Life after death

Life after death

 Life After Death

 The question of whether there is a life after death is 


not an issue of scientific concern, for science only 


deals with the classification and analysis of sense 


data. While man has been conducting scientific 


inquiries and research, in the modern sense of the 


term, for only the last few centuries, he has been 


familiar with the concept of life after death since time 


immemorial.

All of the prophets sent by God for the benefit of 


humanity called upon their people to worship God and 




to believe in life after death. They laid so much 


emphasis on this last belief that even a slight doubt 


about its reality was considered a sign of denying 


both God and all other beliefs.

The very fact that they have dealt with this 


metaphysical question of life after death so confidently 


and so uniformly, despite the fact that they appeared 


over thousands of years and in different places, 


proves that the source of their knowledge about this 


reality was one and the same: divine revelation. We 


also know that these prophets of God were opposed 


strongly by their people on this very issue, as many 


considered it impossible. Despite such opposition, 


however, the prophets were able to convince many 


people of its truth.

This raises the following question: 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 analyzed the issue with 


their minds and hearts and came gradually to the 


realization that the prophets were speaking the truth. 


Did they realize the truth through perceptual 


consciousness? No, for a perceptual experience of life 


after death is impossible.

 What they used was their rational, aesthetic, and 


moral consciousness, which God has given to every 


individual in addition to a perceptual consciousness. 




These additional faculties guides an individual through 


those realities that cannot be verified by sensory data. 

That is why all prophets of God appeal to the 


aesthetic, moral, and rational consciousness of man 


when discussing metaphysical matters. For example, 


when the idolaters of Makkah denied even the 


possibility of life after death, the Qur'an exposed the 


weakness of their stand by advancing very logical and 


rational arguments in support of it:

And he has coined for Us similitude, and has

forgotten the fact of his creation, saying: Who will

revive these bones when they have rotted away? Say:

He will revive them Who produced them at the first,

for He is the knower of every creation, Who has

appointed for you fire from the green tree, and

behold, you kindle from it. Is not He who created the

heavens and the earth, able to create the like of

them? Yes, and He is indeed the Supreme Creator, t

he All-knowing. (36: 78-81)

In another verse, the Qur'an says very clearly that

non believers do not have a sound basis for their

denial of life after death. It is based on pure

conjecture:

They say, 'There is nothing but our present life; we

die, and we live, and nothing but Time destroys us.

Of that they have no knowledge; they merely

conjecture. And when our revelations are recited to

them, their only argument is that they say, 'Bring us

our fathers, if you speak truly.' (45:24-25)

Surely God will raise all those who have died, but only

when He chooses to do so. A day will come when the

whole universe will be destroyed and then the dead

will be resurrected to stand before God. This day will


be the beginning of the life that will never end, and on

that day every person will be rewarded by God

according to his or her good or evil deeds. This day is

called the Day of Judgment.

The Qur'an states that there will be a life after death

because the moral consciousness of mankind

demands it. If there is no life after death, any belief

God Himself becomes irrelevant. Furthermore, such a

situation would mean that God is unjust and

indifferent, for how could He create mankind and then l

ose interest in His creation? As God is just, those

people who have committed crimes must be

punished. All of those tyrants who have killed scores

of innocent persons, unleashed great corruption and

evil within their societies, enslaved their people to

serve their whims, and other terrible deeds must be

brought to justice.

As man's life is so short and the world is not eternal,

true justice can only be meted out in the afterlife,

which will have none of these limitations. The Qur'an

states that the Day of Judgment must come and that

God will decide the fate of each soul according to his

or her record of deeds:

Those who disbelieve say: 'The Hour will never come

unto us.' Say: 'Nay by my Lord but it is coming unto

you surely.' (He is) the Knower of the Unseen. Not an

atom's weight, or less than that or greater, escapes

Him in the heavens or in the earth, but it is in a clear

record, that He may reward those who believe and do

good works. For them is pardon and a rich provision.

But those who strive against Our revelations,

challenging Us, theirs will be a painful doom of wrath.

(34:3-5)

The Day of Resurrection will be the manifestation of


God's justice and mercy. He will shower His mercy on

those who suffered during their lives for His sake,

believing that eternal bliss was awaiting them. Those

who abused the bounties of God and did not care

about the life to come will be in the most miserable

state. Drawing a comparison between them, the

Qur'an says:

Is he, then, to whom we have promised 

a goodly promise the fulfillment of which he will

meet, like the one whom We have provided with the

good things of this life, and then on the Day of

Resurrection he will be of those who will be brought

arraigned before God? (28:61)

The Qur'an 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 and make fun of virtuous and God-conscious

persons. Such persons realize their folly only at the

time of their death, a time when their wish to be given

a further return to this life and make amends will be in

vain. 

Their miserable state at the time of death, the horror

of the Day of Judgment, and the eternal bliss

guaranteed to sincere believers are presented very

clearly and powerfully in the Qur'an:

Until, when death comes unto one of them, he says,

'My Lord send me back, that I may do right in that

which I have left behind. ~ But nay! It is but a word

that he speaks; and behind them is a barrier until the

day when they are raised. And when the Trumpet is

blown there will be no kinship among them that day

nor will they ask of one another. Then those whose

scales are heavy, they are successful. And those

whose scales are light are those who lose their souls,

in hell abiding, the fire burns their faces and they are

alum therein. (23: 99-104)

The belief in life after death guarantees success in the

Hereafter and also makes this world a place of peace

and happiness by transforming people into individuals

who are more responsible and dutiful in their

activities.

Consider the example of the people who lived in the

Arabian peninsula before the appearance of the

Prophet Muhammad. They were great lovers of

gambling, wine, tribal feuds, plundering, and

murdering. As they had no concept of an afterlife,

why not enjoy themselves as they saw fit? But as

soon as they accepted the belief in the One God and

an afterlife, they became a very disciplined nation.

They gave up their vices, helped each other when

requested to do so, and settled all their disputes on

the basis of justice and equality.

The denial of life after death also has consequences in

this world. When an entire nation denies belief in the

afterlife, all kinds of evils and corruption are

unleashed and the society is set on the path to

ultimate destruction. The Qur'an mentions the terrible

end of such pre-Islamic peoples as the Aad, the

Thamud, and the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt:

(The tribes of) Thamud and 'Aad disbelieved in the

judgment to come. As for Thamud, they were

destroyed by the lightning and as for 'Aad, they were

destroyed by a fierce roaring wind, which He 

imposedon them for seven long nights and eight long 

days so

that you might see the people laid prostrate in it as if

they were the stumps of fallen down palm trees. Now

do you see a remnant of them? Pharaoh likewise and

those before him, and the subverted dines. They

committed errors and they rebelled against the

Messenger of their Lord, and He seized them with a

surpassing grip. Lo, when the waters rose, We bore

you in the running ship that We might make it a

reminder for you and for heeding ears to hold.

So when the [trumpet is blown with a single blast and

the earth and the mountains are lifted up and crushed

with a single blow, then on that day the [error shall

come to pass, and the heavens shall be split for upon

that day it shall be very frail. Then as or him who is

given his book in his right hand, he shall say: Here,

take and read my book! Certainly I thought that I

should encounter my reckoning' So he shall be in a

pleasing life in a lofty garden, its clusters nigh

together 'Eat and drink with wholesome appetite for

that you did long ago, in the days gone by.' But as for

him who is given his book in his left hand, he shall

say: -Would that I had not been given my book and

not known my reckoning! Would that it had been the

end. My wealth has not availed me, my authority is

gone from me. (69: 439)

There are very convincing reasons to believe in life

after death.

First: All the prophets of God have called their people

to believe in it.

Second: Whenever a society is built on the basis of

this belief, it has been the most ideal and peaceful

society, free of social and moral evils.

Third: History bears witness that whenever this belief

has been 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.

Fourth: The moral, aesthetic, and rational faculties of man endorse the possibility of life after death.

Fifth: God's attributes of justice and mercy have no 




meaning if there is no life after death.