Discussions on Resurrection and life after death from Islamic perspective.[divider]
[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” width=”400px” ]Name: Resurrection in the Quran
author: Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini
Translated By: Sayyid Athar Husayn S.H. Rizvi[/box]
[button color=”green” size=”medium” link=”https://byislam.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Resurrection-in-the-Quran.pdf” target=”blank” ]Download “Resurrection in the Quran” – PDF[/button]
Many ask the question, “Why did God create us?”
And sometimes they go further than this and ask, “What is the philosophy of Creation of this great universe?”
A gardener plants a tree for its fruit and he plows the earth for seeds and spreads the seeds, why did the Great Gardner of Creation create us?
Was God lacking something that He created us?
If so, He will be in need of something and this does not suit the fact that He is in the station of the Creator and is Infinite in Existence.
There are many words which have been written in response to this question but it can be summarized in a few sentences.
It is a great mistake to compare God’s Qualities with our own. As we are limited creature, everything we do is in order to eliminate a need. We study in order to make up for the deficiency we have in learning.
We work in order to make up for the economic deficiency we have.
We seek after health centers and treatment in order to meet our health requirements.
In relation to God Who is Needless from all points of view, if we do something we must seek Him in other than His Existence. He does not create in order to benefit from His Creation, rather His goal is to Be for His creatures.
He is like a sun which is full of radiance and is Infinite without Him having any need, He illuminates so that all may gain advantage from it. This is what His Infinite Essence is and His special blessing where He has taken the hands of His creatures and moves them towards transformation and perfection.
Our creation from non-being was itself an outstanding step of transformation. The sending of the prophets and the descent of a heavenly Book and the formulation of laws and programs are each to be reckoned to be a basis for us.
“This universe is a great university and we are students in this university”.
“This world is a readied pasture and we are the farmers of this land”.
“This world is a beneficial, commercial center and we are merchants in this bazaar.” (Nahj al-Balaghah)
How can we, for the creation of humanity, be the purpose of a goal? When we look around ourselves and we look at each and every creature, each one has a goal.
In the wondrous system or factory of our body, there is nothing which is without a goal including our eyelashes and the arches in our feet.
How is it possible that the structure of our body, each particle of it, have a goal but the totality of our being lack one?
We leave aside our own bodies and we look at the great world; we see that every system has a separate goal, the goal of the shining of the sun, the goal of rain falling, the goal of the special characteristics of the air that breathe, but it is possible that the totality of this then, lack a goal?
The truth is that within the heart of this expansive universe, it is as if these where a painting showing the final goal which we cannot always see at the first moment but it says, “Education and transformation.”
Now that we have briefly become familiar with the goal of creation, words are about whether or not our life of a relative few days with all of its difficulties, problems and deficiencies can be the goal of creation?
Let us assume that I will live 60 years in this world and everyday from morning until night, I struggle to earn a living and at night, exhausted, I return home and the conclusion or result is that throughout my life, several tons of food and water are consumed and with difficulty, I purchase a house and then die and leave this world. Does this goal have the value to call me to live with all of these difficulties?
In truth, if an architect builds an enormous building in the wilderness and he spends many years completing it and he provides it with all of the necessary facilities and when he is asked, “What is your purpose?” He says, “My goal is that all of my life I build this building for passer-bys to spend an hour in it!
Will we not be surprised and will we not say, “Does one hour of rest of a passer-by need all of this effort?”
Because of this, those who do not believe in life after death, think that life in this world is absurd and this perspective is often repeated in the words of the materialists, to whom living in this world is purposeless. Often, among these individuals there are people who commit suicide because they are tired of this life.
That which gives purpose to life and makes it logical is because it is the preliminary for another life and the bearing of the difficulties of this life is preparatory for making use of the way towards an eternal life.
Here we had previously presented an interesting example, and that is that if a fetus which is in its mother’s womb had sufficient intelligence and if they were to say to it, “There is nothing after this life for you,” the fetus would most certainly object to this and would ask, “What purpose is there in my being imprisoned in this environment? To go through all this and then nothing?”
The Creator had a purpose in this creation!
But if we are assured that these several months are but a quickly passing phase and the preparatory stage for a relatively long life in this world, a world which in relation to the world of a fetus, is extensive and full of light and in relation to that it has several stages, the fetus will be assured that the period of gestation makes sense and that it has a goal and because of that, it is bearable.
The Holy Qur’an says:
“And you certainly know already the first form of creation. Why then do you not celebrate praises?” (56:62)
In summary, this world cries out with all of its being that there is another world after this world, otherwise it would be useless.
Listen to the words of the Holy Qur’an,
“Did you then think that We had created You in jest and that you would not be brought back to Ifs (for account)?” (23:115)
This refers to the fact that if there were no return to God, as mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, through the resurrection, the creation of human beings would be equivalent to being useless.
The conclusion is that the philosophy of creation says that after this world, another world must exist.
Think and Answer
1. Why can the Qualities of God not be compared to the qualities of a human being?
2. What was the purpose behind our creation?
3. Can life in this world be a goal for the creation of the human being?
4. A comparison of the life of a fetus with life in this world teaches us what?
5. What reasoning does the Holy Qur’an give for the creation of this world for the existence of the hereafter?
If we take this world into consideration, without concerning ourselves with any other, it will be meaningless and empty.
It is similar to the time of life when a fetus is not in this world, but is in the womb.
A child who is within its mother’s womb and who is imprisoned for months in this darkness and narrowness, if it was to have wisdom and intellect, and was to think about its being a fetus, it would be very surprised.
Why am I imprisoned in this dark prison?
Why do I have to move in water and blood?
What result will the end of my life have?
When did I come, why have I come?
But if one is made aware of the fact that this is a Preliminary stage, that their organs are formed here, they gain strength and become prepared for movement in this great world.
After the passing of 9 months, it is freed, it moves into a world in which the sun shines, the moon reflects, green trees and streams of water flow and multiple benefits are attained; then it takes a deep breath and says, “Now I have understood the philosophy of my existence here.”
This is a preliminary stage; this is a place to fly from; this is a class to pass through in order to move towards a great university.
But if the life of a fetus is cut off from life in this world, everything will become dark and meaningless – a frightening prison with purposeless and harmful results.
This is exactly the point in the relation of life in this world with life after death.
What is the point in our living more or less 70 years in this world?
For a time, we are immature and inexperienced and by the time that we become mature, our life ends.
For a time, we must study and work and by the time that we study and learn, we have reached old age.
Why are we alive? To eat, wear clothes and sleep? And repeating this life day after day.
Is this extensive universe, this expansive world and the storing of all of this knowledge and experience, all of these teachers and instructors, all repeated for eating, drinking and putting on clothes?
It is here that the meaninglessness of this life will be clear to those who do not believe in the next world because they cannot reckon this small issue to be the goal of life and they do not believe in the next world either.
Thus, it can be seen that a group of them try to commit suicide and end this absurd life. But if we believe that this world is a pasture for the after life or that it is a field which must be planted and then be taken as eternal life, that the world is a university in which we must learn and prepare ourselves for life in an eternal world, and that the world is a bridge which we must cross over, in this case, the world will not appear to be absurd and futile Rather it will be the beginning for an eternal life and no matter what efforts we make towards it, are small.
Yes. Faith in the resurrection gives meaning to human life and frees a person from anxiety, worry and absurdity.
Faith in the Resurrection is an Important Factor in Training
In addition to this, belief in the existence of a Court of the Day of Judgment is most effective in our daily lives.
Assume that it were to be announced in a country that there will be no punishment for such and such a crime and no records will be kept, that people can, with a clear conscience, live the day as they so desire. They give the day off to the police, the army and security forces. They lock the doors of the courts and until the next day when life will begin as normal, no crimes will be punished.
How do you think that society will spend that day? Belief in the resurrection, faith in the Day of Judgment, is in no way comparable to this world.
The details of this Court are as follows:
1. It is a trial, in which explanations are ineffective, nor can relations rule over norms nor can false statements be presented to change the decision.
2. It is a court which does not need the facilities of this world and because of this, it is not extended to take more time; it is studied like lightening and a decision is given immediately.
3. It is a court in which the file or record of people is their own deeds, that is, their deeds will themselves be present and made known by their actions in such a way that there is no way to deny them.
4. The witnesses in that court are his or her hands and feet, eyes and ears, tongue and skin and even the earth and the walls of a house in which there was sin or good deeds were committed will be there, witnesses which are like the effects of nature and cannot be denied.
5. This court is one whose Judge is God Almighty, God Who is Aware of all things, is Needless of all and Who is more Knowing than all others.
6. Beyond this, the punishments there are not contractual; it is our acts themselves which take form and will be alongside us and they will punish us or draw us into blessings.
Faith in such a court takes a person to the point that Hadrat ‘Ali says, “I swear to God that if I were to spend from night to the morning upon thorns and if my hands and feet were to be chained in the day and I were to be pulled through the streets and the bazaars, I am more willing to have this happen than to present myself to God’s Court if I have committed an oppression against one of God’s creatures or if I have usurped the rights of another.” (Nahj al-Balaghah, Sermon 224)
Can a Person with such Faith be Deceived?
It is faith in this Judgment that makes a human being place his brother’s hand near the fire to burn when he has extended it into the public treasury. And when the brother screams in pain, he advises him, “You are screaming from the flame of a toy fire which is in the hands of human beings whereas you take your brother to a fire which is extremely frightening and which is lit by the anger of the Creator?” (Nahj al-Balaghah, Sermon 224)
Can a person with such faith be deceived?
Can one buy his conscience with bribery?
Can he, with encouragement of threats, be made to deviate from the way of truth to the way of oppression?
The Holy Qur’an says when the scroll of deeds is shown to sinners, they cry out:
“Ah! Woe to us! What a book is this! It leaves out nothing small or great but takes account thereof!” (18:49)
In this way, powerful waves of the sense of responsibility grows towards the spirit of the human being which controls the human being from deviating, going astray, committing oppression and aggression.
Think and Answer
1. If there was nothing after this limited life and the situation of this world, what would happen?
2. Why does a group of those who deny the Resurrection deviate?
3. What are the differences between the Court of the Day of Judgment and the courts of this world?
4. What effects does faith in the Resurrection have upon the deeds of a human being?
5. What did Amir al-Mu’minin, ‘Ali, peace be upon him, do to his brother Aqil? What did he want and what response did ‘Ali give him?
Faith in the Resurrection is an Important Factor in Training
Can a Person with such Faith be Deceived?
Think and Answer