How wondrous it is that a diamond is buried deep amongst a sea of rocks. Only through the intensity of its environment and the strength of its endurance could this magnificent stone be carved into an stone with beauty and strength in equal measure. Yet, when buried beneath the earth, a diamond is no different from any of its neighbours. Each are composed of the same carbon, endure the same pressure, and face the same obscurity with the earth’s core. Without light, a glistening diamond is just another rock within a sea of darkness. It is only when the rocks are dug up that their true nature is revealed; the diamond glistens in the light of the sun whilst the others are left undesired and worthless.

This is the parable of human existence. Each of us face the same trials and tribulations in the furnace of this world. How we react to them carves the very reality of our being; a reality only realised in the light of the divine.

(20) Truly you [people] love this fleeting world (21) and neglect the life
to come. (22) On that Day there will be radiant faces, (23) looking towards
their Lord, (24) and on that Day there will be the sad and despairing
faces (25) of those who realize that a great calamity is about to befall
them.
[Al-Qiyaamah: 75: 10-25]

That day, when death takes us all, we are brought to stand bare before our Lord. Only those who believed and did good deed will shine like diamonds; forged into perfection by the years of trials in the kiln of life. Those women and men will glisten magnificently in the divine light before all of creation “like rubies and brilliant pearls”, carried to the gardens and palaces to a life of luxury and ease – such is the extravagance a diamond deserves.

(58) Like rubies and brilliant pearls…
(60) Shall the reward of good be anything but good? (61) Which, then,
of your Lord’s blessings do you both deny?
[Al-Rahman 55: 58-61]

But those who wasted this world will come unprepared; their bodies unable to reflect the light of the divine. Like the remainder of the rocks, darkness overcomes them as they are cast aside into the shadows they chose. These men cannot absorb the divine majesty because of the barrier they created themselves, and like the furnaces in which the rocks of this world are cast into, so too will these men be discarded from the divine, used as nothing more than fuel to alight the fires of hell.

Believers, guard yourselves and your families against a Fire
fuelled by people and stones, over which stand angels, stern and
strong; angels who never disobey God’s commands to them, but do
as they are ordered
[At-Tahreem 66:6]