What am l? What was I before now? Where am I from? Where am I? Why am I here? Where do I go from here? What is the purpose of all these? These are some of many questions that come to the mind of man. For a young Muslim or someone whose faith is young, these questions sometimes puzzle the mind. How well do you answer them? Let's try and answer them together as we go along. The first one is easy, we all should know that.
What are you? You are a living being. You are at the top of food chain. Thus, the best out of all the rest (Q95:4). You have the most developed brain, a S-shaped spinal cord and you walk upright. You have logic, hence you can think and reason. You are one of an estimated 6 billion of your kind scattered all over the world. In science, you are referred to as a homo sapien. Simply put, you are a human being.
What were you before now? Nothing! You were nothing before you came into this world. The most authentic of all sources says:
"Has there not been over man a long period of time, when he was nothing-not even mentioned?" (Q76:1)
The question that follows is where are you from then, if you were nothing before?
Where are you from? Of course we are not talking about your birtWhat am l? What was I before now? Where am I from? Where am I? Why am I here? Where do I go from here? What is the purpose of all these? These are some of many questions that come to the mind of man. For a young Muslim or someone whose faith is young, these questions sometimes puzzle the mind. How well do you answer them? Let's try and answer them together as we go along. The first one is easy, we all should know that.
What are you? You are a living being. You are at the top of food chain. Thus, the best out of all the rest (Q95:4). You have the most developed brain, a S-shaped spinal cord and you walk upright. You have logic, hence you can think and reason. You are one of an estimated 6 billion of your kind scattered all over the world. In science, you are referred to as a homo sapien. Simply put, you are a human being.
What were you before now? Nothing! You were nothing before you came into this world. The most authentic of all sources says:
"Has there not been over man a long period of time, when he was nothing-not even mentioned?" (Q76:1)
The question that follows is where are you from then, if you were nothing before?
Where are you from? Of course we are not talking about your birth place or your country. You are from Allah, created by Him to be His representative:
"Behold, your Lord said to the angels; "I will create a vicegerent on earth ..." (Q2:30).
Where are you? You are on planet Earth, very small part of a vast creation called the universe. The Earth is a spherical solid object flattened at the poles. It is the third of nine planets that revolves round the sun. This is the only planet that can sustain life, because it is the only one that has water. Allah says:
"... We made from water every living thing. ... (Q21:30)
You just like the universe and everything else either came just like that, or you created yourself or you were created by someone. It is very clear that you, as well as the universe, didn't come just like that nor did you create yourself. The universe in which you are and all that is in it, owe its existence to a Creator.
"Behold! In the creation of the heavens and tile earth ... (here) indeed are signs for a people that are wise. "(Q2: 164)
"0 you people! Worship your Guardian-Lord, who created you and those who came be you, that you may become righteous" (Q2: 21).
Hence it is only Allah that can create from nothing.
Why are you here? That is easy; it is to worship Allah, your Creator:
"I have only created jinns and men that they may serve Me (Q51:56).
Allah further confirms that mankind has
"...been directed to submit ourselves to the Lord of the worlds, to establish regular prayers and to fear Allah for it is to Him that we shall be gathered together" (Q6: 71-72)
"Did you think that We had created you in jest and that you would not be brought back to Us (for account)?" (Q23: 115).
That is the indication to the answers of the next two questions: where do I go from here and what is the purpose of all these?
DEATH KNOCKS
From here you go to the next world. But for you to leave this world, there has to be a way, a means. Just like birth is the means of entering this world, death is the entry into the next. Death is the separation of the soul from the body. It is a must for everybody; for
" every soul shall have a taste of death. .. " (Q3:185).
When man dies, in reality it is only the flesh that perishes. The soul lives on, for there is another world after this one. It is that next world, the Hereafter that you go from here.
According to the Qur'an, al Aakhirah is the Hereafter. It is also translated as life after death; the 'ends' of life. Al Aakhirah refers to another existence after the life of this world. A person's hereafter is shaped by the way he conducts his life in this world. The Hereafter includes the Day of Resurrection (Yawm al Qiyaamah) and the Day of Judgement (Yawm ad Diini where everyone will be treated with the mercy and absolute justice of the Creator.
In Islam, the Hereafter is not only possible, it is necessary and desirable. The Hereafter is a world in which only Allah has complete knowledge, just like it is only Allah that has complete knowledge of this our present world.
There are three stages in the life after death. After physical death, comes the state of barzakh. Barzakh literally means a period that intervenes between two things i.e. the period between death and resurrection. The Qur'an refers to this period as life in the grave:
"Then He causes him to die, and puts him in his grave;" (Q80:21).
Grave is not only the place prepared underneath the ground, but it also refers to anywhere a dead body is kept. So a dead body burnt to ashes or one whose body was not found will also experience this stage.
Life in the grave will either be pleasant or otherwise depending on a person's collection of actions while on earth. Thus, the grave can become either a garden from the gardens of Paradise for the person of iman (faith) and good deeds, or a ditch from the ditches of Hell ungrateful for the unbelievers. The Prophet (PBUH) warned:
"there is punishment in the grave (Bukhari)
several times and taught, to seek refuge in Allah from it.
The next stage is Last Day & Resurrection. The Last day is the day in which the entire material world will be destroyed by Allah's command. The Qur'an ' presents the most graphic description of this day which includes terrific explosions and dreadful tremors:
"One day tile earth and tile mountains will be ill violent commotion and the mountains will be as a heap of sand poured out and flowing down" (Q73:14) (See also Q81, 82, 84, 86)
COLD LOGIC!
Should I believe in life after death? Do not be confused; use your head to answer this question. Apply cold logic to the two situations.
Yes!
You believe in life after death, and this belief guides your life and in turn you live a life of fulfillment, comfort, contentment and submission to Almighty Allah in Islam. Then you die and there is life after death and you are rewarded with Paradise, where there is eternal bliss. If there is no life after death after all, you'll have lived a fulfilled life anyway. So either way: good for you, you would not have lost out.
No!
You didn't believe in life after death and in turn lived a life of total freedom and recklessness guided by no rules and fears. After your death, you find no aakhirah, no problem; no loss! Wait a minute! What if there is life after death (as there certainly is)? Then you'll be the loser. For by then it will be too late to do anything about it. And you'll begin to be punished in the grave which will continue in jahannama and will last forever.
So think about it. How well do you reason? Will you take the chance of an eternal loss? I won't and you shouldn't. Submit to Allah today; do not wait!
JUDGEMENT DAY
Resurrection is when everybody born into the world will be recreated and called upon to render a full account of his doings on earth. Allah says.
"That Day shall you be brought to Judgment! Not an act of yours that you hide will be hidden "(Q69: 18).
The mouth will be idle on that Day:
"That Day shall beset a seal on their mouths. But their hands will speak to us, - and their feet will bear witness to all that they did "(Q3 6: 65)
the judgment on this day will be like no other, but Allah has assured mankind of His fairness, (Q21:48). Each person will have enough concern of his own to make him indifferent to those surrounding him. (Q83:33-41)
Paradise & Hell: Depending on the verdict of the Judgment from the previous stage, a person either goes to Jahannamah,or Al Jannah, Paradise.
Jahannamah, Hell is the abode of non-Muslims and the bad believers. In it, is all the punishment and torture a person could ever imagine or dream of? Punishment such as described in QI8:19: "...for the wrong-doers We have prepared a Fire whose (smoke and flames), like the walls and roof of a tent, will-hem them ill: ... "
The only ones that can escape are those that sincerely believe in the oneness of Allah, even If it is an atom's weight. It will be the permanent abode of disbelievers whether they were good or bad on earth. For the minimum ticket into Paradise is the belief in Allah as the One and Only True God.
Al Jannah is the permanent abode of the good believer. There exist all means of comfort, ease and happiness and all that one may enjoy. Everything one wishes for will be available there and much more, it is only Allah that knows the complete bounties of Paradise (Q32:18). Allah gives some hints:
"(Here is) the description of the garden which the righteous are promised: in it are rivers of water unstaling; rivers milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink; rivers of honey pure and clear. III it there are for them all kinds of fruits; "(Q47: 15).
IMPLICATIONS OF AL AAKHIRAH
When one believes in life after the death of man's flesh, it makes the believer responsible and accountable for his actions, and one also gets punished or rewarded for those actions.
RESPONSIBILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY: Man wasn't created into this world for fun, (Q23:115) Instead man was created for worship (Q56:51) on which he will be judged after leaving this world. This instills in a believer responsibility, for he knows he'll be held responsible and accountable for his deeds whether good or bad one day. This is in agreement with the Qur'anic verse:
"0 you who believe! Fear Allah and let every soul look to what (provision) he has sent forth for the morrow. Yes fear Allah for Allah is well-acquainted with (all) that you do" (Q59:18)
REWARDS & PUNISHMENT: Allah is indeed a just Lord (Q4:40). If there were no life after death, this statement wouldn't be true. This is because the wicked and evil ones seem to be living a life of ease and comfort; whereas the poor and pious find things very difficult indeed. Will this go uncorrected? No, Allah has set this straight by providing a day for true justice. Allah, the Exalted says:
"Or do those who commit evil deeds suppose that We shall make them as those who believe and do good works, the same in life and death? Bad is their judgment: And Allah has created the heavens and the earth with truth, and that every soul may be repaid what it has earned." (Q45:21-22)
This justice and fairness requires that there be a life after death: since Allah would not treat the righteous believers in the same way as the corrupted ones (Q38:22). The successful shall have a blissful life in Al- jannah, whereas the unsuccessful ones will be punished in Hell.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited