GOOD AND EVIL DEEDS
What are good deeds and what are bad deeds? These questions have been the concern of many religions, many philosophies, and many teachers. Islam too has provided its characteristic answers. It tells us that good deeds are not a matter of indifference but must be coupled with the choice of the right religion. Abdul HamId SiddIqI, the translator of the SahIh Muslim, gives the Islamic view in the following words: �The good deeds performed in the state of ignorance (outside the fold of Islam) are indicative of the fact that a man is inclined towards piety. But to be truly pious and virtuous it is quite essential to have the correct understanding of the Will of God. This can be confidently known only through the Prophets and is embodied in Islam. Thus without having faith in Islam we cannot serve our Master and Lord according to His Will. . . . The acts of virtue may be good in their own way but it is by coming within the fold of Islam that these become significant and meaningful in the eyes of the Lord� (note 218).
In the eyes of Muhammad, a wrong theology is worse than wicked deeds. When asked, �Which sin is the gravest in the eyes of Allah?� he replies: �That you associate a partner with Allah.� To kill your child and to commit adultery with the wife of your neighbor are second and third in gravity according to Muhammad (156).
In fact, only a wrong theology can keep a Muslim out of Paradise. But no morally wicked act-not even adultery and theft-can prevent his entry. Muhammad tells us: �Gabriel came to me and gave me tidings: Verily he who died amongst your Ummah [sect, nation, group] without associating anything with Allah would enter paradise.� In clarification, AbU Zarr, the narrator of the hadIs, asks Muhammad whether this is true even if the man committed adultery and theft. Muhammad replies: �Yes, even if he committed adultery and theft� (171). The translator clarifies the point further: He says that adultery and theft �are both serious offences in Islam . . . but these do not doom the offender to the eternal hell,� but polytheism or associating any god �with the Lord is an unpardonable crime and the man who commits it is doomed to Hell� (notes 169 and 170).
If polytheism is the worst of crimes, monotheism, by the same token, is the best of virtues. Muhammad is asked about �the best of deeds.� He replies: �Belief in Allah.� �What next?� he is asked. �JihAd,� he replies (148). In Muslim theology the formula �belief in Allah� of course means �belief in Allah and His Messenger.� Once one accepts the theological belief in Allah and His Messenger, one�s past crimes are obliterated, and future ones hold no great terror. Muhammad gave this assurance to some polytheists who �had committed a large number of murders and had excessively indulged in fornication,� but who were ready to join him. To another person who felt a sense of guilt about his past, Muhammad said: �Are you not aware of the fact that Islam wipes out all the previous misdeeds?� (220).
AUTHOR: RAM SWARUP