Jannah and Jahannam – In This World or the Hereafter?
Consensus of the Ummah
The entire Muslim Ummah unanimously agrees:
◈ Jannah (Paradise) and Jahannam (Hell) belong to the life of the Hereafter.
◈ Qur’an, Sunnah, and scholarly consensus affirm that the life of the Hereafter begins after the Day of Qiyamah.
◈ On the Day of Qiyamah, the worldly system will be completely abolished.
Parwez’s Belief and Its Opposition
Parwez and his followers hold the opposite belief:
◈ They claim Jannah and Jahannam belong to this worldly life.
◈ They believe Qiyamah and the Hereafter take place here in this world.
Parwez wrote:
“By Yawm al-Qiyamah is meant that revolutionary period which, according to the Qur’an, came about.”
(Jahan-e-Farda, p. 133)
Reality of the “Revolutionary Period” in Light of the Qur’an
During the Prophet ﷺ’s lifetime, a revolutionary period indeed came:
◈ Enemies became united in love and brotherhood.
◈ Long-standing feuds ended in compassion.
◈ Brotherhood and mu’akhāt were established.
However, calling such a peaceful time Yawm al-Qiyamah contradicts the Qur’an because:
◈ On Qiyamah, all ties will be severed.
◈ Each person will only worry about themselves.
◈ No one will care for another’s plight.
The Qur’an describes Qiyamah:
﴿اِذْ تَبَرَأ الَّذِيْنَ اتُّبِعُوْا مِنَ الَّذِيْنَ اتَّبَعُوْا وَرَأوُا الْعَذَابَ وَتَقَطَّعَتْ بِہمُ الاَسْبَابَ﴾ (Al-Baqarah: 166)
Qiyamah – Not a Time of Prosperity
The Day of Qiyamah is one of punishment, horror, and destruction.
Calling it a prosperous revolutionary period is a deviation from Qur’anic truth.
The Term “As-Sa‘ah” and Parwez’s Distortion
In some verses, the term “As-Sa‘ah” is used for Qiyamah.
Parwez interprets it as:
“By As-Sa‘ah is meant the final battle between truth and falsehood in which the forces of falsehood are destroyed.”
(Lughat-ul-Qur’an, Vol. 2, p. 918)
Refutation of Parwez’s Interpretation
According to the Qur’an and the Prophet ﷺ:
◈ Knowledge of As-Sa‘ah is with Allah alone.
◈ Even the Prophet ﷺ was not given knowledge of its time.
Allah ﷻ says:
﴿يَسْألُكَ النَّاسُ عَنِ السَّاعَةِ قُلْ اِنَّمَا عِلْمُہا عِنْدَ اللہ﴾ (Al-Ahzab: 63)
﴿يَسْاَلُوْنَكَ عَنِ السَّاعَةِ أيَّانَ مُرْسٰہا قُلْ اِنَّمَا عِلْمُہا عِنْدَ رَبِّىْ لاَ يُجَلِّیہا لِوَقْتہا اِلاَّہوَ…﴾ (Al-A‘raf: 187)
The Core Error in Parwez’s View
By interpreting Qiyamah as the final human struggle between truth and falsehood, Parwez:
◈ Contradicts the Qur’anic description of Qiyamah.
◈ Places the occurrence of Qiyamah in human hands instead of Allah’s decree.
Conclusion
One who rejects the explicit meaning of Qur’anic verses and imposes their own personal interpretation should not be called Mufakkir-e-Qur’an (Thinker of the Qur’an), but Muharraf-e-Qur’an (Distorter of the Qur’an) because:
◈ He has turned the sacred teachings of the Qur’an into a playground for personal theories.
◈ He has committed deliberate distortion in Qur’anic interpretation.
