Does the Environment We Are Born Into Determine Justice in the Hereafter?

I have two main questions that are affecting my belief in Islam. Currently I believe in Islam but with a much more skeptical and weaker belief than before, and I think both of these questions are the main reason. 1- How can this life be the determinant of how one lives in eternity? Every person is born in different consequences that will lead him/her to believe or not to beleive in islam... so I can't comprehend how it is justful that this unfair, unjust life be the determinant of the eternal life one will live. 2- How can we ask Allah to have mercy or forgiveness for someone else if he is the most merciful? bcz asking so means that we can be a reason for Allah to have mercy on someone, and the mercy of the most merciful shouldnt be affected by whether someone asks him to have mercy or not... in other words the mercy of the most merciful shouldn't be increased when someone asks him to have mercy on someone else bcz he is already the most merciful.... it seems to lessens the mercy when there is a possibility for it to increase by the question of a third party (someone asking Allah to have mercy on someone else). Thank you so much for your help. Take your time. I just want a real solid brief answer. Thank you another time.

Dear Brother / Sister,

The unjust and unfair thing is not the world created by Allah; rather, it is people’s making the world like this through oppression, war, pressure, ignorance, and misguidance. The environments in which people are born are also, to a great extent, the result of these human conditions. Therefore, those who prevent a person from reaching the true religion, knowingly distort the truth, or lead people away from the truth are also additionally responsible for this.

On the other hand, Allah will judge every person not according to the environment in which they were born or the circumstances beyond their control, but within the framework of the opportunities, knowledge, truth, and free will that reached them. No one will be wronged even by an atom’s weight. For this reason, our duty is not to pass judgment on people’s fate in the Hereafter, but to be a means by which the truth reaches people in a correct, beautiful, and trustworthy manner.

After this brief information, a short but sound answer to the two points of the question can be given as follows:

1. How can worldly life determine eternal life?

In fact, what Islam says is not, “The country in which you were born automatically sends you to Paradise or Hell.”

Allah does not judge people merely according to which family they were born into. The truth that a person encounters, the opportunities they have, their knowledge, intention, choices, and the nature of the message that reaches them are taken into account. The basic principle of the Qur’an is also this:

“Your Lord does not wrong anyone by even an atom’s weight.” (Nisa, 40)

Therefore, a person’s never having heard of Islam and knowingly rejecting Islam even after having come to know it correctly are not the same situation.

The important point here is this: The judgment of the Hereafter is determined not by our limited observation in worldly life, but by Allah’s absolute knowledge and justice.

We cannot say, “This person was born into a Christian family, so they are doomed.” Because Allah knows much better than we do what that person knew, what they encountered, how the truth reached them, their inner world, and under what circumstances they made their decision.

Therefore, the matter can actually be expressed as follows:

Worldly life determines a person’s eternity not because the circumstances into which they were born determine it, but through the opportunities Allah has given the person and the response the person gives to them.

Moreover, an important reason why worldly life appears unjust is that this is not the place of final justice. One child is born in the middle of a war, one is rich, one is poor, one is healthy, one is ill…

If everything ended with death, these differences would indeed create a great problem of injustice. Islam’s understanding of the Hereafter gains its meaning precisely here: The justice that is not completed in this world will be completed in the Hereafter.

2. Why do we pray for Allah’s mercy?

Here too, there is a subtle distinction.

We do not say to Allah, “You are not thinking of showing mercy; let me tell You so that You may show mercy.”

Dua is not merely conveying a request to Allah; it is also an act of worship in itself. When a servant makes dua, they acknowledge their own weakness and need, seek refuge in Allah’s power and mercy, and demonstrate their servitude to Him.

For this reason, the wisdom of dua is not only that the thing requested should take place; it is also that the servant turns to Allah, comes to know Him, and manifests their servitude to Him. It is the same when making dua for someone else’s guidance, healing, or forgiveness: We do not make dua in order to increase Allah’s mercy, but to fulfill an act of servitude that Allah has commanded and loves, and to ask for His mercy. Dua does not show a deficiency in Allah’s mercy, but the servant’s need for Him and Allah’s infinite mercy.

On the other hand, dua is not informing Allah of something that Allah does not know, nor is it completing a mercy that is lacking in Him.

Allah already knows His servant’s dua, that the dua will be made, and the result of the dua. In fact, even our desire to make dua itself is an opportunity that He has given us.

For example, let us think of a mother making dua for her child. Allah knew the condition of the child even before the mother’s dua and had the power to show mercy to the child. The mother’s dua does not increase Allah’s knowledge or mercy. However, Allah may also make the mother’s dua a means for His mercy to take place.

Therefore:

Dua does not increase Allah’s mercy; in Allah’s pre-eternal knowledge, both the dua and the result of the dua exist.

For this reason, making dua for the guidance of others does not show that Allah’s mercy is deficient; rather, it shows that Allah’s mercy also manifests itself through causes and means.

In fact, there is a very beautiful point here: Allah does not tell us only, “Think about your own salvation”; He also teaches us to wish for the well-being of others. When we make dua for a person’s guidance, we are not competing with Allah’s mercy; we become servants who participate in Allah’s mercy.

And perhaps most importantly: When we make dua to Allah for people’s guidance, we are not teaching Allah mercy; we are asking Him for a good that He already desires.

Therefore, the answer to the question, “If Allah is the Most Merciful of the merciful, then why should we make dua?” is not, “Allah’s mercy is in need of our dua,” but rather, “Allah has willed that He may also make our dua a means for the manifestation of His mercy.”

Regarding the guidance of Christians, atheists, or people belonging to another belief, our duty is not to determine how Allah will judge them, but to represent the truth beautifully, act justly and mercifully, and ask for guidance for them.

Because the final judgment belongs not to us, but to Allah, “Who does not wrong anyone by even an atom’s weight.”

One of the greatest acts of goodness we can do for them is also to live Islam properly, correctly, and as it ought to be lived. To be like the living Qur’an and Sunnah. Thus, we should convey Islam not with our tongues, but through our conduct and way of life. Instead of becoming angry with the darkness, we should light a light.

For more information, please click on the link given below;

Can a child born in Mecca and a child born somewhere in the world unaware of Islam be regarded equal in terms of religious responsibility?

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