Aakhirat- Life After Life

[Ruqayyah]

Various Spheres

We have various Aalaam (spheres or worlds) around us. The Aalaam-e-Dunya, (the world), the Aalaam-e-Barzakh, (the world of the Grave), The Aalaam-e-Aakhirat,( the World after this life).

All these exist concurrently. They are functioning con-currently and by generally translating the word "Aakhirat" as `here-after' one is lead to believe that this sphere is still to be created. Thus as Dunya exists and we see it, the world of the Grave, and the hereafter i.e.Jannat (Heaven),Jahannum (Hell) and Aaraaf (Purgatory) with all their qualities are co-existing at the same time. Hadhrat Muhammad (saw), the truthful, honest and divine messenger, informed us about this and upon this is our faith.

Rational

Many criminals roam the streets freely and continue to deceit and parade around. Some are even respected. Drug smugglers, pushers, and peddlers are honoured and thieves and rogues ride high on other peoples wealth. Ruthless politicians are living in luxury while those who voted for them are grovelling in poverty. Adulterers who destroy the moral fibre of life walk shamelessly. The strong suppress the weak and the old. Women are raped, children butchered, women widowed, men slaughtered and homes gutted.

All this leads any sensible reasonable human being to conclude that one day justice will be done. This is the Day of Accountability, the Day of Judgement, the Day of Qiyamaat in the Aakhirat which Nabi (saw) taught us about. Every prophet of Allaah called towards three basic beliefs :

a. Tawheed- oneness of Allaah
b. Risalaat - Prophethood and
c. Aakhirat - Life after the life of this world.

Basis of Deen: Religion

We believe in the Aakhirat because Nabi Muhammad (saw) told us about it. The basis of Deen is Naql or Narration, provided that it is proper and authentic - and not Aql or Intellect. Intellect is subject to Naql and does not supersede it.

Upon death man is transferred into the next sphere( or Aalam )of the grave. There is no pre-resurrection before resurrection.

Aalaam-e-Qabr/Barzakh

This life is a reality. It is physical and spiritual. Similarly, questioning in the grave by the angels is a reality. Torments, punishments, comfort and ease are realities in the grave. It is the last stage before the Day of accountability. One who successfully passes this stage will Insha-Allaah pass the remainder easily.

Jannat and Jahannum (Heaven and Hell)

These are realities. These are physical and spiritual. The comfort, ease, luxury, boons, favours and pleasures of Jannat are a reality, as are the torments, heat, cold, punishment, fear and fire of Jahannum.

The seeing of Allaah is a reality and the greatest boon is to witness the pleasure of Allaah. After the weighing of actions, the religious ones whose good deeds will weigh heavier and who will therefore receive their life scrolls, (Naame Amal), in their right hands, will go to Jannat, whilst those whose scale of good deeds are lighter will receive their life scrolls in the left hand will go to Jahannam-Hell.

The believers will go to Hell to pay for their sins whilst the non-believers will remain there perpetually.

Aa'raf-(Purgatory)

In between Jannat and Jahannum there is an area called Aaraf. This is where all those whose scales are equal, and those who died as children of believers or non-believers, will go. Eventually they will all enter Jannat and Aa'raf will be destroyed.

Justice

Allaah is beyond question. Nothing is compulsory on him. If He decrees to send the Jannatees to Jahannum and vice versa no one can question Him. His authority is Supreme. No one can demand justice from Him. No one is on par or equal or superior to Him to question Him. He is in full control, but He is just and has promised justice and is truthful in His speech and pledges.

Intercession

The intercession by Rasulullaah (saw), Ambiyaa (Alaihis-Salaam), Sahabah (Radhiallahu-anhu), Martyrs, Ulema, Huffaz and religious ones is Haqq (A Reality). All with the will and permission of Allaah. There will come a time when Allaah will destroy all Aalaams and He, alone, will remain. Then He, once again will recreate everything for the Day of Accountability or Judgement. Then death itself will be put to death.

Our Responsibility

To believe in the reality of the above, to execute any action remembering that one Day there is going to be accountability, thus inculcating the fear of Allaah us and behaving according to the teachings of Islaam and hoping for the Mercy of Allaah.

[AbuMubarak]

the answer to our individual problems and the worlds problems is not far

we just have to sincerely want it

jazaki Allahu khayr, sis, for shairing this with us

hopefully, it will penetrate into the hearts and minds of the readers

[AbuMubarak]

Hisab
There is a life after death. We will all die and we will all be raised again after death on the Day of Judgment and will be judged according to our beliefs and deeds so that a pious person will be rewarded and a sinful person will be punished.

If a person had a true faith and did good deeds, Prayed, Fasted during Ramadhan, paid Zakat and Khums, gave to charity, looked after orphans, fed the poor and other such things, he would receive the grace of Allah and will be sent to Paradise. There will be many signs before the Day of Judgement. One of these signs is the re-appearance of the 12th Imam (A). He will re-appear when the world will become full of injustice. Hazrat Isa (A) will come down to help him n spreading the true faith and Imam Mahdi (A) will rule the whole world. The other signs are rising of the sun from the west and the Holy Qur'an being taken up.

The Day of Judgement will be of 50,000 years long and the sun will be very low and the earth will be red hot like heated copper.

What Will Happen On The Day Of Judgement:

1. Hisab

On the day of Judgement everyone's bad and good deeds will be accounted (Hisab) for, and accordingly they will be punished. Hisab can be taken by many methods but two common ones are mentioned below and they are Mizan and Books of Deeds

a. Mizan

This word actually means the weighing scale. On the Day of Judgement, there will be a weighing scale to weigh the good and evil deeds of men and women. Those whose scale of good deeds will be heavy, they will be rewarded and those whose scales will be light they will be punished.

It is important to note that if human beings have invented various types of scales, devices and equipment to measure things like the weather, blood pressure, etc., there is nothing imaginary in believing that Almighty Allah will weigh our deeds by the weighing scales. However, some learned people have interpreted Mizan as meaning the Justice of Allah, while others say Mizan means the Prophets (A) and Imams (A) who will judge the people.

All these interpretations may be correct; what's more, all of them may exist together. The following Ayats prove the existence of the weighing scales.

"And the "balance" that day is true. So he whose scales of good deeds will be heavy, will prosper; and that whose scales will be light will find themselves in loss, because they mistreated Our signs." (al A'raaf, 7:8-9)

"We shall set up "scales of justice" for the day of Judgement, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least; and if there be the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it to account; and enough are We to take account." (al Anbiya 21: 47)

b. Books of Deeds

On the Day of Judgement, the written record of our whole life will be given to us. This record is written by the two angels, Raqeeb and Ateed, who are deputed on every person. These angels write down our each and every action. The place of the two angels is the collar-bone; the one on the right side (Raqeeb) writes the good deeds, and the one on the left side (Ateed) writes the evil deeds.

On the Day of Judgement, people whose good deeds will exceed the bad, will receive the Book of Deeds in the right hand, while those whose bad deeds are more than good, will receive the Book of Deeds in the left hand.

Siraat
Siraat means Path. The Holy Qur'an has used the word 'As Siratal Mustaqim' (Straight Path) for the Divine religion. In the context of Qiyamah, Siraat means a bridge upon Hell over which all mankind will have to pass. It is our belief about Siraat that it is the bridge of Hell; and upon it is the path of all the creatures, as Allah says:

"Not one of you but all of you will pass over it; this is a firm decree of your Lord. Then We shall save those who guarded themselves against evil, and We shall leave the wrong doers therein (humbled) to their knees. (Maryam, 19 :71-72)

And Siraat, on the other hand, is the name of the Proofs of Allah (i.e. The Prophets (A) and the Imams (A)); thus; he who believed them in this world and obeyed them, Allah will give him permission to pass from Siraat. The Holy Prophet (S) said to Imam Ali (A):

"O Ali! On the day of Qiyamah, I, you and Jibra'il shall sit on the Siraat , and none shall pass over the Siraat except he who would have a release from Jahannam based on your Wilayat (love and obedience)."

The Prophets (A) and Imams (A) are called Siraat in this world because they provide a bridge, connecting us with Allah. It is perfectly right to call them Path of Allah. At the same time, they brought the Divine religion to help the people reach nearer to Allah, thus they are the Paths, and they are the Guides.

It is believed that this Path is divided into stations or stops, each of them having a separate name. When a man will reach a stop named after a Wajib thing, if he had neglected that thing (in the world), he will be detained there and will asked to pay the dues to Allah; then if any other good deed came to his rescue or the Mercy of Allah saved him, he will be allowed to pass safely from there to the next stop.

In this way he will be sent from pass to another and will be detained at every pass, and asked about his short-comings in that particular order of Allah. Then if he came out safely from all passes or stops, he will reach The House of Eternity, i.e. Paradise.

But if he was detained at a pass and was not saved by any good deed or the Mercy of Allah did not come to his rescue, his foot would slip from that pass, and he will fall into the fire of Jahannam. We seek protection of Allah against it.

The name of one of these stops is Wilayat. Everyone will be stopped therein, and asked about the love and obedience of Imam Ali bin Abu Talib (A) and the Imams (A) after him.

Likewise, one stop is named Sile-e-Raham (good behaviour towards relatives), and another is named Trust, another (prayer). Likewise, there will be passes named after every Wajib or Haraam deed. The Holy Qur'an repeats the command that will be given to the angels:

"And stop them, for they must be asked." (as Saffaat, 37:24)

It is also said that this bridge is thinner then the thinnest hair, sharper than the sharpest sword and hotter then fire.

Intercession (Shafa'at)
Shafa'at

Allah, in His Mercy, has opened many doors for his sinner servants to seek his pleasure and forgiveness. Two very important doors are Tawbah (Repentance) and Shafa'at (Intercession).

It is accepted by all Muslims that the Holy Prophet (S) will intercede (intervene to reconcile) on behalf of the sinners of his Ummat. An Ayat on this subject:

"Who is there that can intercede in his presence except by His permission?" (al Baqarah, 2:255)

For unbelievers there will NOT be any intercessor.

Shafa'at is meant for the benefit for those whose faith was accepted by Allah (i.e. true believers) who might have committed sins - major or minor. And those who had repented from their sins will not need any Intercession. The Holy Prophet (S) has said:

"He who did not believe in my intercession, Allah will not permit him to get my shafa'at."

The benefit for Shafa'at is not for those who had doubts about religion, nor for those who ascribe a partner to Allah, nor is it for unbelievers and those who had rejected the truth; but it is for the benefit of the sinners among those who believed in Allah (together with his true representatives).

The following Ayat is about the right of Shafa'at given to our Holy Prophet (S):

"Soon will your Lord raise you to a "station of praise and glory."

It will be the "station where the Holy Prophet (S) will intercede on behalf of the sinners. Allah will go on granting the intercession of the Holy Prophet (S) till he says:

"O my lord! Now i am well pleased and fully satisfied."

Paradise
It is the place where all sort of joy, happiness and Grace of Allah is found. It is a Garden of ever-lasting Bliss. All believers will be taken to Paradise, where they will stay forever. Sinful believers will first be punished, before they are sent to Paradise. Depending on the degree and the magnitude of sins, some sinful believers will first be sent to Hell, and then they will be brought to Paradise.

Some of the important facts about Paradise are as follows:

The Paradise is already created. It is "NOT that it will be created at some time in the future.
Believers' body and soul together will be brought to Paradise, and they would enjoy the reward physically.
Various names are used for Paradise in the Holy Qur'an, some of them are:
JANNATUL MAWA
(Garden of Abode)

JANNATUL NAEEM
(Garden of Bliss)

JANNATUL FIRDAUS
(Garden of Paradise)

DARUS SALAAM
(Abode of Peace)


Some streams of Paradise mentioned in the Holy Quran are: KAWTHER, SALSABEEL and TASNEEM.
Paradise has eight gates. Some of them are: Gate of Mercy, Gate of Patience, The Great Gate, etc.
TUBA is an important tree of Paradise. It is planted in the House of Prophet Muhammad (S) and Imam Ali (A). TUBA has a branch in every palace mansion. Whenever the believer would desire anything, that branch would provide it for him at once.
No Prophet (A) would enter Paradise until the Holy Prophet (S) enters it. Shias of Ahlul Bayt (A) would enter first amongst the various Ummats (followers of a Prophet).
In Paradise there is neither death nor old age, neither illness nor disease, neither sorrow nor worry, neither poverty nor handicap. The believers will get what the souls desire and eyes appreciate, and they will abide there forever.
The greatest Bliss (happiness) in Paradise will be the pleasure of Allah. That Allah is satisfied with you and given you what he had promised. You believed in Paradise without seeing it and now you will be in it.
Hell
The fire is the abode of disgrace and place of punishment for the unbelievers and sinners. The people of fire are poor in reality; they will not be allowed to die nor will their punishment be reduced; they will not taste in it any cold (water) or drink, except a boiling, dark, murky fluid. And if they want food, they would be fed with Zaqqum (a cursed tree); and if they seek relief they will be granted water like molten brass that will scald there faces.

It is also present in the traditions that Allah shall order some people to be led to the fire with an order :

"Fire! do not burn there feet, because they used to go to the mosques; and not to burn there hands, as they used to raise them for Dua's; and not to burn there tongues, because they used to recite the Qur'an; and not to burn there faces, because they used to perform Wudhu perfectly."

The fire (Hell) is home of all who did not know Allah. And even some of those who knew Allah will be sent therein because of there sins and wrong-doings; but it is believed that such a man will not live there forever, he will be taken out of it and sent to the ever lasting bliss. Nobody will remain forever in the fire except the unbelievers. Every Ayat which mentions ever-lasting punishment of Fire, is about the unbelievers.

Hell has Seven gates, as Allah says:

"To it are seven gates; for each of these gates is a special class of sinners assigned." (al Hijr,15:44)

According to the traditions, those gates are as follows:

Jaheem: Its people will be made to stand on burning stone which will make their brains boil, as cooking-pot boils its content.
"Then, for such as had transgressed the bounds, and had preferred the life of this world, the abode will be Jaheem." (an Naziaat, 79:37-39)

Ladha: It will be the place of those who turned away from Allah, and were busy in gathering wealth without taking out the dues of Allah and His creatures. The fire will catch them by their hands, feet and forehead and suck them inside.
"By no means! For it would be the "Ladha" (fire), plucking out the sinner right to the skull inviting all such as turn their backs and turn away their faces, and collect wealth and hide it." (al Ma-aarij, 70:15-18)

Saqar:
"Soon will I cast him in Saqar. And what will explain to you what Saqar is? It allows nothing to endure, nor does it leave anything alone; darkening and changing the colouring of man." (al Muddathir, 74:26-30)

Hutamah: Literal meaning : "That which crushes to pieces. It will break everyone who is sent inside and grind him to powder, and then they will be made whole again and again.
"Woe to every scandalmonger and backbiter, who piles up the wealth and lays it by; he thinks that his wealth would make him last forever. By no means! He will be sure to be thrown into Hutamah." (al Humazah,104:1-5)

Hawiyah: Literal meaning, a Pit.
"But he, whose balance of goods will be light, will have his home in a bottomless pit (Hawiyah)."(al Qari-ah, 101:8,9)

Sa'eer: It mean Blazing Fire. There are in it three hundred curtains of Fire, in every curtain are three hundred forts of Fire, in every fort are three hundred abodes of Fire; and in every abode are three hundred types of punishments of Fire; and scorpions of Fire, and yokes of Fire.
"Verily, we have prepared for the unbelievers chains, and yokes and blazing fire." (ad Dahr, 76:4)

Jahannam: Well known and the most feared. In it are the Falaq, Sa'ud and Atham.
Falaq is well inside Jahannam, when it is opened it makes the Fire blaze even more fiercely. And it is far greater punishment (compared to the previous six stages).

Sa'ud is a brass mountain of fire in the centre of Jahannam.

"Soon will I take him to Sa'ud (the mountain of punishment) (al Muddathir, 74:17)

Atham is a valley of melted brass around the above mentioned mountain. And it is the place of the fiercest punishment.

"As often as there skins are roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins; so that they may taste the punishment; for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise." (an Nisa, 4:56)

An atheist once asked Imam Jafar as Sadiq (A) about the above Ayat:

"Let us suppose that the present skins has participated in the sins. But what about the new skins? Surely, they would be innocent."

Imam (A) replied :
"It would be the same skin and yet it would be new one. Let us say that a man took a brick and crushed it to small particles, then pouring some water on it and putting it into a brick-making frame, made another brick out of it. Now, is it not the same brick?"

The atheist replied: "Certainly!"

Imam (A) has also said the following:
"Verily, there is a fire inside the Fire from which even the people of Fire would seek protection. It was created only for every proud, powerful obstinate transgressor, and for every rebellious Satan, and for every person who does not believe in the day of reckoning, and for every enemy of the Progeny of Muhammed (S)."

"The man with the lightest punishment on the day of judgement will be the one standing upto his ankles in the fire, wearing two sandals of fire with two straps of fire; his brain will be boiling by its heat like a cooking pot. He would be thinking that nobody would be suffering greater punishment, while in fact his would be the lightest calamity."

A'raaf
A'raaf means the Heights. It the place between the Gardens and the Fire. It has been mentioned in the 7th Sura of the Quran, which is called Al-A'raaf because of it. Some Ayats:

"And between them shall be veil or partition, and on the heights will be men who would know everyone by his marks; they will call out to the companions of the garden : `peace on you'. They will not have entered but they will have assurance thereof."

"And the men on the heights will call to certain men whom they will know from there marks, saying : `of what profit to you were your hoards and your arrogant ways? Behold! Are these not the men whom you swore that allah would never bless them with his mercy ?' then turning to the other group, they will say : `enter you the garden; no fear shall be on you nor shall you grieve."

The groups that the above Ayats mention are:

Those people who will identify everyone by his marks, and who will rebuke the people of the Fire and will tell the people of the Garden to enter the Paradise.
And, there will be those who would be waiting for the decision of Allah concerning themselves For example: those believers whose good and bad deeds would be of equal weight; those non-Shia Muslims who just followed a faith in which they were born, without knowing or understanding any thing and who had no enmity towards the progeny of Muhammad (S).
A'raaf is the boundary between the Garden and the Fire. It has also been said that it is a mountain between Paradise and Hell; so it is the boundary wall between the two places. What is certain is that it is a place neither of the Paradise not of the Fire. On the Day of Resurrection the Messenger of Allah (S) and Imams (A) will be upon it, and it is they that are meant in the words of Allah. `And on the Heights will be men who will know everyone by his marks.'

It is so because Allah will inform them about the people of Garden and the people of the Fire by some marks which he will put on them, and these will be the `signs' mentioned in the following ayats.

"They will know every one by his marks."
(al A'raaf, 7:46)

"The sinners will be known by there marks."
(ar Rahman, 55:41)

It has been mentioned in the traditions that Allah will keep upon the A'raaf some groups which would not deserve a reward without punishment but would not deserve ever lasting abode in the Hell. These are the people who will be waiting for the order of Allah; for such people there is intercession; and they will have to remain on the A'raaf till they are allowed to enter the Garden by the intercession of the Holy Prophet (S), Ali (A) and the Imams after him.

Also, it is said that A'raaf will be the abode of such people who were not sane in this life i.e. they were insane, or died before attaining adulthood.

Therefore, they did not do any good or bad deed to deserve the Garden or Fire. So, Allah will make them live in A'raaf; they will be saved from punishment but will not be given such blessings which other people will be given after doing good deeds (they will not be placed equal to those who reached there after a life spent in good deeds).

[Huja Usman]

Universal wisdom proves the Resurrection

God is absolutely free in His acts; He does whatever He wills and no one can call Him to account for what He does. However, He is the All-Wise and acts with absolute purposiveness and wisdom. He never exerts Himself in vain and never does a thing that is futile or pointless.

When a man looks at himself and ponders over his nature, and his physical and spiritual identity and structure, when he studies his body with all its parts down to the cells, he will see that he has been created for certain important purposes and there is not even a single useless atom in his structure. Like man, the normo-universe, the universe, which is the macro-human being, manifests great purposes and innumerable instances of wisdom in all its parts. There is not a meaningless and useless thing the size of even a gnat’s wing.

Man has a unique place among creation. Whatever is in the universe, God has placed some aspect of it in man’s creation. With his mental and spiritual faculties he represents angelic and other spiritual worlds like the world of symbols or immaterial forms. What is more, by virtue of his inborn capacity to learn and the free will with which he is endowed, he has the potential to excel even angels. With his physical or biological being, he represents plants and animals. Although contained in time and place, with his spiritual faculties and other powers like imagination, he goes beyond time and space. Despite man’s matchlessness and indescribable worth among creatures, some human beings die at birth and some quite young. In addition, man longs for eternity and desires an eternal life, some of his senses or feelings are satisfied with nothing but eternity. If he were left free to choose between eternal life with severe hardships and eternal non-existence after a short luxurious life, most probably he would prefer eternal life with hardships. He would even prefer eternal existence in Hell to eternal non-existence. God, Who is the All-Merciful and All-Wise, did not condemn man to eternal non-existence. Nor did He give him the desire for eternity so that he would suffer the anguish of a heart-felt desire impossible to satisfy. So Divine Wisdom requires the existence of an eternal world where man will live eternally.



The world does not suffice for the right judgment of man’s worth

The world does not suffice for the right judgment of man’s worth. Although, physically, he is a small body, through his mental and spiritual faculties he embraces the whole of the universe. His acts do not relate only to the visible world and cannot be restricted by time and space. He has so universal a nature that even the acts of the first man has effects on the life and character of the last man, on the whole of existence. To restrict man, as materialists do, to a physical entity and to a very short part of time and a limited part of space, is the worst of insolence to man and inappreciation of him. The scales of this world cannot weigh the intellectual and spiritual value of the Prophets and their achievements, nor can they weigh the measure of the destruction caused by world-notorious individuals like Pharaoh, Nero, Hitler, Stalin and the like. The scales of this world cannot weigh the true value of a sincere belief and moral qualities. With what can you reward a martyr who has sacrificed himself, his world, for God’s sake, for the sake of others or for the sake of some universal human values like justice and truthfulness. With what can you reward a believing scientist who has dedicated himself to the service of humanity and made an invention from which the whole of mankind will benefit until the Last Day? It is only the scales of the other world, scales which can weigh even an atom’s weight of good and an atom’s weight of evil, that can do so.
The necessity of man’s deeds being weighed alone would require an infinitely just and precise balance to be set up


We set up a just balance for the Day of Resurrection. Thus, no soul will be treated unjustly. Even though it be the weight of one mustard seed, We shall bring it forth to be weighed; and Our reckoning will suffice. (21:47)

Supposing there were nothing to require the Resurrection, the necessity of man’s deeds being weighed alone would require an infinitely just and sensitive balance to be set up.
Most of the misguided and unjust depart this world unpunished, and most of the guided and oppressed depart unrewarded. Such affairs are, certainly, deferred to a supreme tribunal, an ultimate contentment

God is not obliged to do anything. He does whatever He wishes and acts however he wills. Nevertheless, starting from the undeniable fact that whatever He does, He does it for certain purposes, we can conclude that His universal Wisdom requires the Resurrection. Is it conceivable that the Majestic Being, Who manifests the Sovereignty of His being Lord in the order, purposiveness, justice and balance prevalent throughout the universe, from atoms to galaxies, would not show His favor to those believers who seek the protection of His being their Lord and Sovereign, who believe in His Wisdom and Justice and act in conformity with them through worship? Again, is it conceivable that He would not chastise those impudent ones who, denying His Wisdom and Justice, turn against Him in rebellious insolence? Since, in this impermanent world, scarcely a thousandth part of His Wisdom and Justice are established with respect to man, it is certain that they are deferred. For most of the misguided depart this world unpunished, and most of the guided depart unrewarded. Such affairs are, certainly, deferred to a supreme tribunal, an ultimate contentment.

God decrees: “Did you reckon that We only created you in vain, and that to Us you would not be returned? So, exalted is God (from exerting Himself in what is vain), the Sovereign, the Truth. There is no god but He, Lord of the Noble Throne.”







It is clear that the One Who administers this world does so in accordance with an infinite wisdom. Do you need convincing? The proof lies in the way that the use and benefit in all things is manifested. Have you not seen how many wise purposes are served by every limb and bone and vein in man, by every cell of his brain, and every particle of every cell in his body? Indeed, the purposes are as numerous as the fruits of a tree, which confirms that all is arranged in accordance with infinite wisdom. A further proof is the absolute orderliness in the fashioning of all things. In short, there are universal purposes for man’s earthly existence. As is declared in the Quran, Did you reckon that We only created you in vain, and that to Us you would not be returned? So, exalted is God (from exerting Himself in what is vain), the Sovereign, the Truth. There is no god but He; Lord of the Noble Throne (23:115-16), man has not been created for mere play or sport. The grave, eternal non-existence, is not the goal of his life. He has been created for another, eternal life where all his acts will have prepared for him a very large, eternal world full of either eternal beauties and blessings or evils and wickedness.

Divine Mercy and Munificence require the Resurrection

We see in the world that the more needy and helpless a creature is, the better it is nourished. For example, during the first stages of life, a human being is nourished in the best way and with no effort before and immediately after his birth. As he becomes an adult aware of his personal strength and will-power, he begins to meet his needs with great difficulties in order to make his living.

Similarly, animals like wolves and foxes, which rely on their power and cunning, are barely nourished despite much effort and toil, while fruit-worms live on the best of food and quite easily. Plants, a kind of creatures unable to move, take their food ready without any effort. All these examples, together with many others, clearly show that there is One absolutely Merciful and Munificent, Who has rule over the whole of creatures and sustain or maintain them.

For human beings in particular, it is impossible to gratify all of their desires and appetites in this limited life. Such qualities as youth, beauty, and strength, upon which a man sets his heart, desert him without even saying farewell and leave behind great sorrows, causing him to grieve. Their full satisfaction will in the Hereafter.

God is eternal, so are His Mercy and Munificence. An Eternal One manifests Himself eternally and requires the existence of eternal beings. His eternal Mercy and Munificence demand eternal manifestation and therefore eternal beings on whom He will confer His bounties eternally. However, the present, material world is subject to perishing: the death of millions of living creatures every day, the extinction of numerous lives, is indicative of this world’s final, overall death. In addition, the material world cannot receive the manifestations of Divine Names and Attributes in all their comprehensiveness. Also, living beings have to exert much effort and struggle through many hardships and difficulties in order to maintain themselves. For human beings in particular, it is impossible to gratify all of their desires and appetites. Such qualities as youth, beauty, and strength, upon which a man sets his heart, desert him without even saying farewell and leave behind great sorrows, causing him to grieve. Also, in order to obtain, say, a cluster of grapes, he has to exert certain effort. Again, it would clearly be a pain, even an insult and mockery, to stop nourishing eternally after those who need nourishment have tasted it. For a blessing to be really a blessing, it must be constant. Without an eternal life, in which man will be able to gratify all his desires eternally, all the bounties and blessings God Almighty confers on man in this world will change into pains and sorrows. Therefore, after its overall destruction, God will change the world into an eternal one which is able to receive the manifestations of His Mercy and Munificence without any obstruction, in which man can satisfy all his desires eternally.

Divine Pity and Caring require the Resurrection

It is through the Divine Pity and Caring that wounds and wounded hearts and feelings are healed. Without this Pity and Caring, you could not stop a wound bleeding. Again, it is this Pity and Caring Which make a patient recover, stop the pangs of separation, and change pains and sorrows into joy and pleasure. The same Pity and Caring come to the aid of men and animals in all stages of their lives, especially before and after their birth. In their embryonic stage, the wombs of their mothers become well-protected homes for them, where they are nourished directly through their wombs without having to do anything themselves, and after their birth, the Divine Pity and Caring send them the best of food in the form of breast-milk impossible to substitute with anything else. Besides, all the feelings of pity and caring shared by all fathers and mothers are a single manifestation of the Divine Pity and Caring.

This material world is also unable to receive all the manifestations of the Divine Pity and Caring

The Divine Pity and Caring encompass the whole universe, but we encounter in the world numerous wounds and wounded feelings unhealed and numerous cases of incurable illness. Innumerable living beings suffer hunger and thirst and poverty. As in the case with the Divine Mercy and Munificence, the material world is also unable to receive all the manifestations of the Divine Pity and Caring. Especially the incapacity of men to receive those manifestations, in addition to the injustices of many and their misuses of their inborn abilities, intervenes between beings and the manifestations of the Divine Pity and Caring. Above all, death is the fate of all living beings; nothing else other than belief in another, eternal world can stop the sorrows it arouses in hearts.

The Messenger said: “God is much more compassionate than a mother. He does not throw His servants into Hell [unless the servants absolutely deserve it].”

God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, was once sitting in the Mosque, when some prisoners of war were brought to him. A woman who was looking for something in a great anxiety drew the Messenger’s attention to herself. Which boy the woman saw, she took him to her breast and then left him. She must have been looking for her son. At last she found him and embraced him, pressing him to her breast and caressing him with a great affection. This caused the Messenger to burst into tears and pointing to the woman, he asked his Companions around him:

- Do you see that woman? Does she throw that child in her arms into Hell?

‘No!’, the Companions answered, and the Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, added:

- God is much more compassionate than that woman. He does not throw His servants into Hell [unless the servants absolutely deserve it].1

The other world is the world where the Divine Pity and Caring will be manifested fully without any intervention and without allowing any sorrows and pains.

Divine Justice and Honor require the Resurrection

God’s Names and Attributes are all absolute and eternal. As He is absolutely and eternally Merciful, Relenting and Forgiving, so He is, again, absolutely and eternally Mighty, Just and Dignified. Although His Mercy embraces all things (7:156) and, as is stated in a hadith, exceeds His wrath, some people commit such great crimes and sins (like unbelief and associating partners with God) that their due can only be eternal punishment. Besides, despite the Divine declaration that whoever kills a human being unjustly, it is as if he killed all mankind (5:32), especially in a world like today’s where might is right is the rule, thousands of innocent people are killed almost every day and many others are wronged and deprived of their basic human rights, and, worse, a great many of the most abominable sins and injustices go unpunished. When death comes, it does not discriminate between the oppressed and oppressors, the innocent and criminals, and between the sinless and sinful. This means that, as is the case in this world where little crimes are judged in small courts while great ones are referred to supreme tribunals, such great crimes and sins as unbelief and associating partners with God and murder and oppression, are postponed to a day when God will judge them with His absolute Justice.

A day will certainly come when those who gave God the thanks due to Him will be welcomed with, Eat and drink to your hearts content because of what you did in days gone by (69:24) and Peace be upon you! You have done well. Enter here to dwell forever (39:73), to a place where God has prepared for them things no eyes ever saw, no ears ever heard, and no mind ever conceived,2 while the others who tainted the world with the blood they shed and the sins and crimes they committed, will be thrown into Hell with the shout Enter (through) the gates of Hell to dwell therein forever: what an evil abode for the arrogant! (39:72).

Divine Grace and Generosity require the Resurrection

A saint asks Harun al-Rashid, one of the ‘Abbasid caliphs:

- If you desperately needed a glass of water, would you abandon your kingdom in return for it?

- Yes, I would, Harun answers.

- If you could not discharge it from your body, would you again give up kingdom in order to be able to discharge it?

- Yes, I would, Harun answers again.

The saint concludes:

- Then, all of your wealth and kingdom consist in a glass of water.

Whatever we need, we are provided with it, for almost nothing. The more necessary for life a thing is, the more abundant it is in nature and cheaper.

Whatever we need, we are provided with it, for almost nothing. The more necessary for life a thing is, the more abundant it is in nature and cheaper. What we need the most is air, which is for nothing. Then comes water and it is almost for nothing. God sends it out of His infinite Mercy. We have no part in or contribution to its formation. Afterwards, we direly need heat and light, and the sun sends them for nothing again. As for the other bounties we are blessed with, they are extremely cheap. (Poor man! He is blind to all these miraculous acts of God and demands to see a miracle in order to believe in God!) Whatever we do to procure them, is only exerting a little effort. However, if all these bounties or blessings were not going to be given to us eternally and in a much better fashion, fear of death would change them into poison whenever we take a morsel or a sip or a molecule of them.

Thanks to God’s being eternal with all His Names and Attributes, He will provide us eternally and without asking us to make any effort with ever better forms of all the bounties He bestows on us here in this world, and thus does not change His blessings into pains because of fear of death, and makes death into a changing of worlds, a discharge from worldly duties, an invitation to the eternal abode He has prepared for us, and a passport to go to that abode.

Divine Beauty requires the Resurrection

Listen to the singing of birds on a spring morning, or the murmur of a brook flowing through green fields or deep valleys. Look on the beauty of spectacular green plains and trees in blossom and watch the sunrise or sunset and the full moon on a cloudless, clear night. All these spectacles together with many others which God presents to our senses, are only a single gleam of God’s absolute and eternal Beauty manifested through many veils. By observing such manifestations of His Beauty, through which He wants to make Him known to us, we go into raptures.

True blessing is that which is eternal. That is why God, the Eternally Beautiful One, shows us in the world only the shadows of His Beauty in order to arouse in us a desire for Its eternal and perfect manifestations.

Any blessings which are not eternal leave unbearable pains in our hearts through their disappearance. If spring which has passed would not come back again next year, we would sigh over it until we die. So, true blessing is that which is eternal. That is why God, the Eternally Beautiful One, shows us in the world only the shadows of His Beauty in order to arouse in us a desire for Its eternal and perfect manifestations. What is more, He will allow us some form of seeing Him in Paradise in a manner free from any qualitative and quantitative measures or dimensions.

On that day there will be shining faces, gazing upon their Lord. (75:22-3)

The harmonious mutual relation between things and man is indicative of the Resurrection

There is a basic relation between man and the outer world. When man comes into the world, he finds himself enveloped by an amiable environment. He is born equipped with senses and there are things in the outer world to be sensed by him. Also, he has feelings like compassion, pity and caring, and love, and there are many things in the world to be loved, cared for and pitied. He feels hungry and thirsty, and he feels cold and heat. Fortunately, he finds the things with which he will satisfy his hunger and thirst and with which he will warm and cool himself either already prepared before or in a form he can obtain with a slight effort.

As an example, let us take an apple. With its color and beauty, it appeals to our eyes and our sense of beauty. With its taste, it addresses itself to our sense of taste. With the vitamins it has, it nourishes our bodies. Despite our need of its nutriments, if it were something ugly and tasteless, we would be disgusted with it and so deprived of its nourishment.

All this, together with many other ‘natural’ facts, clearly shows that there is One Who has both created man and prepared the environment for him, and that One Who has infinite Knowledge and Power. He knows man with all his needs, capacities, and qualities, as He knows ‘nature’ down to its minutest building blocks which are atoms or particles or quarks.

As another example, reproduction depends on mutual love and attraction between sexes. If God, the One Who has both created man and prepared the environment for him, had not placed in the male and female love for and attraction towards each other, and if He had not given them the wage of reproduction in advance as sexual pleasure, and again if He had not ingrained in them a great love and caring for their offspring, mankind would not have reproduced and would have become an extinct race, consisting of only the first male and female.

Death puts an end to all pleasures and makes everything as if it had never been. Then, were it not for the Resurrection, this life would be reduced to a meaningless plaything, leaving behind sufferings and pains.

Death puts an end to all pleasures and makes everything as if it had never been. Then, were it not for the Resurrection, this life would be reduced to a meaningless plaything, leaving behind sufferings and pains. However, this world is a shadowy miniature of the other, eternal one. The bounties God bestows on us here are only examples of their eternal and much better forms in the eternal world. God grants them to us to urge us to act in order to deserve them. The Quran declares:

Give glad tidings to those who believe and do good deeds. For them there will be Gardens beneath which rivers flow. Every time they are served with the fruits therein, they will say, ‘This is what was given to us aforetime!’ They shall be given in perfect semblance. And there will be pure spouses for them, and they will abide there for ever. (2:25)

Also, all joys, beauties, acts of rewarding, and instances of happiness in this world point to their perfect and eternal forms in Paradise, while pains, punishments, and instances of ugliness and unhappiness are a sign of their likes in Hell. Actually, God will build the other world out of the bulk of the material of this one, which He will have made suited to that purpose through the great upheavals of Doomsday. Thus, the interrelation between things in the world and between this one and the other decisively points to the Resurrection.

Recording and preservation in the world point to the Resurrection

Nothing disappears altogether from the world. While every word and act of man can be recorded on tapes and preserved, why should we not be able to grasp that God records the words and deeds of mankind in some way not, as yet, known to us? Advances in sciences and technology provide every day some new evidence for the existence and Unity of God and affirm, together with the Divine origin of the Qur’an, the truth of Islamic tenets of belief. This is, in fact, what the Qur’an declared centuries ago:

We shall show them Our signs in the outer world and within themselves until it will be manifest to them that (the Qur’an) is the truth. Does not your Lord suffice, since He is witness over all things? (41:53)

If one is sincere in searching for the truth and has the ‘power of sight’ to see the truth as it is, if one is not blinded to the truth by prejudices, ignorance and worldly aims and desires, every new advance in sciences manifests the truth of the Quran. We see in the universe that God enfolds everything in such small things as seeds. A man is enfolded in a sperm or in his chromosomes numbering 46. If he had 44 or 48 chromosomes, not 46, he would change into a completely different being. Similarly, when he has disappeared into earth after death, again, the most essential part of him, which has the meaning for his existence as a seed has for a plant, does not disappear, and God will re-build him during the Resurrection on that part. God preserves everything and does not allow it to disappear for ever. For example, when a plant withers away in autumn or winter, it continues to live in innumerable memories, as it goes on living through its seeds to be back again in life in next spring.

Just as God preserves things in their seeds, so also He preserves sounds, voices and appearances and sights on ‘tapes’ or other devices to display them in another world.

Just as God preserves things in their seeds, so also He preserves sounds, voices and appearances and sights on ‘tapes’ or other devices to display them in another world. Who knows that the day may come when these sounds and sights are discovered while we are still in this world?

I remember once I read of an experiment carried out by a scientist to find out a killer. The suspected persons were brought one by one under the tree where the crime was committed. The tree, which showed nothing unusual until the killer was brought under it, then began to. Somehow, voice, manner, posture or attitude, whatever the killer had displayed during the crime had been recorded on the tree. Thus, God, Who preserves a man in a sperm, a plant in its seeds, and a hen in an egg, and makes it manifest that He records everything on invisible tapes by enabling man to record and preserve sounds and images, will not leave man, whom He has made the noblest and perfect pattern of existence, to his own devices, or leave his record to disappear; rather, He will bring him to back to life again in a different, eternal world.

Divine Power proves the Resurrection

Consider an atom in a molecule. How it is made up and how it maintains its relations with the other atoms is an astounding miracle. Likewise, the solar system comprising the sun and the planets resemble an atom: to create atoms and regulate their movements is not easier by any means than creating the solar system and establishing the relations between the planets themselves and between them and the sun. Similarly, a cell is like an autonomous government: it has departments of its own, each of which is interrelated with the others and operates under the rule of a center. It has also a ministry of finance which manages its income and expenditure. It is as if each of the cells which comprise a man’s body, numbering 60 million million, had the intellectual capacity of the most intelligent member of mankind. Besides, there are very close and substantial relations between the cells of a man, all of which operate under the rule of a single center, which is the brain.

For the Divine Power nothing is difficult, to create and administer the whole universe is equally as easy for It as to create and administer a single atom.

These are only a few examples to understand the Creator’s Power, for which nothing is difficult, for which to create and administer the whole universe is equally as easy as to create and administer a single atom. If the whole of mankind, who are the most knowledgeable and conscious species of creation, were to come together to create a single atom, they could not do so. So, if that Being, the absolutely Powerful One, has promised that He will destroy the universe and re-build it again in a different form, He is most certainly capable of doing it and He will do it. For one who does not keep one’s word does not do so either because he is a liar or because he is unable. However, God Almighty is absolutely able to do anything He wills and promises and He does not lie at all. He is absolutely free from any defect. So, He will keep His word and re-create the world after its overall destruction.

The Day of Final Decision and Judgment is a fixed time, a day when the Trumpet is blown, and you come in multitudes, and the heaven is opened and becomes as gates. (78:17-9)

Instances of death and revival in the world indicate the Resurrection

An overall death and revival is repeated every year in the world. In winter, a white ‘shroud’ covers the earth whose yearly life-cycle has already terminated in autumn. Nature has already turned pale with ever fewer traces of life. The shell has fallen in and, ultimately, trees have become lifeless like hard bones. Grass has rotted away, flowers withered, migrating birds left and insects and reptiles disappeared.

However, winter-time is not eternal, it is followed by a general revival over the whole of the earth. When the weather gets warm, trees begin to bud and, wearing their finery, present themselves to the Eternal Witness. The soil swells and grass and flowers start to burst in on us everywhere. Seeds that fell into earth in the previous autumn have germinated and, having annihilated themselves, have set out to grow into new forms of life. Migrating birds come back and earth swarms with countless insects and reptiles. In short, with all its splendor and finery, nature appears before us.

Consider how the event of photosynthesis takes place in trees: the leaves of the trees are lungs and they have the power when in the sunlight to separate carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen. In other words, the oxygen is given off and the carbon retained and combined with the hydrogen of the water brought up by the plant from its roots. By magical chemistry, out of these elements God makes sugar, cellulose and numerous other chemicals, fruits and flowers [all in different smell, taste, color and shape according to the kind of plant or tree]. The same carbon dioxide and water contribute to the growth of innumerable kinds of fruit, each of which has a different taste, distinctively its own. However simple a process this seems, if the whole of mankind came together to produce a single fruit, an apple or a cherry, for example, they would not be able to do so.

Respiration costs a tree a high expenditure of energy. However, through the same respiration, it has many times more income and deposits it, for it has a long night before it during which the direction of its respiration reverses. During the night, a tree takes in oxygen and sends out carbon dioxide.

Consider what deliberate results the actions of an unconscious tree produce. Then ponder if it is really conceivable that something completely ignorant and unconscious of even its own existence and which enjoys no power of choice, is able to do such comprehensive things as require an all-comprehensive knowledge, power and choice.

Consider what deliberate results the actions of an unconscious tree produce. Then ponder if it is really conceivable that something completely ignorant and unconscious of even its own existence and which enjoys no power of choice, is able to do such comprehensive things as require an all-comprehensive knowledge, power and choice. So, the Power which attaches such significant purposes to a tree and makes it the means of many deliberate results, will certainly not abandon to its own devices the fruit of the tree of creation, namely man, and will not condemn him to eternal annihilation. God has created man for lots of deliberate purposes and, without allowing him to remain eternally mixed into earth, will bring him back to life in an eternal world. Just as He preserves a fruit in memories and through its seeds, just as He returns the like of it next summer after He has promoted it to a higher level of life in an animal or human body, so too He will promote man to a higher level of life in another world following the total destruction of this world.

God created the world while there was nothing of the world, and He creates man while there is nothing of him in the world

God created the world while there was nothing of the world, and He creates man while there is nothing of him in the world. He brings together the building-blocks of his body from earth, air and water and makes them into a conscious, intelligent being. Is there any doubt that a machine-maker who made a new machine can put and re-set in their former positions the pieces of that machine after he has broken it into pieces? Or is it inconceivable that a commander cannot gather through a trumpet-call the army he has dispersed for rest? Similarly, during the reconstruction of the world after its total collapse, God Almighty will gather the atoms of man which have mixed into earth and grant them a higher, eternal form of life:

Say: ‘Travel in the land and see how He originated creation, then God brings forth the later growth. Assuredly, God is able to do all things.’ (29:20)

Look at the prints of God’s mercy (in creation): how He gives life to the earth after its death. He surely is the reviver of the dead (in the same way), and He is able to do all things. (30:50)

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[God of Love]

He is a just God.. his son Jesus, much like Mohhamed. Jesus is the way and the LIGHT .
Why can't we all just live in PEACE>!

[Huja Usman]

Bump

[Huda]

check out anwar al awlaki's series on the Akhira [Hereafter]...its excellent:

Vol. 1
In this series, the Imam vividly portrays the different phases the human soul passes through during its lifetime up to its death. In breathtaking style the listener hears of the events that occur just before death and the events that come after it. The Imam gives a clear description about life in the grave, the horrors of the last day, the major and minor signs leading to the last hour and the day of resurrection. The Imam crowns this eloquently narrated lecture with the process of accountability and recompense. On the Day of Judgment those who pass the test will be rewarded with Paradise and those who fail will be rewarded with Hellfire.

Vol. 2
In this series, the Imam vividly portrays the state of human beings on the Day of Judgment, from the resurrection and the dismantling of the universe through the process of individual judgment and the settling of accounts to the resulting eternal life in Paradise or the Hellfire. Follow this description of the righteous on the Day of Judgment, those who will be provided shade and learn about who are known to be among them. Listen to the description of the life of the Hellfire and the kinds of actions that lead to that consequence. The Imam crowns this eloquent narration with his description of the people and spiritual comfort and contentment of Paradise, describing the journey through the Gates of Paradise within the realm of those who have attained the highest honors and Mercy of Allah!