The ranks of people in the Hereafter – I

There is no doubt that onthe Day of Judgement, people will vary in
rank according to their status; they shall be classified according to
their deeds and standing.
The first six ranks in the Hereafterare:
1. The messengers with strong Will and Determination (i.e., the Ulil-'Azm)
As for the first and foremost rank, it belongs to the five Messengers
of Allaah with strong Will and Determination from amongst the
Messengers of Allaah, may Allaah exalt their mention, for they are the
most honourable of Allaah's creation. They are the dearest to Him and
the ones whom He has chosen; they are those upon whom He has sent
peace. Allaah Says what means: "And peace upon the Messengers."
[Quran 37: 181]
It is sufficient to mention regarding their honour and virtuethat
Allaah has selected them for revelation and entrusted them with His
messages. Allaah has made them intercessors betweenHim and His
creation. Allaah has also favoured them with honourable gifts, such as
supernatural occurrences and abilities. Allaah has chosen some of them
as a Khaleel, or a close, intimate friend; He has directly spoken to
some of them, and elevated others to a lofty rank. Indeed Allaah has
rendered them to be the only means to reach Him; how could mankind
reach Allaah except through His Messengers? It would have been
impossible. Thus, the Messengersare those that have the closest
contact with Allaah from mankind.
2. The remaining messengers
The second rank consists of the remainder of the three-hundred and
sixty-five (365) Messengers, those who were sent by Allaah totheir
people with a new messageto deliver. The Messenger of Allaah has
informed us that the number of Prophets, may Allaah exalt their
mention, was one-hundred and twenty-four thousand (124,000), of which
three-hundred and sixty-five (365)were Messengers. This is so that
Allaah could establish His proof against mankind that they wouldhave
no excuse not to worship Him. The seal of all the Prophets and
Messengers was Muhammad .
3. Prophets
The third rank consists of the Prophets those who were sent byAllaah
to their people but had no new message to deliver.
Therefore, this means that Messengers were of different ranks. Some
Messengers were favoured by Allaah over others, such as the five of
strong Will andDetermination as was mentionedabove, and these were:
Muhammad Ibraaheem (Abraham), Moosaa (Moses), 'Eesaa (Jesus) and Nooh
(Noah), may Allaah exalt their mention. These were the finest five of
all the Messengers, and the best andmost virtuous of these was
Muhammad then Ibraaheem Al-Khaleel, then Moosaa Al-Kaleem (i.e. the
one whom Allaah spoke to directly), then 'Eesaa and then Nooh,
although the people of knowledge differedas to which one of the last
two was of a higher calibre. Thus, thismakes up the first rank, while
thesecond rank consists of the rest of the three-hundred and
sixty-five Messengers, while the third rank consists of the Prophets.
4. Scholars
The fourth rank includes those who inherited the knowledge of the
Prophets, may Allaah exalt their mention, as well as their successors.
They are those who apply the message propagated bythe Messengers of
Allaah, may Allaah exalt their mention. These are the people who
possess knowledge, act upon it, and call others to it. This is the
finest class of mankind after the Messengers and Prophets; it is the
class of truthfulness, and Allaah has paralleled these people to His
Messengers. Allaah Says what means: "And whoever obeys Allaah and the
Messenger –those will be with the ones upon whom Allaah has bestowed
favour of the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs
and the righteous. And excellent are those as companions." [Quran 4:
69]
So, this is the next rank after those of the Messengers and Prophets,
may Allaah exalt their mention. So who does it include? It includes
the scholars who havelearnt the Islamic Sharee'ah and taught it to
others. This is the rank that follows those of the Prophets and
Messengers, may Allaah exalt their mention, and they are undoubtedly
their inheritors.
People in this category vary in their level of knowledge and
theirapplication of it.
The question arises: can the term"witness" be conferred to the
scholar? The answer is yes, because the scholar is Allaah's witness
over His creation. He will bear witness, through the knowledge that
Allaah has given him, over Allaah's creation. Thus, the scholar is
referred to as a witness from this perspective.
These steadfast affirmers are the ones who are literate regarding the
religion, act upon it, teach it to others and are patient with regard
to the trials that inflict them due to this; these scholars are of
high rank and distinct virtue. There can be nothing better for a
person than to be busy with his worldly work during his lifetime, or
even be lying in his grave while his limbs have decayed, while having
his good deeds increasing.
For such a person, good deeds are being added to his record constantly
and good actions are being awarded to him from where he would least
expect. All this is due to the fact that when the scholar teaches
people religious laws and they apply them, he will receive the same
reward as they do due to them applying the knowledge that he has
taught them. Hence, even if such a person is dead and in his grave,
his books and other writings remain a source of reward for him. He
procures rewards from them in his grave, despite being a collection of
dismembered body parts.
As a matter of fact, even if such a person is preoccupied with worldly
matters in his home, the fact that his sound Islamic judgements and
knowledge are being circulated among people means that the rewards for
this are being inscribed for him in his record of good deeds.
Some may say: 'These are the scholars, but we common peoplewill never
get any portion of suchrewards.' We say, No! Rather, whoever learns
something about the religion and passes it onto those he knows, such
as family, relatives, friends, neighbours, colleagues and others, then
he is rewarded for this knowledge that he has related. Moreover, he
continues to be rewarded for that piece of knowledge he has related
for as long as it is passed on.
This demonstrates the great virtue of learning the religion
andteaching it to others. It also confirms the necessity of that
knowledge being accurate, since if a person relates a fabricated
Hadeeth or an erroneous Fatwaa to people, then he continues to receive
the sin from it as long as it continues to circulate among others. On
the other hand, if he learns and relates sound knowledge, then he will
continueto be rewarded for it. It is for thisreason that Imaam Ahmad
mentioned regarding the people of knowledge:
"All praise is due to Allaah, who has rendered in between every time
interval of Messengers remainders from the people of knowledge. They
call the misguided to guidance and they patiently bear maltreatment
from them. They enlighten the religiously-blind by virtue of the light
of Allaah (i.e., the knowledge that they possess). How many of those
whom Satan killed (i.e., killed his soul and spirit), have they
brought back tolife? How many of the ignorant and misguided have they
guided?How excellent is their influence on people, and how repulsive
is their people's effect on themselves. They preserve the Book of
Allaah from the ignorant who seek to erroneously interpret its hidden
meanings; from the distortion of the extremists; and the plagiarism of
the fabricators."
5. Just rulers
The rank in the Hereafter which follows that of the scholars is that
of the justleaders and rulers. It is through them that the roads and
paths become safe and the world becomes upright. Through them the weak
receive support, the oppressors are humiliated, and the frightened
become secure. They are the oneswho enact the divine penalties and
repel corruption. They enjoin the good, forbid the evil, and implement
the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger . Theyextinguish
the fires of innovations and misguidance.
'Umar ibn 'Abdul Azeez was one such just ruler. Allaah granted him
knowledge and commandment. He ruled with sound knowledge. He governed
the people for only years; he assumed leadership in 99A.H. and was
assassinated(through poisoning) two years later, in 101 A.H. Some of
his people could not stand him and so they poisoned him, which caused
him to die . He was, by the consensus of the Muslims,the fifth of the
rightly guided caliphs. In just two years, he accomplished much
morethan any of the Umayyid caliphs did in many years.
Justice was so widespread that even when charity money was being
circulated, there was nobody to be found who was in need of it – there
was not a single poor person left and thusthe alms were sent back to
treasury. Moreover, a shepherd in the desert whose goat had been
attacked and eaten by a wolf said: "Something has happened to the
chief of the believers (i.e., 'Umar ibn 'Abdul-Azeez)" and after he
inquired about it, he found that 'Umar had died that very day. So
thepeople asked him: "How did you know?" He replied: "We have come to
know of his justice that is so prevalent that even the wolves no
longer attack our flock, so when this wolf attacked, we realised that
something must have happened to 'Umar bin 'Abdul Azeez." His justice
had even influenced the aggressiveanimals, who ceased their aggression
due to it.
On the other hand, if an oppressive ruler reigns, then even the
whales, the scorpions in their burrows, and the other animals curse
him, as wasmentioned in the prophetic narration where the animals
curse the disobedient from the children of Aadam (i.e., people) due to
them being the cause of the hindrance of rain. Rainfall ceases from
the skies due to the oppression of such governors and rulers.
6. Mujaahideen (i.e., those who fight in the Way of Allaah)
The rank that follows the just rulers and governors are those who
fight in the way of Allaah. They are the soldiers of Allaah through
whom the religion is established, the enemies repelled, and the
influence of Islam and its essence protected. The power of the Muslims
and the essence of Islam are protected by whom? By the Mujaahideen –
they are the ones who fight the enemies of Allaah so that the whole
religion becomes solely for Allaah,and so that His word is