On that Day every self will come to argue for itself and every self will be paid in full for what it did. They will not be wronged.
(Surat an-Nahl: 111)
Karma is merely a concept, and lacks any power and consciousness
with which to bring about justice. The true possessor of justice is the Great Allah,
the Compassionate and Merciful, the Superior and Mighty.
In Indian religions, it is believed that karma is a law of cause and effect, and that it is this law that causes people to receive the reward of their actions. There is no belief in a Creator who has made this law and enforces it, however; the law of karma is claimed to function by itself. For instance, it is believed that if one performs wholesome actions such as donating money to charitable organizations, one will experience happiness.8 However, there can of course be no metaphysical law of this kind without some power or some will that causes things to be so.
One of the most logically unacceptable aspects of concept of karma is that it asks us to believe that moral values can exist without anyone to apply them. Even the laws made by man have authorities and institutions to enforce them. For instance, the penalty for theft is set out in every country's laws. However, these laws never function by themselves; there are always authorities, institutions and officials to enforce them. When someone commits theft, the laws do not go into motion to put the thief in prison of their own accord. In order to do this, the process of law is carried out by police officers, judges, public prosecutors and courts of law. Judges pronounce judgement according to the laws and the criminal is punished for what he has done.
To say that karma is a law that works by itself would be even more illogical than to claim that the laws of a country function of their own accord, with no-one to enforce them. Imagine that the billions of people who have so far lived on this earth are to be given another life in which they will receive the just reward for whatever they have done. In that case, who will observe how they behave while on earth? Who will decide whether they are good or bad? And who will decide on and arrange their next life in accordance with what they have done in this? If the life we have in our next incarnation depends on what we do in our present life, there must be some power that determines and plans our fate. In karmic philosophy, however, there is no power of this kind. According to this vague and irrational belief, all of this happens by itself. Moreover, it is also believed that this so-called "law of karma"treats people justly and gives them the full and exact reward for their actions without overlooking anything or making mistakes, although this "law" has in fact no power to make decisions or judgements. These are highly superstitious claims that any intelligent person will, if they give the matter any thought, immediately understand to be illogical.
Some people who believe in karma claim that the "law of karma" functions in accordance with the will of God—in other words, that it is God Who decides whether we have good or bad karma in this life, and Who prepares the conditions under which we will live in our next life. There is,however, an important fact that such people have overlooked: there is no mention of the idea of karma in the true religion as chosen for mankind by Allah and as communicated to us by means of the Qur'an. As this book has already stated, the idea of karma is a superstitious belief that is not mentioned in the Qur'an and that has many aspects which conflict with the beliefs of Islam. Therefore, those who believe in the existence of Allah should not waste their time investigating it; instead, they should embrace the Qur'an and the clear Sunnah of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
 On that Day every self will come to argue for itself and every self will be paid in full for what it did. They will not be wronged. |
Everyone who believes in Allah and who listens to the voice of his or her intellect and conscience knows that Allah, not karma, is the source of justice, and He pays us back in full for whatever we have done during our life on earth, and sees everything unceasingly, knows our inmost secrets and is the All Powerful, Supreme Lord of the whole universe. Allah tells us that He Himself gives us the full and complete reward of every good or bad action in several verses of the Qur'an:
Those who produce a good action will receive ten like it. But those who produce a bad action will only be repaid with its equivalent and they will not be wronged. (Surat al-An'am: 160)
And be steadfast. Allah does not let the wage of good-doers go to waste. (Surah Hud: 115)
... As for those who fear Allah and are steadfast, Allah does not allow to go to waste the wage of any people who do good. (Surah Yusuf: 90)
Both in this world and in the afterlife, Allah rewards every one of us for our actions in the most just way. For instance, He tells us that those who disbelieve and who enter into conflict with those who are good and cause difficulties for them will be punished by Him both in this world and in the afterlife. Allah, in His infinite justice, punishes disbelieving evildoers, destroys the traps they set for the good, causes difficulties for them and makes them live a difficult and distressing life. However, in this life He protects the good who have belief in Him and who trust Him and keeps them from evil; He makes difficult things easy for them and promises them a good life. Allah tells us of these things in the following verses of the Qur'an:
Allah calls to the Abode of Peace and He guides whom He wills to a straight path. Those who do good will have the best and more! Neither dust nor debasement will darken their faces. They are the Companions of the Garden, remaining in it timelessly, for ever. (Surah Yunus: 25-26)
Anyone who acts rightly, male or female, being a believer, We will give them a good life and We will recompense them according to the best of what they did. (Surat al-Nahl: 97)
As for him who gives out and guards against evil and confirms the Good, We will pave his way to Ease. But as for him who is stingy and self-satisfied, and denies the Good, We will pave his way to Difficulty. (Surat al-Layl: 5-10)
It is on the Day of Judgement that everything done by both the good and the wicked throughout their lives on earth will be given its full and exact reward.
According to concept of karma, it is in our next incarnation that we will receive the reward of our actions. For instance, those who do evil will be reborn in their next life as a plant, or perhaps as a slave. Those who do good and help others will be rich or of high standing in their next life. However, as has already been pointed out, this is not a complete reward for good and evil actions; neither is it true that we come to this world many times. We come to this world only once; after this, our real life—the life in the afterlife, which will go on forever—begins.
When we die, we will rise again on the Day of Judgement and be brought to account for our doings on earth. While this process of giving account is going on, everything we did, said and thought throughout our lives will be brought before us, and nothing will be left out of the account that is placed in our hands. We are told about the shock that unbelievers will get when their account is placed before them on that day in the following verse:
The Book will be set in place and you will see the evildoers fearful of what is in it. They will say, "Alas for us! What is this Book which does not pass over any action, small or great, without recording it?" They will find there everything they did and your Lord will not wrong anyone at all. (Surat al-Kahf: 49)
On the Day of Judgement, when we will be called to account for everything we have done during our lives on earth, we will all be given our just reward, and no one will be done even the slightest injustice:
We will set up the Just Balance on the Day of Rising and no self will be wronged in any way. Even if it is no more than the weight of a grain of mustard-seed, We will produce it. We are sufficient as a Reckoner. (Surat al-anbiya: 47)
 On the Day when their tongues and hands and feet will testify against them about what they were doing. On that Day Allah will pay them in full what is due to them, and they will know that Allah is the Clear Truth. |
When people are resurrected after their deaths, and after they have been called to account by Allah's justice, they will be sent to their real home—the Garden or the Fire—where they will remain for ever. The Garden and the Fire are divided into different ranks so that we can all be given what is due to us:
As for those who come to their Lord as evildoers, they will have Hell where they will neither die nor stay alive. But as for those who come to Him as believers, having done right actions, they will have the highest ranks: Gardens of Eden with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, for ever. That is the reward of those who purify themselves. (Surah Ta Ha: 74-76)
Those are people of whom the statement about the nations, both of jinn and men, who passed away before them, has also proved true; truly they were the lost. Everyone will be ranked according to what they did. We will pay them in full for their actions and they will not be wronged. On the Day when those who disbelieved are exposed to the Fire: "You dissipated the good things you had in your worldly life and enjoyed yourself in it. So today you are being repaid with the punishment of humiliation for being arrogant in the earth without any right and for being deviators". (Surat al-Ahqaf: 18-20)
Only Allah is capable of giving to everyone the exact reward for everything they have done without anyone being wronged even slightly. Allah sees and knows everything; Allah is Forgiving and Merciful, forgets nothing, is never mistaken and is Supremely Just.
Allah is aware of everything that happens on earth—every single falling leaf and every private thought people have. This is what Allah says in one of the verses of the Qur'an:
The keys of the Unseen are in His possession. No one knows them but Him. He knows everything in the land and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it. There is no seed in the darkness of the earth, and nothing moist or dry which is not in a Clear Book. (Surat al-An'am: 59)
For instance, two people having a secret conversation may think that only they themselves know about it; however, Allah is also with them while they are talking. Allah hears and is aware of their secret conversation and of everything they whisper to each other. Those who are not mindful of Allah's presence think that these secret talks in which they plan evil deeds will remain secret and never be found out, so they will never be punished for their plans. However, Allah sees and hears them, all the time:
Do they not know that Allah knows their secrets and their private talk, and that Allah is the Knower of all unseen things? (Surat at-Tawba: 78)
When Allah, Who knows and sees everything, gives people the reward of their actions on the Day of Judgement, He will reveal the actions and thoughts that they imagined would remain secret. Allah knows everything, even that which is most secret, as He tells us in the Qur'an in the following words:
Everything in the heavens and everything on the earth and everything in between them and everything under the ground belongs to Him. Though you speak out loud, He knows your secrets and what is even more concealed. (Surah Ta Ha: 6-7)
On the Day of Judgement, everything will be revealed; nothing can be kept secret from Allah, and Allah will give everyone the just reward of their actions, as we are told in the following verse:
He is the Raiser of ranks, the Possessor of the Throne, He sends the Spirit by His command to whichever of His servants He wills so that he may warn mankind about the Day of Meeting: the Day when they will issue forth and when not one thing about them will be hidden from Allah."To whom does the kingdom belong today? To Allah, the One, the Conqueror! Every self will be repaid today for what it earned. Today there will be no injustice. Allah is swift at reckoning". (Surat al-Mu'min: 15-17)
 What We have revealed to you of the Book is the truth, confirming what came before it. Allah is aware of and sees His servants. |
In order for a just judgement to be given about someone or something, every visible and invisible detail must be known. For example, the intentions we had in doing something must be known, and what we were thinking and doing at times and in places where no one could see us must also be known; judgement must be given according to this information. Only Allah knows everything and sees what is unseen. That is why only Allah can pronounce judgement on people with absolute justice. In the following verse, we are told that Allah is the All-Knowing—He is aware of the inner nature of everything and of all hidden aspects of affairs:
You who believe! Observe your duty to Allah and let each self look to what it has sent forward for tomorrow. Observe your duty to Allah. Allah is aware of what you do. (Surat al-Hashr: 18)
It is obvious that the concept of karma is simply an idea, a human invention devoid of intelligence or power, i.e. it is devoid of conscious awareness and does not possess attributes which belong to Allah alone, such as "knowing all secrets and what is even more concealed"and "hearing all private conversations". We cannot expect a concept of this kind to possess any power or will of its own. It would be extremely illogical to deny that this is so. It would be like saying that someone could invent a concept of their own and then claim that this concept would administer justice among people and stop all the wars in the world; it would be like claiming that everyone who repeated this idea to themselves every day would become rich. Such a claim would be no more than superstition, entirely lacking in substance. In order for there to be justice in a place, there must be a will that enforces justice. Karma is only a word, an idea. If we give the matter only a little thought, we will see how irrational and illogical the concept of karma is.
 Allah will judge with truth;and those you call upon apart from Him will not judge with anything at all.It is Allah who is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. |  On the Day Allah raises up all of them together, He will inform them of what they did. Allah has recorded it while they have forgotten it. Allah is a Witness of all things. |
When Allah judges between people, He evaluates everything that happens and everything that is said. The judgement He gives is the most correct one, and the one that is most beneficial. After all, it is He Who created every thing. Some people of shallow opinions, however, cannot conceive how He can know and remember everything.
One example of such people given in the Qur'an is that of the Pharaoh who lived at the time of Musa. When Musa, peace be upon him, said that Allah shows everyone the right way, Pharaoh asked what, in that case, would happen to the people who lived on earth in the earliest times, thus showing great ignorance:
He (Musa),said, "Our Lord is He who gives each thing its created form and then guides it". He (Pharaoh) said, "What about the previous generations?" He said, "Knowledge of them is with my Lord in a Book. My Lord does not misplace nor does He forget". (Surah Ta Ha: 50-52)
Like His infinite justice, Allah's freedom from all confusion and the fact that He forgets nothing is an attribute of His divine essence. For instance, because men are weak and forgetful creatures, they may forget the good or evil done them by a friend, or they may remember the details incorrectly, or only partially. This usually has a negative effect on their ability to think justly and make correct decisions. Allah, however, is the All-Preserver (Al-Hafiz). In other words, He preserves all things in detail. He is the One Whose Knowledge encompasses all that He brought into existence. For example, everything about someone who is on their first day at primary school—everything they say, the way they walk and every feature of their behaviour—all these things are present in the knowledge of Allah in all their freshness, exactly as they happened on that day. And everything about a farmer who lived in the time of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, on the day he first sowed seed in his field is also present in the knowledge of Allah. On the Day of Judgement, all these details will be observable, with all the immediacy they had on the day they actually happened, just as if they were happening in the present.
In short, Allah forgets nothing; everything is constantly present to the awareness of our Lord, Allah. That is why Allah can give each one of us the exact reward of all our actions. It is mere superstition to expect that an imaginary concept like karma could administer justice among people; it is irrational and illogical.
We are told in several verses of the Qur'an that Allah is Merciful, Kind and Forgiving to His servants:
Do you not see that Allah has made everything on the earth subservient to you and the ships running upon the sea by His command? He holds back the heaven, preventing it from falling to the earth—except by His permission. Allah is All-Compassionate to mankind, Most Merciful. (Surat al-Hajj: 65)
Truly your Lord is the Almighty, the Most Merciful. (Surat ash-Shu'ara: 9)
Anyone who does evil or wrongs himself and then asks Allah's forgiveness will find Allah Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat an-Nisa: 110)
Allah, Who is infinitely Merciful, forgives His servants' wrong actions if they repent and mend their ways. He turns their evil actions into good deeds; throughout their lives on earth, He gives them opportunities to reform themselves. In the Qur'an He tells us that if He were to punish us all for our wrong actions immediately, there would be no living thing left on earth. However, Allah tests His servants by means of the time He grants them, and gives them countless opportunities to obtain His grace and mercy, and to attain the Garden. In this verse, He describes how He gives us a set period of time to achieve these things:
If Allah were to punish people for their wrong actions, not a single creature would be left upon the earth, but He defers them till a predetermined time. When their specified time arrives, they cannot delay it for a single hour nor can they bring it forward. (Surat al-Nahl: 61)
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Those who have faith in Allah and trust in Him, who know that Allah is infinitely Just and Merciful and submit to Him, experience peace of mind and inner certainty in the afterlife, secure in the knowledge that they will receive the exact reward of their actions on Earth, and that no injustice whatsoever will be done them.
However, those who choose as their guide a law, a rule or a myth such as the idea of karma that has no place in the religion of truth, are making a serious mistake. They are overlooking the fact that no imaginary law that any powerless being or person, who themselves are created and who are incapable of creating anything, have invented and given a name, can be of the slightest use to them either in this world or the next. Such people are ignoring the fact that all these concepts are "false gods" that cannot administer justice to men and have no power to raise people to life again after their deaths or determine what lives they will live in the first place. Such people should know that Allah is the sole Creator of mankind, and that only He has the power to judge and to understand the hidden reasons for things. This is what Allah says in the Qur'an:
"Am I to desire someone other than Allah as a judge when it is He who has sent down the Book to you clarifying everything?" Those We have given the Book know it has been sent down from your Lord with truth, so on no account be among the doubters. (Surat al-An'am: 114)
