Torture within Quranist Viewpoint (10): The Infliction of Torment in This World by Almighty God
Published in October 3, 2017
Translated by: Ahmed Fathy
Firstly: direct infliction of torment by Almighty God upon the unjust ones among the ancient nations:
1- Within the ancient nations smitten and destroyed by God by severe torments, power and authority were confiscated by a retinue or group of affluent, tyrannical, unjust ones, in contrast to poor, weak believers with a prophet/messenger whom they follow. The direct divine intervention of God was to send a torment to annihilate those arrogant, haughty tyrants while never harming the weak believers and their prophets, who could not possibly engage into self-defense against the disbelieving tyrants. Thus, the torment inflicted by God was the end of such tyrannical affluent unjust ones, without any human intervention at all.
2- As far as we know from the Quran, the people of Moses' Pharaoh were the last ones to be smitten and destroyed by God; this Pharaoh and his affluent retinue members confiscated power, authority, and wealth. This Pharaoh assumed he could oppress the Israelites as he said the following to his people: "..."We will kill their sons, and spare their women. We have absolute power over them."" (7:127). Moses' Pharaoh bragged that he owned Egypt and the River Nile: "Pharaoh proclaimed among his people, saying, "O my people, do I not own the Kingdom of Egypt, and these rivers flow beneath me? Do you not see?" (43:51). God has sent plagues to him through the river: " So We let loose upon them the flood, and the locusts, and the lice, and the frogs, and blood-all explicit signs-but they were too arrogant. They were a criminal people." (7:133). Such plagues tormented Pharaoh and his people and never harmed the Israelites, and as he never relented nor repented, another torment befell him as he drowned along with his deep-state members: soldiers, governmental officers, retinue members, courtiers, viziers, etc. as per these verses: "And We inspired Moses: "Travel by night with My servants, and strike for them a dry path across the sea, not fearing being overtaken, nor worrying." Pharaoh pursued them with his troops, but the sea overwhelmed them, and completely engulfed them." (20:77-78); "So We seized him and his troops, and threw them into the sea, and He was to blame." (51:40). The Israelites were spared such torment, of course.
3- In contrast to soldiers/troops of Moses' Pharaoh, we know from the Quran that God, the Lord of hosts, has his own soldiers/troops in heavens and earth, known only to Him: "...To God belong the forces of the heavens and the earth. God is Knowing and Wise." (48:4); "To God belong the troops of the heavens and the earth. God is Mighty and Wise." (48:7); "...None knows the soldiers of your Lord except He..." (74:31).
4- These troops/soldiers were the means by which God has inflicted and smitten the ancient nations of sinful, unjust criminals, by different ways, of course: "Each We seized by their sin. Against some We sent a sandstorm. Some were struck by the Blast. Some We caused the ground to cave in beneath them. And some We drowned. It was not God who wronged them, but it was they who wronged their own selves." (29:40). These soldiers/hosts/troops in 29:40 are made known to us through the Quran; we do not know the rest of these troops of the Lord God in heavens and the earth; some of them we cannot see while we are alive, such as angels.
Secondly: the type of torment inflicted directly by God on the unjust ones in nations after Moses' Pharaoh:
1- The phase of general destruction of nations tormented/smitten by God has ended; the last ones to be smitten entirely were Moses' Pharaoh and his people. The other phase is partial destruction by tormenting the unjust people in case they commit aggression against peaceful believers. This is the case when wronged peaceful believers face arrogant, mighty, aggressive foes and seek victory from God, and He lends them victory through His angels that we cannot see. The divine intervention here is a type of aid to the human element of peaceful believers who mobilize in self-defense fighting, of course, and God grants them victory and torments the aggressors.
2- This begins with Muhammad when the Meccan aggressive polytheists drove him out of Mecca and desired to assassinate him, and he hid in a cave. Thus, Muhammad first planned his own escape and immigration, and consequently, the divine intervention was there with God's angels to save him and to prevent murderers from seeing him: "If you do not help him, God has already helped him, when those who disbelieved expelled him, and he was the second of two in the cave. He said to his friend, "Do not worry, God is with us." And God made His tranquility descend upon him, and supported him with soldiers you did not see, and made the word of those who disbelieved the lowest, while the Word of God is the Highest. God is Mighty and Wise." (9:40). These unseen troops/soldiers/hosts of the Lord helped to save Muhammad; we, Quranists, NEVER believe in silly Sunnite myths of the so-called 'biography' of Muhammad (written during the Abbasid Era) that mentions that a pigeon with its eggs and a spider with its cobweb helped to hide Muhammad inside the cave.
3- The Qorayish tribesmen at the time confiscated assets/money of immigrants and used it in winter and summer trade caravans and militarily attacked Yathreb, and early believers there were commanded not to resist till they were given permission to engage into self-defense fighting when they are ready an strong enough. When God gave them this permission in the Quran, those early believers were weaker than the might Qorayish that had full power and authority. The early believers were commanded at the time to attack the Qorayish caravan containing their money, and God promised them such goods and victory if fighting took place. Many of the early believers feared fighting Qorayish and wished they confiscate goods/money of the caravan without fighting; some of them when they saw the inevitability of fighting argued with Muhammad against the idea because the mighty Qorayish had more arms/weapons and men, though the divine command has been issued: "Even as your Lord brought you out of your home with the Truth, some believers were reluctant. Arguing with you about the truth after it was made clear, as if they were being driven to death as they looked on. God has promised you one of the two groups-that it would be yours-but you wanted the unarmed group to be yours. God intends to prove the truth with His words, and to uproot the disbelievers." (8:5-7). When war could not be evaded, the believers sought the aid of the Lord God and He sent hosts of angels to them, NOT in order to fight on their behalf, but to give sureness to their hearts: "When you appealed to your Lord for help, He answered you, "I am reinforcing you with one thousand angels in succession." God only made it a message of hope, and to set your hearts at rest. Victory comes only from God. God is Mighty and Wise. He made drowsiness overcome you, as a security from Him. And He sent down upon you water from the sky, to cleanse you with it, and to rid you of Satan's pollution, and to fortify your hearts, and to strengthen your foothold. Your Lord inspired the angels: "I am with you, so support those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve..." (8:9-12). These angels, hosts/troops of the Lord, helped in the miracle of making believers see the soldiers of Qorayish as smaller in number so as to dispel fear from their hearts, and these angels made the aggressive Qorayish soldiers see the soldiers of Yathreb as smaller in number so as to blindly engage into the battle to be tormented and defeated as determined by God: "God made them appear in your dream as few. Had He made them appear as many, you would have lost heart, and disputed in the matter. But God saved the situation. He knows what the hearts contain. When you met, He made them appear as few in your eyes, and made you appear fewer in their eyes, so that God may conclude a predetermined matter. To God all matters revert." (8:43-44). Hence, this divine intervention made the weak believers' troops achieve victory over the Qorayish troops that outnumbered them; this is real psychological warfare in this Battle of Badr: "It was not you who killed them, but it was God who killed them. And it was not you who launched when you launched, but it was God who launched. That He may bestow upon the believers an excellent reward. God is Hearing and Knowing. Such is the case. God will undermine the strategy of the disbelievers." (8:17-18). Thus, such a defeat was a torment for the Mecca disbelievers at the time linked to their driving Muhammad and early believers out of Mecca. When Muhammad was in Mecca, God has said to him the following: "But God would not torment them while you are amongst them. And God would not torment them as long as they seek forgiveness." (8:33). The torment inflicted on the aggressive polytheists during the Battle of Badr was part of the divine intervention to help the troop led by Muhammad; this is unlike ancient nations smitten and annihilated by God and never resisted or fought by believers and their prophets. In the case of the Yathreb city-state, early peaceful believers had to engage into self-defense fighting against aggressive enemies that aimed to annihilate and uproot them. The divine intervention came to the aid of those believers.
4- The divine intervention occurred many times to support and aid Muhammad and early believers with him and the aggressors among the People of the Book were tormented; they were at first arrogant and bragged of their fortifications in defiance of God, and when they committed aggressions against the Yathreb city-state of Muhammad and the early believers, they were ready to engage into self-defense fighting, but God struck these aggressors with fright so that they destroyed their own houses and assets and fled Arabia; this evacuation was instead of their being tormented in this world by God because of their aggression: "It is He who evicted those who disbelieved among the People of the Book from their homes at the first mobilization. You did not think they would leave, and they thought their fortresses would protect them from God. But God came at them from where they never expected, and threw terror into their hearts. They wrecked their homes with their own hands, and by the hands of the believers. Therefore, take a lesson, O you who have insight. Had God not decreed exile for them, He would have tormented them in this life. But in the Hereafter they will have the torment of the Fire. That is because they opposed God and His messenger. Whoever opposes God-God is severe in retribution." (59:2-4). The divine intervention here was psychological as well; those aggressive people among the People of the Book felt so frightened within an unnatural degree before early Muslims would even fight them, and no fighting occurred as the aggressors exiled themselves and left Arabia for good.
5- When the early believers in Yathreb were sieged by troops of Qorayish and other tribes that allied themselves to Qorayish, seeking to uproot and eradicate the early believers once and for all, the situation was very critical, but God has promised victory the Yathreb dwellers, and believers were sure that God has said the Truth, while hypocrites mocked this promise: "O you who believe! Remember God's blessings upon you, when forces came against you, and We sent against them a wind, and forces you did not see. God is Observant of what you do. When they came upon you, from above you, and from beneath you; and the eyes became dazed, and the hearts reached the throats, and you harbored doubts about God. There and then the believers were tested, and were shaken most severely. When the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is sickness said, "God and His Messenger promised us nothing but illusion."" (33:9-12). Victory of God came without fighting this time again; troops/hosts/soldiers of the Lord unseen by human beings sent strong winds that defeated the confederates of aggressors who sieged Yathreb, and this has been a torment and a disgrace for them: "And when the believers saw the confederates, they said, "This is what God and His messenger have promised us; and God and His messenger have told the truth." And it only increased them in faith and submission." (33:22).
6- Within another battle, called the Battle of Hunayn, so many people of little faith joined the military troops led by Muhammad and the army outnumbered that of the enemies' troops. When both sides met in the battlefield, many people of little faith fled the scene whereas Muhammad and those true believers with him were steadfast, and angels were sent sown to put their hearts at rest, while the aggressors were tormented at the same time: "God has given you victory in numerous regions; but on the day of Hunayn, your great number impressed you, but it availed you nothing; and the land, as spacious as it was, narrowed for you; and you turned your backs in retreat. Then God sent down His serenity upon His Messenger, and upon the believers; and He sent down troops you did not see; and He tormented those who disbelieved. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers." (9:25-26); "It is He who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers, to add faith to their faith. To God belong the forces of the heavens and the earth. God is Knowing and Wise." (48:4).
7- When extremists among the disbelievers inside Mecca violated the peace treaty and attacked and committed aggressions against early believers who returned to Mecca (from Yathreb) shortly before Muhammad's death, God gave them the duration of the four sacred months of pilgrimage as a chance to repent and adhere to peace, and believers were permitted to fight back if the aggression did not stop after these months. This self-defense fighting is deemed by God as a type of torment to those aggressive polytheists who breached the agreement/treaty: "Fight them. God will torment them by your hands, and humiliate them, and help you against them, and heal the hearts of a believing people." (9:14).
8- In any case, divine intervention in this phase of partially tormenting aggressive disbelievers is a means to aid troops of believers who engage into self-defense fighting. If believers are reluctant and desired not to engage into self-defense fighting while having the power/ability to do it, no aid or divine intervention would come and they will be tormented by God for not striving for His sake.
9- This is mentioned in the Quran as God has addressed here the 'companions' of Muhammad who were reluctant to engage into self-defense fighting: "Unless you mobilize, He will torment you most painfully, and will replace you with another people, and you will not harm Him at all. God has power over all things." (9:49).
Lastly:
1- Mortals cannot know all troops/hosts/soldiers of the Lord God. we know only some of them; e.g., STDs are torment sent by God to those who lead a promiscuous life because they commit the sin of fornication. Other types of torment is bacteria, germs, and viruses we cannot see or control and might lead to the death of people; another type of torment is cancerous cells that appear suddenly within the divine command to torture/torment sinners, criminals, and unjust ones.
2- Some superficial people are impressed by the pomp and splendor of the unjust , tyrannical ones, and God has commanded Muhammad (and also the real believers of all eras) not to be impressed by such things: "Do not be impressed by the disbelievers' movements in the land. A brief enjoyment, then their abode is Hell. What a miserable resort." (3:196-197). This brief enjoyment within transient life makes the unjust ones live in extreme anxiety and fear, doubting all those around them, and eventually, they are tormented by ailments of the soul and the physical body until the inevitable death comes to them: "Wherever you may be, death will catch up with you, even if you were in fortified towers..." (4:78).
3- The above point applies to clergymen of the Muhammadans who appear on TV channels and travel through the land (within conferences, etc.) to argue against the Quranic verses to repel people away from Go's Path: "None argues against God's verses except those who disbelieve. So do not be impressed by their movements in the land." (40:4). Those sinners will be tormented by the unseen troops/soldiers/hosts of our Lord God. For instance, we have seen how the clergymen of the Muhammadans who have incited bloodshed and violence against peaceful people of the West (esp. Christians and Jews) are taken ill and treated in hospitals abroad in the West (though they deem doctors there as infidels and atheists!) while those clergy are in a state of disgrace and shame, which is a state of psychological torment beside the physical one.
The Best Discourse: God says in the Quran: "Do those who scheme evils feel secure that God will not cause the earth to cave in with them, or that the punishment will not come upon them from where they do not perceive? Or that He will not seize them during their activities? And they will not be able to prevent it. Or that He will not seize them while in dread? Your Lord is Gentle and Merciful." (16:45-47). As always, God says nothing but the Absolute Truth.