Witnesses Against Man

Witnesses Against Man

Syed Sharfuddin

Have you ever wondered why Allah will have many witnesses on every man at the time of his accountability on the Day of Judgement.

In his commentary of verse 54 of Sura Al Kahaf, Imam Qurtubi quotes a Hadith which describes the argumentative nature of man even when he is lying.

‫وَلَقَدۡ صَرَّفۡنَا فِی هَـٰذَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانِ لِلنَّاسِ مِن كُلِّ مَثَلࣲۚ وَكَانَ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنُ أَكۡثَرَ شَیۡءࣲ جَدَلࣰا﴿ ٥٤ ﴾‬
In this Quran We have presented every kind of description for people, but man is more contentious than any other creature.
[Surah Al-Kahf, verse 54]

As Allah is our creator, He knows our nature fully from inside out. He knows we do not easily accept if we have done anything wrong or evil. It is our nature to either deny a charge completely or find excuses to show we had no choice but to do what we did. Most of the time we rely on denial and refusal. Allah has therefore made fool proof arrangements to record the deeds of all the children of Adam in which nothing will be omitted even if it is as small as a seed of mustard. A scroll of their record will hang from their necks when they will stand before Allah for accountability on the Day of Judgment. Not only that, their skins, eyes, ears and limbs will be given the power to give evidence against them if they argue that they are innocent and did not associate anyone with Allah. All this will be done so that no unbeliever can say he was wrongly judged.

An unbelieving man is ever ready to argue and dispute if something does not go in his favour. He is the most argumentative of all humans. Those who disbelieve argue with falsehood.

Anas narrated that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “A man from the disbelievers will be brought on the Day of Resurrection and Allah will say to him: ‘What did you do with the Quran that was sent to you?‘ He will reply: ‘O my Lord, I believed in You and confirmed Your Messengers and acted according to Your Book.’ Allah will say to him: ‘What you say is not found in your scroll of deeds.’ The man will say, ‘O my Lord, I do not accept what is in this record because I am telling the truth.’ It will be said to him: ‘These guardian angels are bearing witness against you’. The man will say: ‘My Lord, I do not accept them. How can I accept them when they are not from me and they are not representing me?’ Allah Almighty will say: ‘This is the Preserved Tablet and it testifies what they recorded.’ He will say: ‘O Lord, will you not save me from injustice?’ Allah will say: ‘Yes.’ Then the man will say: ‘O Lord, I will not accept anyone as a witness against me unless it is from myself. ’ Allah Almighty will say: ‘Now We shall send against you a witness from yourself’? The man will wonder who is it from himself that will bear witness against him? Then his mouth will be sealed and his limbs will speak about his polytheism, then he will be left alone to speak to his limbs and he will enter the Fire. Some of his body parts will curse others, saying to his limbs: ‘May God curse you. It was on your behalf that I used to struggle.’ His limbs will say:‘May God curse you. Do you know that Allah Almighty had kept my mouth shut.’

That’s why Allah Almighty said: “And man is most argumentative of anything.” Imam Muslim also narrated this Hadith of Anas.

There are two types of people. One who deny, argue and oppose the divine truth and second who accept what is given to them by Allah and His prophet by the grace of Allah. The former are unjust and stubborn and therefore Allah will ensure that before He pronounces His judgement on them, they are shown the evidence that they are themselves responsible for their actions.