It would be heart-breaking for him if the whole experiment of creation were to fail; but at the same time it would be unthinkable to allow a successful rebellion. He might allow man to think his rebellion was successful for a time; but it would be essential that this was complete illusion. There must be a Day of Judgement.
So the moment the human mind condescends to think there might be a Creator, a Day of Judgement becomes a racing certainty. It may be we shall all be saved; if so, and looking round at how appalling some people are, a healthy spell in purgatory would seem a likely fate for most of us. Or it may be only a few will get through the wicket-gate, and the great majority go down the smooth wide road to perdition. The Divine Justice is likely to have some features in common with the human idea of Justice; but at the same time be dramatically different. So perhaps the safest conclusion, because the subject is so nebulous, is that the first may be last, and the last first.
But what is, or could be, the point of it all? It is difficult to believe the Creator would want to condemn His creatures; He must want them somehow to make the grade. Most judges express a distaste for sending their fellow men to prison; so much so, that a few fail to do so when it is obviously necessary. Sometimes one gets a fleeting impression that a few judges actually enjoy doing it, especially when it amounts to pulling down someone who has been in authority. But a Creator would hardly enjoy condemning his creation, unless he were a sadist; and the world is so beautiful, and its construction so infinitely delicate, that if it was created it was not by a sadist. Indeed the prophet Isaiah puts into the mouth of Jehovah the words, “What more could I have done for my people?” And I am inclined to agree that the created world, as opposed to the desecrated world, is a much better place than any of us deserves. So what is the point of it all?
Let us go back to the Old Testament prophets and to Moses, who is said to have known God “face to face”. In modern jargon that means he had a astonishing grasp of the realities of the spiritual world, at least as compared with his contemporaries. And since most people today have no grasp of it at all, except in the army; we may safely conclude Moses was a giant, whereas we are pigmies. And his view was that the first essential was to love God, with all the heart, the soul, the strength; and this together with all his other commandments must be kept in men’s hearts. There must be nothing half-hearted about it. Now no-one wins that sort of love, without giving quite a lot in return. Christians think He gave his own Son to get it; and it is by no means inconceivable. I would not presume to speculate what purpose Muslims attribute to Allah; perhaps even asking the question is forbidden.