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BENEFITS OF
BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION AND
THE AFTERLIFE
Belief in the
Resurrection makes death lovable
The
All-Compassionate Creator has
made this world in the form of a
festival, a place of celebration
and exhibition. He has decorated
it with the most wonderful
inscriptions of His Names, and
clothed each spirit with a body
possessing suitable and
appropriate senses that allow
the individual to benefit from
the good things and bounties in
the festival. He sends each
spirit to this festival for one
time. As it is very extensive in
regard to time and space, He
divided it into centuries and
years, seasons and days, and
various parts. His animal and
plant creations promenade
therein, especially during the
spring and summer, when the
Earth’s surface is transformed
into a vast arena of successive
festivals for all small
creatures. This arena is so
glittering and attractive that
it draws the gaze of angels,
other inhabitants of the
heavens, and spirit beings in
the higher abodes. For people
who think and reflect, it is an
arena for reflection, and one so
wonderful that the mind cannot
describe it.
However, the
manifestations of Divine Grace,
Mercy, and Liberality in this
Divine festival are
counterbalanced by the Names of
All-Overwhelming, All-Crushing,
and One Who Causes to Die
through death and separation.
This does not appear to be in
line with the all-embracing
Mercy expressed in My Mercy
encompasses all things.
(7:156) However, consider the
following points:
After
each group of creatures has
served its purpose and
produced the desired
results, the
All-Compassionate Creator
causes most of them, by His
Compassion, to feel
weariness and distaste with
the world. He then grants
them a desire to rest and a
longing to emigrate to
another world. And so when
they are discharged from
their duties (through
death), He arouses in them
an enthusiastic inclination
to return to their original
home.
The
Most Merciful One bestows
the rank of martyrdom on a
soldier who dies in the line
of duty (defending sacred
values), and rewards a sheep
sacrificed in His way with
an eternal corporeal
existence in the Hereafter.
Given this, His infinite
Mercy assigns a specific
reward and wage, according
to their nature and
capacity, to other animate
beings who perform their
duties despite hardship and
death. Thus, these beings
are not sad when death
comes; rather, they are
pleased and look forward to
it.
The world is
continually enlivened through
creation and predetermination,
and ceaselessly stripped of life
through other cycles of
creation, determination, and
wisdom. Death is not an
extinction, but a door opening
on a better, more developed, and
more refined life. The Quran
presents death as something
created and therefore having
existence (67:2). When death
enters a living body, life seems
to depart. In reality, however,
that organism is being elevated
to a higher degree. The death of
a plant, the simplest level of
life, is a work of Divine
artistry, just like their
living, but one even more
perfect and better designed.
When a tree seed “dies,” it
appears to decompose into the
soil. However, it actually
undergoes a perfect chemical
process, passes through
predetermined states of
re-formation, and grows into an
elaborate, new tree. A “dead”
seed represents the beginning of
a new tree, and shows that death
is something created like life
and, accordingly, is as perfect
as life.
Since fruit
and animals, when consumed by
people, cause them to rise to
the degree of human life, their
deaths can be regarded as more
perfect than their lives. If
this is true of plants, it must
be true of people. As people are
the pinnacle of creation, their
deaths must be more perfect and
serve a still greater purpose.
Once individuals have died and
been buried, they surely will be
brought into eternal life.
Death is a
blessing for human beings for
several reasons, among them:
It discharges
us from the hardships of life,
which gradually become harder
through old age. It also opens
the gates to reunion with many
of our friends who died before
us.
It
releases us from worldly
life that is a turbulent,
suffocating, narrow dungeon
of space, and admits us into
the wide circle of the
Eternal Beloved One’s
mercy. As a result, we enjoy
a pleasant and everlasting
life free from suffering.
Old
age and other unbearable
conditions are ended through
death. Both the elderly and
their families benefit from
this. For example, if your
elderly parents and
grandparents were living in
poverty and hardship, would
you not consider their
deaths to be blessings? The
autumnal deaths of insects
is a mercy for them, for
otherwise they would have to
endure winter’s harshness
and severity and be deprived
of their lovers: lovely
flowers.
Sleep
brings repose and relief, as
well as mercy especially for
the sick and afflicted.
Death, sleep’s brother, is
a blessing and mercy
particularly for those
afflicted with misfortunes
that might make them
suicidal. As for the
misguided, death and life
are a torment within
torment, and pain after
pain.
Just
as death is a blessing for a
believer, the grave is the
door to illuminated worlds.
This world, despite its
glitter, is like a dungeon
in comparison with the
Hereafter. To be transferred
from the dungeon of this
world to the gardens of
Paradise, to pass from the
troublesome turmoil of
bodily life to the world of
rest and the realm where
spirits soar, to be free of
the distressing noise of
creatures and go to the
Presence of the Most
Merciful-all of this is a
journey, indeed, a
happiness, to be desired
most earnestly.
The
All-Merciful One explains in
His Scriptures, especially
the Quran, the true
nature of the world and the
life therein, and warns us
that love or attachment to
either one are pointless.
The world
with its three facets
The world
and things have three facets.
These are the following:
Its
first facet turns to the
Divine Names and Attributes.
Each created thing is a
manifestation of certain
Divine Names and Attributes,
such as Mercy, Creativity,
Grace, Provision, Favoring,
Hearing, Seeing, or Speaking,
and so on. As this facet only
mirrors those Names and
Attributes, it does not
experience decay and death,
but is continually refreshed
and renewed.
Its
second facet turns to the
Hereafter-the world of
permanence. Being like a field
sown with the seeds of the
Hereafter, seeds that will
grow into permanent “trees”
with permanent fruits, this
facet serves the World of
Permanence by causing
transient things to acquire
permanence. It also does not
experience decay and death,
but life and permanence.
Its
third facet relates to our
bodily desires. Many people
love this facet, which is, on
the other hand, the
market-place of sensible
conscious persons and a trial
for the duty-bound. This facet
is apparently the object of
decay and death. However, in
its inner dimension, there are
manifestations of life and
permanence to heal the sorrows
brought by death, decay, and
separation.
Why is love
for this third facet not
something to be approved?
Consider the following:
The
world is a book of the
Eternally-Besought-of-All. Its
letters and words point not to
themselves, but to their
Author’s Essence, Names, and
Attributes. This being so,
learn its meaning and adopt
it; abandon its decorations
and go!
The
world is a tillage for the
Hereafter, so plant it to
harvest in the Hereafter. Pay
attention to the crop that you
will receive in the Hereafter,
and throw away the useless
chaff.
The
world is a collection of “mirrors”
that continually follow each
other to reflect their Creator
and then pass on. Therefore,
know the One Who is manifested
in them. See His lights,
understand the manifestations
of His Names appearing in
them, and love the One they
signify. Cease your attachment
to “those fragments of glass”
that are doomed to break and
perish.
The
world is a moving place of
trade. Do your business and
leave. Do not tire yourself in
useless pursuit of caravans
that leave you behind and
ignore you.
The
world is a temporary place of
recreation. Study it to take
lessons and warnings, but
ignore its apparent, ugly face
and pay attention to its
hidden, beautiful face looking
to the Eternal All-Gracious
One. Go for a pleasant and
beneficial recreation and then
return. When the scenes
displaying those fine views
and beautiful things
disappear, do not cry or be
anxious.
The
world is a guest-house. Eat
and drink within the limits
established by the Munificent
Host Who built it, and offer
thanks. Act and behave in
accordance with His Law. Then
depart from it without looking
back. Do not interfere in it,
or busy yourself in vain with
things that one day will leave
you and are no concern of
yours.
Through such
plain truths, He reveals the
world’s real character and
makes death less painful. He
makes death desirable for those
awake to the truth, and shows
that there is a trace of His
Mercy in all of his actions.
The
consolation the Prophet Muhammad
brought
I was, on one
occasion, sitting on the top
floor of a hotel. The graceful
dancing of the leaves, branches,
and trunks of the poplar trees
in the fine gardens opposite me,
each with a rapturous motion
like a circle of dervishes at
the touching of the breeze,
pained my heart, grievous and
melancholy at being parted from
the brothers and remaining
alone. Suddenly I recollected
the seasons of autumn and winter
and a heedlessness overcame me.
I so pitied those graceful
poplars and living creatures
swaying with perfect joy that my
eyes filled with tears. Since
they reminded me of the
separations and deaths beneath
the ornamented veil of the
universe, the grief at a world
full of deaths and separations
pressed down on me. Then
suddenly, the light of the
Muhammadan Truth came to my help
and changed that grief and
melancholy into joy. Indeed, I
am eternally grateful to the
person of Muhammad, upon him be
peace and blessings, for the
help and consolation which came
to me at that time, for only a
single instance of the boundless
grace of that light for me, as
for all believers and everyone.
It was as follows:
Picturing
those blessed and delicate
creatures to be trembling at
death and separation and
going into non-existence in
a fruitless season-which is
the view of the heedless-so
heavily weighed on my
feelings of passion for
permanence, love of beauty,
and compassion for
fellow-creatures and living
things, that it changed the
world into a kind of hell
and the mind into an
instrument of torture. Then,
just at that point, the
light which Muhammad, upon
him be peace and blessings,
had brought as a gift for
mankind lifted the veil and
showed in place of
extinction, non-existence,
nothingness, futility and
separations, meanings and
purposes to the number of
the leaves of the poplars,
results and duties which may
be divided into certain
sorts:
One sort
of the duties of creatures
relates to the Names of the
Majestic Maker. For example,
just as if an engineer makes
an extraordinary machine,
everyone applauds him,
saying ‘What wonders God
has willed! May God bless
him!’, so too, by carrying
out its functions properly,
the machine congratulates
and applauds its engineer.
Everything, every living
creature is a machine of
that kind, congratulating
and applauding its Maker.
Another
sort of purposes for the
lives of things like poplar
trees is that they are each
like a text, a book through
study of which conscious
living beings acquire
knowledge of God. Having
left their meanings in the
minds of conscious beings,
their forms in their
memories and the tablets of
the world of symbols or
immaterial forms, and on the
records of the world of the
Unseen and in the sphere of
existence, they depart from
the material world and pass
into the world of the
Unseen. That is, they are
stripped of an apparent
existence and gain numerous
existences pertaining to
meanings, the Unseen and
knowledge.
Indeed,
since God’s existence and
His Knowledge encompasses
all things, in truth, there
is no room in the world of
believers for non-existence,
eternal extinction, and
annihilation and
nothingness. As to the world
of unbelievers, it is full
of types of non-existence,
separations and extinctions.
A widely circulated proverb
teaches this: For whom God
exists, everything exists
for him; for whom God does
not exist, nothing exists
for him.
In short:
Just as belief saves man
from eternal punishment at
the time of death, so also
it saves everyone’s
particular world from the
darkness of extinction and
non-existence. But unbelief,
absolute denial of God in
particular, changes the
pleasures of life to painful
poisons, and terminates both
man and his particular world
with death, casting him into
dark pits like those of
Hell. Those who prefer the
worldly life over the
Hereafter should heed this,
and let them either find a
solution for this or accept
faith and save themselves
from fearful, eternal
losses.
Glory
be to You, we have no
knowledge save that You
have taught us. Surely You
are the All-Knowing, the
All-Wise.
Benefits of
belief in the afterlife
pertaining to society and people
What follows
demonstrates how belief in
afterlife is essential for human
life, particularly social life,
and summarizes one comprehensive
proof from among its numerous
proofs, together with an
explanation of how evident and
indubitable a matter it is:
Belief in the
afterlife is the bedrock of
social and individual human
life, the foundation of all
felicity and achievement,
because:
After belief
in God, belief in the
Resurrection has the primary
place in securing a peaceful
social order. The one who does
not believe that one day he/she
will be called to account for
what he/she has done in the
world, is not usually expected
to live an honest, upright life.
But one who always acts in the
conviction that he/she will give
an account of his/her life
before God in the other world
will certainly live a
disciplined and upright life.
The Quran declares:
In
whatever affair you may
be, and whichever part of
the Qur’an you recite,
and whatever deed you do,
We are witness over you
when you are deeply
engrossed therein. Not an
atom’s weight in the
earth and in the heaven
escapes your Lord, nor is
there anything smaller or
greater, but it is in a
Manifest Book. (10:61)
Whatever we
do is recorded by angels
appointed to do that. In
addition, God has complete
knowledge of all our deeds,
intentions, thoughts, and
imaginings. An individual who
lives in full consciousness of
this will find true peace and
happiness in both worlds; a
family and community made up of
such individuals will be as if
living in Paradise.
Children
are sensitive and delicate, very
susceptible to misfortune, and
easily affected by what befalls
themselves and their families.
When a family member dies or
they are orphaned, their world
darkens and they experience
great distress and despair. Of
my sisters died during my
childhood. I was so upset that I
frequently went to her grave and
asked God from the bottom of my
heart: “O God! Please bring
her back to life again and let
me see her beautiful face once
more, or let me die so as to be
reunited with her!” So, what
else other than belief in the
Resurrection, in reunion with
the loved ones who emigrated to
the other world, can compensate
for the loss of parents,
brothers and sisters, and
friends? Only when a child is
convinced that his or her loved
one has flown to Paradise, to a
much better life than this, and
that one day they will be
reunited, will he or she find
true consolation and begin to
heal.
How can you
compensate the elderly
for their past years, their
long-ago childhood and youth?
How can you console them for the
loss of their loved ones,
friends, spouses, children or
grandchildren who went to the
other world before them? How can
you remove from their hearts the
fear of death and the grave,
which is coming closer every
day? How can you make them
forget death, which they feel so
deeply? Can you console them
with ever-new pleasures of life?
Only when they understand that
the grave, an apparent
open-mouth dragon waiting for
them, is really a door to
another, much better world, or a
lovely waiting-room to that
world, will they feel
compensated and consoled for
their losses.
The Quran
voices the feelings of the old
through Prophet Zechariah:
This is
a mention of your Lord’s
mercy unto His servant
Zechariah; when he invoked
Him with a secret, sincere
call, saying: “My Lord,
my very bones have become
rotten and my head is
shining with gray hair. My
Lord! I have never been
disappointed in my prayer
to You” (19:2-5).
Fearing that
his kinsmen would not be
sufficiently loyal to his
mission after his death, the
Prophet Zechariah, asked his
Lord for a son, an heir to his
mission, with that heart-rending
appeal. This is the cry of all
old people. Belief in God and
the Resurrection gives the old
the good news: “Do not be
afraid of death. Death is not
eternal extinction, but only a
change of worlds, a discharge
from the distressing duties of
the worldly life, and a passport
to an eternal world where all
kinds of beauties and blessings
are waiting for you. The
Merciful One Who sent you to the
world, and has kept you alive
therein for such a long time,
will not leave you in the
darkness of the grave and dark
corridors opening on the other
world. He will take you to His
Presence and grant to you an
eternal, ever-happy life. He
will bless you with bounties of
Paradise.” Only such good news
can truly console the old and
cause them to welcome death with
a smile.
Humanity is a
unique part of creation, for
people can use their free will
to direct their lives. Free will
is the manifestation of Divine
Mercy. If our free will is used
properly by doing good deeds, we
will be rewarded with the fruits
of Mercy. Belief in the
Resurrection is a most important
and compelling factor that urges
us to use our free will in the
right way and refrain from sin
and from wronging and harming
others.
When Caliph
‘Umar saw a young man
bravely protest and resist a
wrong, he said: “Any people
deprived of the young are doomed
to extinction.” Young people
have a transforming energy. If
you let them waste that energy
in trivial things and
self-indulgence, you undermine
your nation’s future. Belief
in the Resurrection prevents
young people from committing
atrocities and wasting their
energies on passing pleasures,
and directs them to lead a
disciplined, useful, and
virtuous life.
Belief in the
Resurrection is a source of
consolation for the ill
also. Suffering from an
incurable illness, a believing
patient thinks: “I am going.
No one will be able to make me
live longer. Fortunately, I am
going to a place where I will
eternally recover my health and
youth and everyone is doomed to
go howsoever.” It is on
account of such belief that the
beloved servants of God, the
Prophets and saints, have
welcomed death with a joyful
smile. The Last of the Prophets,
the Prophet Muhammad, upon him
be peace and blessings, uttered
in his last minutes in the
world: “O God! I am desirous
of the eternal company in the
eternal world.” He had
informed his Companions one day
before: “God left to one of
His servants the choice between
enjoying the beauties of the
world as long as he wishes and
what is with Him. The servant
chose what is with Him.”
The servant
in question was the Messenger
himself. The Companions
understood and burst into tears.
Similarly,
when Caliph ‘Umar was ruler of
a vast area stretching from the
western frontiers of Egypt to
the Central Asia steppes, he
prostrated to God and sighed:
“I can no longer fulfill my
responsibility. Make me die and
take me to Your Presence!”
This desire to go to the other
world, the world of eternal
beauties, and being blessed with
the vision of the Eternally
Beautiful One caused the
Prophet, ‘Umar, and many
others to prefer death to life
in this world.
The world is
a mixture of good and evil,
right and wrong, beauty and
ugliness, and the oppressor and
the oppressed. Many wrongs go
unnoticed, and numerous wronged
people do not recover their
rights. Only their belief in the
Resurrection into a world of
absolute justice consoles such
people. This belief prevents
them from seeking vengeance. The
afflicted and those suffering
misfortune also find
consolation, for they believe
that whatever befalls them
erases some of their sins and
that all that they have lost
will be restored to them in the
Hereafter as a blessing, just as
if they had given these items as
alms.
Belief in the
Resurrection changes a house
into a garden of Paradise. In a
house where the young pursue
their pleasures, children ignore
religious sentiment and
practices, parents are engrossed
in procuring ever more
possessions, and grandparents
are sent to a poor-house or a
nursing home, or left to shower
their love on pets instead of
grandchildren. At least the pets
show them love and respect. In
such a house, life is a heavy
burden. Belief in the
Resurrection will remind
everyone of their
responsibilities toward each
other, and will engender a
fragrance of mutual love,
affection, and respect.
Belief in the
Resurrection leads to mutual
love and a deeper respect on the
part of spouses. Love based on
physical beauty is temporary,
and therefore of little value.
It usually disappears shortly
after the marriage. But if the
spouses love each other and
believe that their marriage is
eternal, and that in the other
world they will be eternally
young and beautiful, their love
for each other will not
disappear when they age and lose
their good looks. If family life
is based on belief in the
Resurrection, that family will
feel as if they are living in
Paradise. If a country’s
social order is based on belief
in the Resurrection and the Day
of Judgment, life in that
country will be far better than
what Plato imagined in his Republic
or al-Farabi (Alpharabios) in
his Al-Madinat al-Fadila
(The City of Virtues). It will
be like Madina in the time of
the Prophet, or the Muslim lands
under the rule of Caliph ‘Umar.
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