ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islam and Religious Pluralism Summary and Conclusion From all that has been said in this section about the good and bad deeds of Muslims and non-Muslims, the following conclusions can be reached: Both salvation and perdition have degrees and levels; neither the people of salvation are all at the same level, nor are those of perdition.

These levels and differences are called darajāt “levels of ascent” with regard to the people of Heaven and darakāt “levels of descent” with regard to the inhabitants of Hell. It is not the case that all of the dwellers of Heaven will go to Heaven from the beginning, just as all of the people of Hell will not be in Hell for eternity. Many dwellers of Heaven will only go to Heaven after suffering very difficult periods of punishment in barzakh or the hereafter.

A Muslim and a Shī`a should know that, assuming he or she dies with sound faith, if God forbid he or she has committed sins, injustices, and crimes, he or she has very difficult stages ahead, and some sins have yet greater danger and may cause one to remain eternally in Hell.

Individuals who don’t believe in God and the hereafter naturally don’t perform any actions with the intention of ascending towards God, and since they don’t perform good deeds with this intent, by necessity they do not embark on a journey towards God and the hereafter. Thus, they naturally don’t ascend towards God and the higher realm and don’t reach Heaven. That is, because they were not moving towards it, they don’t reach that destination.

If individuals believe in God and the hereafter, perform actions with the intention of seeking nearness to God, and are sincere in their actions, their actions are acceptable to God and they deserve their reward and Heaven, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. Non-Muslims who believe in God and the hereafter and do good deeds with the intention of seeking nearness to God, on account of being without the blessing of Islām, are naturally deprived of benefiting from this Divine program.

That proportion of their good deeds is accepted which is in accordance with the Divine program, such as forms of favours and services to God’s creation. But invented acts of worship that without base are naturally unacceptable, and a series of deprivations resulting from unavailability of the complete program apply to and include them.