|
 The
question of whether or not there is life
after death does not fall under the field of
science, because science is only concerned
with the classification and analysis of
recorded 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 idea 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 so confidently and
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, that is, 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 that opposition, the prophets won many
sincere followers. The question arises, what
made those followers forsake the established
beliefs, traditions and customs of their
forefathers, regardless of the risk of being
totally alienated from their own community?
The simple answer is that they made use of
their faculties of mind and heart and
realized the truth.
Did they realize the truth through
experiencing it? Not so, as the 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 the life hereafter, appealed to the
aesthetic, moral and rational sides of man.
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 a 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 it not He who
created the heavens and the earth, able to
create the like of them? Yes, and He is
indeed the Supreme Creator, the All-Knowing.
At another occasion, the Qur'an very clearly
says that the disbelievers have no sound
basis for their denial of life after death.
It is based on pure conjectures:
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 father, if you speak truly.' (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 good and evil deeds.
The explanation that the Qur'an gives about
the necessity of life after death is what
the 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 only to be unconcerned 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, and so forth. Man, having a
very short span of life in this world, and
this physical world, also, not being
eternal, punishments or rewards equal to the
evil or noble deeds of persons are not
possible here. The Qur'an 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:
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 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 Qur'an says:
Is he, then, to whom we have promised a
goodly promise the fulfilment 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 and wish in
vain to be given a further chance in the
world. 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 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 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 glum therein. (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 a life hereafter. But as soon as
they accepted the belief in 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
Qur'an mentions the terrible end of 'Aad,
Thamud and the Pharaoh in some detail:
(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 imposed on 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 remnant of them? Pharaoh
likewise and those before him and the
subverted cities. They committed errors and
those before him, 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 Terror shall come to pass, and the
heaven shall be split, for upon that day it
shall be very frail. Then as for 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 to
gather.
Eat and drink with wholesome appetite for
what 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 known my
reckoning! Would it had been the end! My
wealth has not availed me, my authority is
gone from me.' (69:4-29)
Thus, 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.
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 spit 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 facilities 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. |
