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do not recompense bad deeds with bad ones! So, you see, despite these
‘bad deeds’ of yours, I am alongside you and looking after you”.
I replied in an equally grim tone, “I ‘wronged’ the angel on my
other side even more than I wronged you. He used to write down my
sins but immediately afterwards, I would repent. The poor soul then
used to erase all he had written and curse me, complaining that if I was
going to make him erase it, why I made him write it in the first
place. Eventually, he got so fed up that he prayed to the Almighty for
my riddance. That’s why, ever since I died, only you have kept
my company.”
Saleh burst into laughter on hearing this. Then he said:
“Don’t worry, he will return at the time of accountability. According
to the Law, both of us will have to present you in front of the Almighty.”
As he uttered these words, his face showed a profoundly grim
expression. He became quiet and bowed his head down, becoming
immersed in deep silence. I had not seen him behave in this manner
previously. As he raised his head up after a few moments, the ever-
present freshness and smile had disappeared off his face, replaced by
shadows of fear and sadness. He made an unsuccessful attempt to smile
and said:
“Abdullah! Archangel Rafael has received his orders; the time for
fulfilment of God’s promise has arrived. The deadline given to the
inhabitants of the world has passed. You will continue to enjoy the
blessings of your Lord a bit longer, behind this curtain of Barzakh, but I
have to depart now. I will meet you again when life begins again. When
your eyes open, the Day of Judgement would have begun. I shall meet
you again that day.”
===============
The commotions of life were continuing as ever. The shopping malls
had the usual activity and razzle-dazzle. There were various
entertainment events going on in New York, Los Angeles, London,
Shanghai, Delhi, Moscow, Karachi, and Lahore. Spectators were
watching and applauding 20/20 cricket and World Cup football matches
being played in the midst of floodlights that turned nights into days.
People intoxicated with alcohol were busy drinking in pubs and bars
while others watched strip tease in nightclubs. Actors were captivating
appreciative fans in Hollywood and Bollywood movies. Movies, dramas,
stage, television, belly dancing, and fashion shows had models and
actresses dancing, gyrating, and parading their bodies while their
financiers filled their pockets with money made from these
enterprises... The owners of multi-national companies were the new
conquerors of the new world; talented youth were happy to sell them
their knowledge and skills, so that they could weave dreams for their
future careers. The glitter and dazzle of media, the
spiced up
world of
journalism and the upheavals of the world of politics with its never-
fading treacheries and deceit were continuing unabated. Men and
women were engaged in shopping in the bazaars of this world,
surrounded by eye-catching shops and hailing shop owners. There were
echoes of songs and music in lavish abodes of the prosperous, which
were in sharp contrast to the silence of hunger and poverty rife in the
shacks of the poor. People were singing songs of merriment in wedding
celebrations but shadows of sorrow and despair shrouded funerals and
hospitals. Religious leaders were safe guarding personal interests in the
name of God, wealthy people, as ever, were oblivious to the trials and
tribulations of the poor. Government servants were filling their pockets
with tainted money from corruption and dishonest traders were filling
their safes with income from adulteration and hoarding. Rulers were
busy in exploiting their people while super powers continued to work
on their schemes to maintain their subjugation of the world. In short, all
were engrossed in their jobs and interests, as ever.
The dwellers of Earth were doing what they had done all along:
tales of cruelty and disorder, stories of deceit and deception, race of
greed and selfishness, attitudes of negligence and rebelliousness,
obliviousness to God and Hereafter, political commotions, economic
struggles, religious feuds, and inter-class tensions... everything was
going on, as before. The prophets of God had already departed from the
world centuries ago. Agricultural age changed to industrial age and
then, industrial age transformed into the age of information; however,
human attitudes did not change, nor did their sorrows. Human beings
had the same old worries of work and livelihood, the same setbacks of
love and romance, and the same predicaments of death and disease. At
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