يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ O People who Believe! Fear Allah in the manner He should rightfully be feared, and do not die except as Muslims. (Surah Aale Imran 3:102)
sub'HanAllah, this hadith refutes both the perennialists and their apologists. perennialist and 'liberal' scholars claim that anyone can enter paradise, even non-muslims. and their admirers, their cheerleaders claim that 'such and such has rendered a lifetime of service to islam; how can you say that they* will not enter paradise' etc. None except a believer [mu'min] will enter paradise; and verily, Allah ta'ala [if he Wishes]** will aid this religion by means of a corrupt [fajir] person. [Hadith of Bukhari, #6607] ---- perennialists try to do a verbal circus here by claiming that 'believer' is not exclusively a muslim; for them anyone who believes in a god is a 'believer'. they can bray as they wish, but the believer - mu'min is only such a person who believes in Islam and ALL its core-beliefs [daruriyat] as explained in famous books of creed such as aqidah al-TaHawiyyah, bad' al-amali and jawharah al-tawHid. ======================== *that is after being considered an apostate. because indeed, services rendered by a muslim to islam will benefit them in the hereafter, as is obvious. ** it is obvious that Allah ta'ala will aid this deen by pious and righteous people; but if He so Wishes, He will also aid the deen by corrupt folk. as the topic is about "deeds dependent on ends" the context indicates that: 'do not be fooled by a persons good deeds, and thus feel compelled to accept everything he says; nor be deceived by the service he has rendered to Islam - because if Allah ta'ala so Wills, he shall make a corrupt person aid this religion. Allah ta'ala knows best.
