"Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians -- whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor shall they grieve" 2:62

Now, this Ayah seems to say that the People of the Book will enter into heaven, but most Muslims believe that only Muslims will go to heaven. So I'm a little confused about this.

Personally, I think that the whole thing isn't aas simple as we think. I mean, Allah SWT says that Shirk is the only unforgivable sin. Now, Jews don't assign any partners to Allah and therefore, do not commit shirk. Likewise, some Christians (a very small minority) do not consider Hazrat Isa to be the son of Allah and therefore do not commit shirk.

Whats your take on it?

According to this Ayat that People of Book will enter into Heaven, means that all those people who had/have followed the Divine Shariah of their times will enter into Paradise. For example, When Hazrat Musa (A.S.) was preaching Torah then those people who followed him, were considered as Muslims and they will surely enter into Heaven.

But when Hazrat Isa (A.S.) came and Bible was introduced then the Shariah of Torah was replaced by Shariah of Bible. Then those people who followed Bible were known as Muslims and those who refused to follow Bible were turned into non-Muslims. The followers of Bible at that time will surely go into Heaven.

When Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) came then Shariah of Bible was replaced by Islamic/Quranic Shariah. Now the followers of Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) come in the category of Muslims. And they will certainly enter in Paradise.

So according to this Ayah all those people who followed Shariah of their times will surely enter in Paradise.

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Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga

It would be better not to comment upon who will enter Jannat because only Allah knows about it, jab Hazoor Pak (SAW) Sarwar-e-Kainat khud Allah Pak se darte rehte the yahan tak ke Bibi Fatima (RA) ko bhi is baat kee guaranty nahin dee to ham kon hote hain is baat kaa dawa karne waale ke sirif ham musalman hee jannat main jaayen ge yaa hamari maghfirat ho jaaye gee. This aayah clearly and seperately mentions "those who believe, those who are Jews, Christians and Sabians," scholars don't even agree for sure who "Sabians" were (some say they followed Hazrat Dawood (AS), some say they used to worship stars, jitne mun utni baaten). Also this aayah separately mentions Jews and Christians, if it was related to past muslims then alongside "tho who believe" (in present sense) it would have just mentioned "and those who were believers" (in past sense). The message of this aayah seems that Allah (SWT) will not let go any good deed of anyone who did it out of fear of Almighty God and His inquiry on judgement day . Jews aur Christians ne Allah kaa paigham asli halat main mehfooz nahin rakha aur us main apni baaten bhi shaamil kar deen (jews kee history main polytheism kee misalen bhi mojud hain aur christians ne to trinity ke concept ko janam de diya) to Allah Pak ne Hazoor Sarwar-e-Kainat (SAW) ke wasile se dobara apna paigham bhaija aur taa qayamat dunya main us ko word by word mehfooz rakhne kaa bandobast farma diya, laikin jab jews aur christians apni ghaltion ko taslim karne ke bajaye musalmano se jang karte hain to un pe Allah kaa azab nazil hota hai, laikin woh jews aur christians jinhon ne apni ghalti taslim kee (ke unhon ne Allah ke paigham ko corrupt kia hai) aur Allah ke khof se Allah ki panah mangi aur daaira-e-Islam main aa gaye to Allah un ki pichli nekiyan (jo unhon ne jew yaa christian rehte hue khuda ke khof se keen) bhi qabool farmayen ge aur un ko jannat main daakhil karen ge . Tamam tar bad amalion aur tafarqe baazion ke bawajood musalmano pe Allah kee nazar-e-karam sirif isi waja se hai ke musalmano ne aaj tak Allah Pak kaa paigham apni asal halat main mehfooz rakha hua hai aur ghor karne waale aaj tak is pe ghor kar rahe hain. Wallah o Aalam bis sawab, mujhe is silsile main ziada pata nahin hai, meri logic yeh kehti hai .

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Sooner will a camel pass through a needle's eye than a great man be "discovered" by an election.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَالَّذِينَ هَادُواْ وَالنَّصَـرَى وَالصَّـبِئِينَ مَنْ ءَامَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الاٌّخِرِ وَعَمِلَ صَـلِحاً فَلَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ ﴾

(62. Verily, those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians (Sabi'in), whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does righteous good deeds shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.)


After Allah described the condition - and punishment - of those who defy His commands, fall into His prohibitions and transgress set limits by committing prohibited acts, He stated that the earlier nations who were righteous and obedient received the rewards for their good deeds. This shall be the case, until the Day of Judgment. Therefore, whoever follows the unlettered Messenger and Prophet shall acquire eternal happiness and shall neither fear from what will happen in the future nor become sad for what has been lost in the past.

Tafsir Ibne Kaseer

Source : http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?opt...sk=view&id=372

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May Allah grant us success! May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and Companions!