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Life after Death


The question whether there is a life after death does not fall under
the jurisdiction of science as science is concerned only with
classification and analysis of sense data. Moreover, man has been busy
with scientific enquiries and research, in the modern sense of the
term, only for the last few centuries, while he has been familiar with
the concept of life after death since times immemorial.

All the prophets of God called their people to worship God and to
believe in life after death. They laid so much emphasis on the belief
in life after death that even a slight doubt in it meant denying God
and made all other beliefs meaningless. The very fact that all the
prophets of God have dealt with this metaphysical question of life
after death so confidently and so uniformly - the gap between their
ages being thousands of years - goes to prove that the source of their
knowledge of life after death as proclaimed by them all, was the same,
i.e., Divine revelation. We also know that these prophets of God were
greatly opposed by their people, mainly on the issue of life after
death as their people thought it impossible. But in spite of
opposition the prophets won so many sincere followers.

The question arises: what made those followers forsake the established
beliefs, traditions and customs of their forefathers notwithstanding
the risk of being totally alienated from their own community? The
simple answer is: they made use of their faculties of mind and heart
and realized the truth. Did they realize the truth through perceptual
consciousness? Not so, as perceptual experience of life after death is
impossible. Actually God has given man besides perceptual
consciousness, rational, aesthetic and moral consciousness too. It is
this consciousness that guides man regarding realities that cannot be
verified through sensory data. That is why all the prophets of God
while calling people to believe in God and life after death, appeal to
the aesthetic, moral and rational consciousness of man. For example,
when the idolaters of Makkah denied even the possibility of life after
death, the Quran exposed the weakness of their stand by advancing very
logical and rational arguments in support of it:

"And he makes comparisons for Us, and forgets his own (origin and)
Creation: he says, 'Who can give life to (dry) bones and decomposed
ones (at that)?' Say, 'He will give them life Who created them for the
first time! For He fully knows all! - The same Who produces for you
fire out of the green tree, when behold! ye kindle therewith (your own
fires)! Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth able to create
the like thereof?' - Yea, indeed! for He is the Creator Supreme, of
skill and knowledge (infinite)!" (36:78-81)

At another occasion the Quran very clearly says that the disbelievers
have no sound basis for their denial of life after death. It is based
on pure conjecture:

"And they say: 'What is there but our life in this world? We shall die
and we live, and nothing but time can destroy us.' But of that they
have no knowledge: they merely conjecture: And when Our Clear Signs
are rehearsed to them, their argument is nothing but this: they say,
'Bring (back) our forefathers, if what ye say is true!'" (45:24-25)

Surely God will raise all the dead. But God has His own plan of
things. A day will come when the whole universe will be destroyed and
then again the dead will be resurrected to stand before God. That day
will be the beginning of the life that will never end, and that day
every person will be rewarded by God according to his or her good or
evil deed. The explanation that the Quran gives about the necessity of
life after death is what moral consciousness of man demands. Actually
if there is no life after death, the very belief in God becomes
irrelevant or even if one believes in God, that would be an unjust and
indifferent God: having once created man not concerned with his fate.
Surely, God is just; He will punish the tyrants whose crimes are
beyond count: having killed hundreds of innocent persons, created
great corruptions in the society, enslaved numerous persons to serve
their whims etc... Man having a very short span of life in this world,
and this physical world too being not eternal, punishments or rewards
equal to the evil or noble deeds of persons are not possible here. The
Quran very emphatically states that the Day of Judgement must come and
God will decide about the fate of each soul according to his or her
record of deeds:

"The Unbelievers say, 'Never to us will come the Hour': Say, 'Nay! but
most surely, by my Lord, it will come upon you;- by Him Who knows the
unseen,- from Whom is not hidden the least little atom in the heavens
or on earth: nor is there anything less than that, or greater, but is
in the Record Perspicuous: That He may reward those who believe and
work deeds of righteousness: for such is Forgiveness and a Sustenance
Most Generous.' But those who strive against Our Signs, to frustrate
them,- for such will be a Chastisement,- of painful wrath." (34:3-5)

The Day of Resurrection will be the Day when God's attributes of
Justice and Mercy will be in full manifestation. God will shower His
mercy on those who suffered for His sake in the worldly life,
believing that an eternal bliss was awaiting them. But those who
abused the bounties of God, caring nothing for the life to come, will
be in the most miserable state. Drawing a comparison between them, the
Quran says:

"Are (these two) alike?- one to whom We have made a goodly promise,
and who is going to reach its (fulfillment), and one to whom We have
given the good things of this life, but who, on the Day of Judgment,
is to be among those brought up (for punishment)?" (28:61)

The Quran also states that this worldly life is a preparation for the
eternal life after death. But those who deny it become slaves of their
passions and desires, make fun of virtuous and God-conscious persons.
Such persons realize their folly only at the time of their death and
wish to be given a further chance in the world but in vain. Their
miserable state at the time of death, and the horror of the Day of
Judgement, and the eternal bliss guaranteed to the sincere believers
are very beautifully mentioned in the following verses of the Holy
Quran:

"Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: 'O my Lord! Send me
back (to life),- In order that I may work righteousness in the things
I neglected.' - 'By no means! It is but a word he says.'- Before them
is a Partition till the Day they are raised up. Then when the Trumpet
is blown, there will be no more relationships between them that Day,
nor will one ask after another! Then those whose balance (of good
deeds) is heavy,- they will be successful: But those whose balance is
light, will be those who have lost their souls, in Hell will they
abide. The Fire will burn their faces, and they will therein grin,
with their lips displaced." (23:99-104)

The belief in life after death not only guarantees success in the
Hereafter but also makes this world full of peace and happiness by
making individuals most responsible and dutiful in their activities.
Think of the people of Arabia; gambling, wine, tribal feuds,
plundering and murdering were their main traits when they had no
belief in life after death. But as soon as they accepted the belief in
the One God and life after death they became the most disciplined
nation of the world. They gave up their vices, helped each other in
hours of need, and settled all their disputes on the basis of justice
and equality. Similarly the denial of life after death has its
consequences not only in the Hereafter but also in this world. When a
nation as a whole denies it, all kinds of evils and corruptions become
rampant in that society and ultimately it is destroyed. The Quran
mentions the terrible end of Àd, Thamüd and the Pharaoh in some
detail:

"The Thamüd and the Àd people disbelieved in the Day of Noise
Calamity! But the Thamüd,- they were destroyed by a terrible Storm of
thunder and lightning! And the Àd, they were destroyed by a furious
Wind, exceedingly violent; He made it rage against them seven nights
and eight days in succession: so that thou couldst see the (whole)
people lying overthrown in its (path), as if they had been roots of
hollow palm- trees tumbled down! Then seest thou any of them left
surviving?

And Pharaoh, and those before him, and the Cities Overthrown,
committed habitual Sin. And disobeyed (each) the messenger of their
Lord; so He punished them with an abundant Penalty. We, when the water
(of Noah's Flood) overflowed beyond its limits, carried you (mankind),
in the floating (Ark), That We might make it a Reminder unto you, and
that ears (that should hear the tale and) retain its memory should
bear its (lessons) in remembrance.

Then, when one blast is sounded on the Trumpet, And the earth is
moved, and its mountains, and they are crushed at one stroke,- On that
Day shall the (Great) Event come to pass. And the sky will be rent
asunder, for it will that Day be flimsy, And the angels will be on its
sides, and eight will, that Day, bear the Throne of thy Lord above
them. That Day shall ye be brought to Judgment: not an act of yours
that ye hide will be hidden.

Then he that will be given his Record in his right hand will say: 'Ah
here! Read ye my Record! I did really think that my Account would (One
Day) reach me!' And he will be in a life of Bliss, In a Garden on
high, The Fruits whereof (will hang in bunches) low and near. Eat ye
and drink ye, with full satisfaction; because of the (good) that ye
sent before you, in the days that are gone!

And he that will be given his Record in his left hand, will say: 'Ah!
Would that my Record had not been given to me! And that I had never
realized how my account (stood)! Ah! Would that (Death) had made an
end of me! Of no profit to me has been my wealth! My power has
perished from me!'... (The stern command will say): 'Seize ye him, and
bind ye him, And burn ye him in the Blazing Fire. Further, insert him
in a chain, whereof the length is seventy cubits! This was he that
would not believe in Allah the Most High. And would not encourage the
feeding of the indigent! So no friend hath he here this Day. Nor hath
he any food except the foul pus from the washing of wounds, Which none
do eat but those in sin.'" (69:4-39)

Thus there are very convincing reasons to believe in life after
death.

Firstly, all the prophets of God have called their people to believe
in it.

Secondly, whenever a human society is built on the basis of this
belief, it has been the most ideal and peaceful society, free of
social and moral evils.

Thirdly, history bears witness that whenever this belief is rejected
collectively by a group of people in spite of the repeated warning of
the prophet, the group as a whole has been punished by God even in
this world.

Fourthly, moral, aesthetic and rational faculties of man endorse the
possibility of life after death.

Fifthly, God's attributes of Justice and Mercy have no meaning if
there is no life after death.


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