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, the 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.' (45:2425)
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 lose 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 :
t hem 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 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 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.