Aqidat al-Iman bil-Yawm al-Akhir wa Atharuha fi Islah al-Mujtama
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- Aqidat al-Iman bil-Yawm al-Akhir wa Atharuha fi Islah al-Mujtama
Aqidat al-Iman bil-Yawm al-Akhir wa Atharuha fi Islah al-Mujtama ("The Creed of Faith in the Last Day and Its Impact on Reforming Society") is a treatise on Islamic eschatology and social ethics by the contemporary Saudi scholar Abd al-Majid bin Muhammad al-Wa'lan, examining orthodox Sunni doctrine regarding the afterlife and its role in moral and social reform .
Purpose and Scope
The author frames belief in the Last Day as a foundational pillar of Islamic creed (aqidah) that directly follows belief in the oneness of God (tawhid) and underpins all Islamic ethics, legal rulings, and worldview . Al-Wa'lan notes that the motivation for composing the work was the increasing worldly distraction among people and the emergence of contemporary writers who cast doubt upon scriptural texts concerning the afterlife, interpret them away allegorically, or judge them solely by rationalistic standards that do not apply to the realm of the unseen (al-ghayb) . The treatise is intended as a call to affirm traditional textual reports and to prepare for life after death .
Structure and Contents
The work is organized into an introduction, a preliminary chapter (tamhid), four thematic chapters, and a conclusion :
- Preliminary Chapter (Tamhid): Delineates the four successive stages of human existence: the fetal stage in the womb, worldly life (al-hayat al-dunya), the intermediate realm of the grave (al-barzakh), and the afterlife (al-akhirah) .
- Chapter One (Faith in the Last Day): Covers the theological significance of eschatological belief as a pillar of religion, the linguistic and legal definitions of iman, the textual evidence for the various names of the Last Day and the reasons for their multiplicity, and the intrinsic relationship between eschatological faith and belief in the unseen .
- Chapter Two (Portents of the Hour): Surveys eschatological signs (ashrat al-sa'ah), classifying minor signs into those that have already transpired and those yet to occur, followed by the emergence and location of the Mahdi, and the major portents preceding the Day of Judgment .
- Chapter Three (Eschatological Events): Details nine key events of the Day of Resurrection according to the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah: the physical resurrection (al-ba'th) and gathering (al-hashr) along with Quranic proofs against deniers; the sun drawing near to creation; the reckoning (al-hisab); the weighing of deeds and records on the Scale (al-mizan); the distribution of scrolls of deeds; the Prophet's Basin (al-hawd); the types and valid conditions of intercession (al-shafa'ah); crossing the Traverse (al-sirat); and final entry into either Paradise or Hellfire, affirming that both dwellings are already created and eternal .
- Chapter Four (Impact on Societal Reform): Analyzes how an internalized conviction in bodily resurrection, divine justice, and eternal compensation fosters moral accountability, upright conduct, and social cohesion, contrasting believers who live with this anticipation against those who deny it .
The book closes with a summary of findings (al-khatimah), followed by a bibliography and subject index .
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