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Lesson Eighteen
Testimony by the
Most Veracious of Witnesses
The Noble Qur'an makes it clear
that the testimony given by sinners in the court of divine justice will
be utterly unique in nature, bearing absolutely no similarity to the juridical
procedures of this world.
The verses of the Qur'an that speak of the giving of testimony on the day
of resurrection proclaim that the hands, feet and even the skin of the
sinners will disclose the hidden sins that they committed during their
lives and that were previously unknown to all but God; the sinner will
stand revealed, to his utter dismay and terror. The animation of these
witnesses and the testimony they will bear to the events that have happened
in the world show that all the deeds we perform are recorded both in the
external world and in the various organs and limbs of our bodies. When
the conditions of this world are replaced by those of the hereafter, on
the day when, as the Qur'an puts it, secrets are made manifest
and none will be able to conceal anything or seek help from anyone.
(86:9-10) all the deeds that have been recorded will pour forth and begin
to bear witness.
We can indeed observe in this world a pale and feeble example of what is
meant by things acquiring speech.
A doctor, for example, understands the language of the body. The rate of
the pulse may indicate fever, and yellowness of the eye proclaims the presence
of jaundice. To give another example, we can tell the age of a tree from
the circles within its trunk.
It is nonetheless true that we cannot know the exact modality of the testimony
that will be given in the hereafter. However, once the veil is lifted from
men's sight, their power of vision will increase and their level of perception
will be raised. They will embark on a new life with enhanced means of perception
and will see many things that surrounded them in this world although they
were unaware of them. Thus the Qur'an says:
You were in a state of negligence; now We have lifted the veil
from you so that your sight is today keen. (50:22).
Other verses speak of the multiplicity of the witnesses that will come
forward:
Let them fear a day on which their tongues, their hands and their
feet shall bear testimony against them. (24:24).
A day on which all the enemies of God will be drawn into the fire
as they stand next to their destined abode, their ears, their eyes and
the skin on their bodies shall testify to the sins they have committed.
They will address their limbs in astonishment, saying, How do you testify
concerning our deeds' They will answer, God who gave speech to all creatures
has also given us speech. First He created you, and now He brings you back
to Him. You concealed your ugly deeds not in order that your ears, eyes
and skins should not give witness today, but because you imagined God unaware
of what you hid from other men. It is this groundless assumption that has
brought about your perdition, for today you are in the ranks of the losers.
(41:19-23).
This verse stresses that man is unable, in the last resort, to conceal
the sins he has committed with his limbs. This is not because he under
estimates his bodily form, which in the end turns out to have been a means
for recording his deeds, but because he imagines that things are essentially
autonomous and that much of what he has done will be beyond the reach of
God's knowledge. It is this unawareness of the fact that nothing in creation
is hidden to God that casts men into the pit of eternal wretchedness.
The Qur'an further proclaims:
Today We place the seal of silence on the mouths of the unbelievers
and transgressors. Their hands shall speak to us, and their feet shall
bear witness to what they have done. (36:65).
Imam al-Sadiq, upon whom be peace, said the following in clarification
of this matter:
When men are gathered together before God on the day of resurrection,
everyone will be given the record of his deeds. When they see the list
of their crimes and their sins, they will begin to deny them and they will
refuse to confess. Then the angels will bear witness to those sins having
occurred, but still the sinners will swear that they have done none of
the deeds of which they are accused. This is referred to in the verse,
On the day when God shall resurrect them all and they will swear lyingly
to God as they once swore lyingly to you' (58:18). It is then that
God will place a seal on their tongues and cause their bodies to begin
speaking about what they have done. (Tafsir al-Qummi, p. 552)
Irrefutable witness
Even more remarkable is the fact that the deeds man has performed will
themselves take shape before his astonished eyes. This must definitely
be regarded as the most veracious form of testimony possible; it closes
off before the offender any defense, deception or flight from chastisement,
and strips him of denial and sophistry. No crime remain unproven, and the
sinners will be overtaken by shame and humiliation.
The Qur'an says:
On the day of resurrection they will find whatever they have done
confronting them. (18:49).
Or again:
There will be a day on which everyone who has done a good deed
will find it confronting him, and those who have done evil will wish that
it were kept far distant from them. God warns you against His punishment
for He is in truth compassionate toward His servants (3:30).
Since it is impossible for deeds to disappear in the hereafter, the most
that sinners can hope for is that a distance be maintained between them
and their deeds, a clear expression of their disgust with what they them
selves have done.
In addition to all the forgoing, and still more important than it, God
describes Himself as the witness to all the deeds of men:
Why do they not believe in the signs of God? He is a witness to
all that you do. (3:98).
The Qur'an also mentions the prophets and those who have drawn close to
God as witnesses to man's deeds:
The earth will shine with the light of its Lord. The record of
men's deeds will be brought forth and the prophets and the martyrs shall
be summoned to bear witness and judge among men so that none shall be wronged.
(39:69).
It should be borne in mind that such witness and testimony will not be
restricted to the outer aspect of men's deeds. What is meant is rather
testimony to the quality of deeds with respect to their good or their evil,
and whether they represented obedience or sin: in short, the inner aspect
of deeds.
The giving of witness on the day of resurrection is a sign of honor and
respect for those who are called upon, but it also indicates that while
in this world they had a certain awareness of men's inner beings, that
they were able to observe them just like their outer beings and thus to
record their deeds with precision and inerrancy. It is obvious that conventional
knowledge and sense perception are quite inadequate for testimony of this
kind; it depends on a more profound mode of awareness that is able to embrace
the inner dimensions of man, an awareness that transcends our normal capacities
and permits an unfailing distinction to be made between the pure and the
impure.
Such testimony is based upon a clear vision of reality, and as such it
is infallible.
The Qur'an says:
Tell men that whatever they do God will display to them whatever
they do, and the Messenger and the believers are aware of it. Then they
shall return to God Who knows the hidden and the manifest, so that they
will be requited for their good and their evil. (9:105).
According to commentaries on the Qur'an, what is meant here by the
believers is the Inerrant Imams from the Household of the Prophet,
peace and blessings be upon him and his family. They are distinguished
from other Godfearing people by the special grace and favor they have received
from in that they are both inwardly pure and have been utterly purified
by God. It is for this reason that the giving of testimony in the hereafter
has not been vouchsafed to all men of piety.
Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, said in a certain tradition:
No group or class of men can bear witness to the deeds of men except
the Inerrant Imams and the prophets of God. The generality of the community
has not been described by God as witnesses, because in this world there
are people whose testimony cannot be trusted even for a handful of grass.
(Tafsir al-Mizan, Vol. I, p. 332)
All the deeds of men have a profound effect on their beings. If someone
knows that injustice and crime are sinful but nonetheless engages in them
at the behest of his instinctual nature, a contradiction will arise in
his inner being that will burn and torment him profoundly. But is it not
he who has created this contradiction?
If envy gnaws away at a man's inner being, is anyone responsible apart
from himself?
Imam al-Sadiq, upon whom be peace, said:
Sin cuts more deeply than a knife. (Bihar al-Anwar,
Vol. LXXIII, p. 358)
All of our words and deeds are stored in the vast and mysterious archive
of our body and our soul, and they will be brought forth in the tribunal
of resurrection. The totality of our acts, good and bad, are stored up
within us and will ultimately take shape to confront us.
The reckoning of men's deeds that will take place in the hereafter will,
then, be utterly unique. No one may hope to obfuscate the truth or to deny
the contents of the precise record that is laid before him. Everyone will
be compelled to accept the truth and to submit to its consequences. The
hands, the feet and the skin will be called on to give witness; God from
Whose knowledge not at single atom in the heavens and earth is hidden and
Who is aware of the falling of leaf from a tree, will also be a witness;
and the prophets and the Imams will bear their witness to whatever we have
wrought.
It is obvious that it is impossible for us now to understand and perceive
fully all these dimensions of the inevitable reckoning that will follow
resurrection.
