Question No. 3313 30 October 2023 Official answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) verified Content level: Intermediate

Does Divine Punishment Take Different Forms?

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Dear questioner, Master Ali Saei

Tracking code: #Q-3313

Greetings and respect, Teacher. You said:

“Divine punishment is a reflection of the creatures’ own actions. It arises from their own choices, free will, and deeds. Allah brings the inner reality of their actions to light and makes it manifest.”

My question is: Are all of a person’s evil deeds alike in nature, all connected to fire, or can punishment take different forms? For example, might one person suffer by freezing, another by falling, and another by fire?

Subject category: Theology and Creed آرشیو کهف سوال Ethics and Spirituality Academic

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Divine punishment is a reflection of a person’s own actions and choices, and its nature corresponds to their deeds, thoughts, and intentions. Just as a seed grows into a plant shaped by the soil and climate around it, in the next life people will take forms that correspond to the actions and thoughts they have cultivated in this world.

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

Teacher and researcher in the intellectual tradition of wisdom and the Ahl al-Bayt | Soroush Bamdadān Cultural Center

A seed that falls to the earth, as it grows, develops roots, a trunk, branches, leaves and fruit whose nature reflects the water, climate and soil in which it has been nurtured. If part of the tree—its leaves or fruit, for example—is broken down, the very elements found in the water, climate and soil will be released.

Throughout earthly life, human beings are rooted in the world of existence. They grow amid their own character, conduct, deeds, thoughts and intentions. One day, the very substance with which they have been nurtured will emerge from every part of their being.

Water can be drawn from wood, as can fire and other elements and compounds. The fire that emerges from within wood is a particular form of energy it has absorbed from the sun and other celestial bodies, and so on.

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Does Divine Punishment Take Different Forms?

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

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