Everyone's going to Hell but me

A short story about spiritual dichotomies

As Salim made his way to the mosque to pray, he passed a church. On the church’s step sat a wayfarer.

            “Excuse me sir.” Salim said, startling the man.

            “What!?” The man growled. He had fought the elements all night. Had awoken to a spider on his neck and couldn’t find the cigarette he had ashed.

            “Well I was just wondering, how do you get to heaven?”

            The man paused and magically he was transformed. His form became beautiful, his smile shown brightly, and his eyes glimmered with light like a multi-faceted prism. He glared up at the cross atop the Church’s roof and said proudly;

            “John chapter fourteen verse six!”

            His voice was authoritative and forceful but melodic like a southern Baptist preacher.

            “And Jesus said..."  The man paused for dramatic effect and no doubt, Salim, against his own will, was under the man’s spell. Holding up his index finger with eyes of fury he continued.

            “I AM THE WAY AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME!”

             The thunderous tone of the statement had actually snapped Salim out of his state of hypnosis and he asked.

            “So … that’s it? I just have to go through Jesus to get to Heaven?”

            “That’s right son, you see, in order to get to the kingdom of heaven you must first accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior.”

            “And if I don’t I’m going to Hell?”

            The man gave Salim a quick analytical side eye. He sure hoped the young fella didn’t want to challenge his theological wisdom. He may have looked to be in bad shape but at one point in his life he had been an ordained minister.

“Well…Yeah son, see you have to be baptized by the blood of Christ…”

            “You wouldn’t happen to have any on you would you?”

            “What? Blood?”

            “Yes sir, Jesus’ blood?”

            “Don’t be…”

            “Or water…”

            “No.”

            “Ok, sorry, so I really want to consider this when I go home because I really don’t want to go to the hellfire, and trust, I do believe in the hell fire. So, those who don’t accept Jesus as God are going to Hell?”

            The man hesitated. He didn’t want to say yes but he knew his doctrine forced him to.

            “Yes.” He said a lot gentler in speech now.

            “And have you?”

            “What?”

            “Accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”

            “Oh yeah!”

Salim smiled at the man and continued on.

 

            Luckily, Salim had given himself more time this morning because when the elder gentlemen across the street dropped his groceries, there was no way he was not going to help.

            “Let me get that for you.” Salim said grabbing the man’s milk and a few loose cans.

            “Oh, thank you young man. Don’t see that too often anymore, a young man willing to give an elder a hand. Let me give you a few dollars.”

            “Oh, no no no, it’s ok, you can do something better for me. Just say a prayer for me.”

            The man smiled and as he turned to the side, Salim noticed he was wearing a kippah4.

            “Jewish?” Salim asked wanting to be sure.

The man hesitated before he answered.

“Ughh, yes.”

Salim studied the man’s features closely looking for an indication he had some special features that separated him from the rest of the human race as it was well-known the Uhud5 or Bani Israel6 considered themselves the chosen race or chosen people. After noticing no distinguishing marks whatsoever Salim asked,

“Are the Jews the chosen people?”

“Well, yes they are?”

“So of course, they’re going to heaven, right?”

“Only YHWH knows?”

“But I thought the Talmud…”

The man went into the histrionics of an exaggerated cough to cut Salim off. Salim looked suspiciously at the man then tried to continue but before he could finish the word Talmud the man’s chronic cough returned and then he said,

“Torah, Don’t you mean the Tor-rah…” He had said Torah very slowly, spreading the two syllables as far as possible, hoping Salim would get the point: Don’t mention the Talmud, just try to stick too the 5 books of Moses.

“Well I was actually going to mention another book, ‘The Learned Elders of Zion’ but ok, I’ll stick to the Bible. So, the Goyim..." excuse me..." Gentiles are dirty pagans whom are destined for the hellfire. So, in order to be saved one must be from the bloodline of the original Hebrews. Are you sure you’re related to Musa, excuse me, Moshe? He was a very brown man, you seem to be closely related to the Khazars from Ashekanazi who converted to Judaism in the middle ages…”

“Geneticist debunked that myth son…”

“You mean the same geneticist who created it…” Salim mumbled. He had learned long ago to distrust most of which is presented by formal scholastic bodies.

“I understand, but the point still remains, anyhow, I hate when things turn racial because it’s the spirit that matters. And I have a feeling no soul should feel entitled, especially on the grounds of its physical vehicle.

The man looked shocked. He had figured the young man to be fairly simple, but he talked like a gnostic erudite.

“If, however bloodline is important did you know this is how the prophet of Islam described Moses?”

Salim recalled,
            “In an authentic Hadith narrated by Imam Ahmed, the prophet said about his night journey, “I saw Musa (Moses) and he was a black-skinned man.” He also said, “As for Musa/Moses, he is a black-skinned man with very curly hair.” AL-Qurtubi, the famous interpreter of the Qur'an says when talking about Musa's appearance, "Musa (Moses) was extremely dark brown in skin color."

Salim stopped to make sure he still had the man’s attention.

“This would make sense because Jesus was from bayt-ul Dawood or, the House of David and David was a descendent of Musa or, Moses.”

Salim hadn’t noticed the inferno in the man’s eyes when he had mentioned the name Jesus. And as far as Jesus’ appearance, Ibn Umar, a companion of the prophet said,

“No! I swear by Allah that the prophet didn’t say that Jesus was light-skinned, but he said ‘While I was asleep, I was walking around the Kaaba when I saw a black-skinned man with straight hair between two men. I asked who the man was, and I was told that he was Isa (Jesus) the son of Maryam.’…”*

“So, if all I have to do is be a descendent from the original tribes of Hebrews then I should be pretty good to go because, well, they looked just like me…”

The man was speechless. Salim smiled, winked and continued towards the mosque. With one block left, Salim, with a few minutes to spare slipped into a java and smoothie bar and ordered a ‘Green Machine’.

After placing his order, Salim stepped back and glanced around. There was a man to his immediate right who was reading a book that caught his attention.

“Dhamm-aa-paa-daa-Dhammapada.”

 

Salim said, pronouncing the word to himself. ‘Oh, the Dhammapada.” His reinforced as he remembered it being one of the most sacred text of the Buddhist. Salim glanced at his watch, then up at the green mixture being swirled and blended in the mixture.

“Excuse me sir, I’m very short on time, but I really wanted to ask, what does Buddha say about how to get to Heaven?”

The man smiled,

“The words of the Buddha are simple so this won’t take long anyway, How to get to Heaven?”

Salim nodded, enthralled by the calmness of the man’s spirit. The calmness actually spoke to a strong force, the force of a Mastered mind that had subdued the lower nature of the self.

“I just left there.” The man said with a smile.

“Where Heaven?” Salim asked.

“Yes. Nirvana. To get to Heaven, meditate, be silent, Heaven is within.”

The man’s words and countenance had a charming effect. He smiled back as he understood.

“And what about Hell, how does he advise me to avoid Hell.”

“Shed the ego…” The man said, then he reopened his book and while leafing through to his former position he looked up at Salim, clasped his palms together gently and said,

“Namaste…” with an ever-so-gentle bow of the head.

            “I bow to the divine in you…”

Salim was unsure of how to return the salutation, so he said simply,

            “And peace be with you sir…”

 

            Salim made it to the mosque just in time. He quickly remade wudu then joined the ranks. After the salat was finished he sat down to do some reading. After stumbling across a passage about the Shia and Sunni divide, Salim decided to ponder a conversation he had had with a few brothers, months prior.

            For Salim one of the most important passages for the Ummah7 was, what meant,

            “And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided.”*

            Also,

            “But the people divided their religion among them into sects - each faction rejoicing in what it has.”

He felt it most important to establish himself as that, one who submits, and leave the titles alone.

            “No you have to refer to yourself as Sunni because Shia are destined for the hellfire…”

            “No you have to call yourself Salafi, because just because you claim to be Sunni doesn’t mean you’re upon the right Aqidah8…”

            It was all too much for Salim, well, not really. After recalling what the Christian wayfarer had said, and the Jewish Elder, and the Buddhist stranger, it seemed most people were simply misinterpreting the revelations they were reading. Some purposely for political reasons and others out of spiritual ignorance. It seemed as if everyone had a “Everyone’s going to hell… but me.” Attitude. Why was this?

            Salim pondered the psychology of man. Most people who condemned others to Hell did so out of egotistical reasons. Whether it be theological superiority or cultural and genetic superiority, people simply want to feel like what they belong to is right - no one wants to feel wrong - and that all others, especially those who oppose them, are wrong and destined for Hell. Others did so for even smaller-minded reasons like condemning those who’ve done a personal wrong to them to Hell because that’s the retribution ‘They’ feel the person deserves. Salim smiled his normal smile when in the presence of divine revelation.

            “So… I definitely accept Jesus as a Messiah. I’m most definitely related to Moses, I testify that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his slave and Messenger and I do realize Heaven is a state of mind so I should be safe…”

            Salim smiled, made salat-ul tahiyat9 and headed home.