointed as a messenger of God before the beginning of the world is false. 

343. Can the earlier prophets be questioned?

Verse (43:45) commands Prophet Muhammad to question the earlier prophets regarding certain matters. 

A doubt here arises, as to how one can question earlier prophets who are dead and gone. This needs to be understood as “Look into the messages brought down by the earlier prophets”. There is another verse in the Quran that serves as a guidance in this context.

In verse (4:59) of the Quran Allah says “when there is a difference of opinion among yourself” take the matter to Allah and his prophet. Thereby suggesting using the Quran and the prophet as yardsticks, there can’t be any more meaning to it.

 This actually means as long as Prophet Muhammad was alive, matters of difference in opinion can be referred to him, but after his demise nothing can be taken to his notice, hence the message here to be understood is, to use his guidance as a yardstick. 

We need to understand this verse also in a similar manner. 

 The Quran in many places says the dead cannot hear, nor can they respond, and this should be understood in the same way is confirmed here.

342. Prophet Isa will return to earth in the final days.

Verse (43:61) says Prophet Esa is a sign of the end days. 

Some people argue Prophet Isa who lived 2000 years ago is dead and gone. This argument is proved by this verse.

The truth is when the enemies tried to kill Prophet Isa, Allah raised him up unto Him, and the enemies killed a different person mistaking him to be the prophet.

To know more, please refer to explanation points 93, 101,133, 134, 151, 278, 456. 

The fact Prophet Isa thus raised unto the Almighty will be returned to earth in the ultimate days and die here can be found in several hadiths.

This verse serves as a confirmation of the hadiths in this context. When we say something or someone as a sign of doomsday, it needs to expose itself in close proximity to that day.

This verse is a rebuttal of the argument that Prophet Isa was already dead two thousand years ago.