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Fri 27 Jul, 2007 08:11 pm
[SIZE="3"]The Journey into the Hereafter: Life After Death[/SIZE]
(Part 1 of 8): [SIZE="3"]Introduction[/SIZE]
An introduction to the concept of the existence of life after death both in Islam, and how it makes our life meaningful; with purpose.
Muhammad (Peace be upon him), the Prophet of Islam who passed away in 632, related:
“Gabriel came to me and said, ‘O Muhammad, live as you wish, for you shall eventually die. Love whom you desire, for you shall eventually depart. Do what you please, for you shall pay. Know that the night-prayer is the honor of a believer, and his pride is in not being dependant on others.’” (Silsilah al-Saheehah)
If there is only one thing certain about life, it is that it ends. This truism instinctively raises a question which preoccupies most people at least once in their life: What lies beyond death?
At the physiological level, the journey that the deceased takes is plain for all to witness. If left alone to natural causes, the heart will stop beating, the lungs will stop breathing, and the body’s cells will be starved of blood and oxygen. The termination of blood flow to the outer extremities will soon turn them pale. With the oxygen cut off, cells will respire anaerobically for a time, producing the lactic acid which causes rigor mortis – the stiffening of the corpse’s muscles. Then, as the cells begin to decompose, the stiffness wanes, the tongue protrudes, the temperature drops, the skin discolors, the flesh rots, and the parasites have their feast - until all that is left is dried-out tooth and bone.
As for the journey of the soul after death, then this is not something that can be witnessed, nor can it be gauged through scientific enquiry. Even in a living body, the conscious, or soul, of a person cannot be subjected to empirical experimentation. It is simply beyond human control. In this regard, the concept of a Hereafter - a life beyond death, resurrection, and a Day of Reckoning; not to mention the existence of a Divine, Omnipotent Creator, His angels, destiny, and so on - comes under the subject of belief in the unseen. The only way in which man can come to know anything of the unseen world is through divine revelation.
“And with God are the keys of the unseen, none knows them but He. And He knows whatever there is in (or on) the earth and in the sea; not a leaf falls, but He knows it. There is not a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything fresh or dry, but is written in a Clear Record.” (Quran 6:59)
While what has come down to us of the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel - the scriptures revealed to early prophets - all speak of a Hereafter, it is only through God’s Final Revelation to humanity, the Holy Quran, as revealed to His Final Prophet, Muhammad, that we learn most about the afterlife. And as the Quran is, and will forever remain, preserved and uncorrupted by human hands, the insight it gives us into the world of the unseen is, for the believer, as factual, real and true as anything that can be learnt through any scientific endeavor (and with a zero margin of error!).
“…We have neglected nothing in the Book; then unto their Lord they shall all be gathered.” (Quran 6:38)
Coupled with the question of what happens after we die, is the question: Why are we here? For if there is indeed no greater purpose to life (that is, greater than simply living life itself), the question of what happens after death becomes academic, if not pointless. It is only if one first accepts that our intelligent design, our creation, necessitates an intelligence and designer behind it, a Creator who will judge us for what we do, that life on earth carries any significant meaning.
“Then did you think that We created you in vain and that to Us you would not be returned? Therefore exalted be God, the Sovereign, the Truth; no deity is there save Him, Lord of the Supreme Throne.” (Quran 23:115-116)
If aught else, a discerning person would be forced to conclude that life on earth is full of injustice, cruelty and oppression; that the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, is what is paramount; that if one cannot find happiness in this life, whether due to an absence of material comforts, physical love, or other joyous experiences, then life is simply not worth living. In fact, it is precisely because a person despairs of this worldly life while having little, no, or imperfect faith in an afterlife, that they may commit suicide. After all, what else do the unhappy, unloved and unwanted; the dejected, (desperately) depressed and despairing have to lose?!
“And who despairs of the Mercy of his Lord except those who are astray?” (Quran 15:56)
So can we accept that our death is limited to mere physiological termination, or that life is merely a product of blind, selfish evolution? Surely, there is more to death, and so to life, than this.
@SWORD of GOD,
[SIZE="3"]The Journey into the Hereafter: Life After Death[/SIZE]
(
Part 2 of 8):
[SIZE="3"]The Believer in the Grave[/SIZE]
A description of the life in the grave between death and Judgment Day for the faithful believers.
[SIZE="3"]A Grave World[/SIZE]
The believer will look forward to meeting his Creator, as the Prophet, may God praise him, explained:
The soul peacefully passes out of the body like a drop of water which emerges from a water-skin, and the angels take hold of it:
The angels gently extract it, saying:
Once extracted from the body, the angels wrap the soul in a shroud smelling of musk and ascend up to the heavens. As the Gates of Heaven open for the soul, the angels greet it:
What is your religion?Islam.Who is your Lord?Allah.Muhammad.How did you come to know these things?I read the Book of Allah (i.e. the Quran) and I believed.
@SWORD of GOD,
[SIZE="3"]The Journey into the Hereafter: Life After Death[/SIZE]
(
Part 3 of 8):
[SIZE="3"]The Believer on Judgment Day[/SIZE]
How the believers will experience the Day of Reckoning, and some of the qualities of the faithful that will ease their passage to the gates of Paradise.
[SIZE="3"]The Day of Judgment[/SIZE]
The Hour of Resurrection will be a terrifying, overwhelming event. Yet, despite its trauma, the believer will be ecstatic, just as Prophet Muhammad, may Allah praise him, related from his Lord:
Allah (God) says,
He will be rebuked for his shortcomings, but will then be handed his record of good deeds in his right hand.
Happy to look at his record, he will announce his joy:
The prophet (PBUH) said:
Finally, after crossing the bridge, the faithful will be purified before they are entered into Paradise. All scores between believers will be settled so that no one man nurses a grudge against another.
@SWORD of GOD,
[SIZE="3"]The Journey into the Hereafter: Life After Death[/SIZE]
(
Part 4 of 8):
[SIZE="3"]The Believer and Paradise[/SIZE]
How those achieving the success of Paradise on account of faith are received therein.
[SIZE="3"]Paradise[/SIZE]
The believers will be ushered on towards the grand eight gates of Paradise. There, they will receive a joyous angelic reception and be congratulated on account of their safe arrival and salvation from Hell.
(It will be said to the pious):
The best of the Muslims will enter Paradise first. The most righteous of them will ascend to the highest levels.
The Quranic description of Paradise gives us a vision of just what a fantastic place it is. An eternal home that will fulfill all our wholesome desires, seduce all our senses, grant us everything we could possibly want and much more besides. God describes His Paradise as having earth made of is fine musk powder, soil of saffron, bricks of gold and silver, and pebbles of pearls and rubies. Beneath the gardens of Paradise are flowing rivers of sparkling water, sweet milk, clear honey, and non-intoxicating wine. The tents on their banks are domes of hollow pearls. The whole space is filled with sparkling light, sweet-smelling plants and fragrances that can be savored from afar. There are lofty palaces, huge mansions, grapevines, date palms, pomegranate trees, lotus and acacia trees whose trunks of made of gold. Ripe, abundant fruit of all kinds: berries, citrus, drupes, grapes, melons, pomes; all kinds of fruit, tropical and exotic; anything the faithful could possibly desire!
Each believer will have a most beautiful, pious and pure spouse, wearing exquisite clothing; And there will be so much more in a new world of eternal, radiant joy.
As well as physical delights, Paradise will also give its residents a state of emotional and psychological bliss, as the Prophet (PBUH) said:
Ultimately, the thing that will most delight the eyes will be the Countenance of Allah (God), The Creator, Himself. For the true believer, to see this blessed vision of Allah is to have won the ultimate prize.
This is the Paradise, the eternal home and final destination of the righteous believer.
@SWORD of GOD,
This should be an intellectual discussion forum, not purely theological.
@SWORD of GOD,
[SIZE="3"]The Journey into the Hereafter: Life After Death[/SIZE]
(
Part 5 of 8):
[SIZE="3"]The Unbeliever in the Grave
[/SIZE]
A description of the life in the grave between death and Judgment Day for the rejecting disbeliever.
As death approaches the wicked disbeliever, he is made to feel something of the heat of the Hellfire. This taste of what is to come causes him to plead for a second chance on earth to do the good he knew he should have done. Alas! His pleading will be in vain.
“Until, when death comes to one of them, he says:‘O my Lord. Send me back to life (on earth) in order that I may do good deeds in the things that I neglected.’ By no means! It is only an utterance that he says. And before them is a barrier (preventing them from returning: the life of the grave) until the Day (of Resurrection) they are ressurected.” (Quran 23:99-100)
Divine wrath and punishment is conveyed to the wicked soul by hideously ugly, dark angels who sit far away from it:
“Receive glad tidings of boiling water, wound discharge, and multiple, similar torments.”(Ibn Majah, Ibn Katheer)
The disbelieving soul will not look forward to meeting its Lord God, as the Prophet explained:
“When the time of the death of a disbeliever approaches, he receives the evil news of God’s torment and His Requital, whereupon nothing is more hateful to him than what is before him. Therefore, he hates the meeting with God, and God too, hates the meeting with him.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
The Prophet also said:
“Whoever loves to meet God, God loves to meet him, and whoever hates to meet God, God hates to meet him.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
The Angel of Death sits at the head of the disbeliever in his grave and says: “
Wicked soul, come out to the displeasure of Allah” as he snatches the soul out of the body.
“And if you could but see when the wrongdoers are in the overwhelming pangs of death while the angels extend their hands, saying,‘Discharge your souls! Today you will be awarded the punishment of extreme humiliation for what you used to say against God other than the truth, and that you were, toward His verses, being arrogant.”(Quran 6:93)
“And if you could not see when the angels take the souls of those who disbelieved… striking their faces and their backs and saying,‘Taste the punishment of the Blazing Fire.’”(Quran 8:50)
The disbelieving soul will not look forward to meeting its Lord Allah (God), as the Prophet (PBUH) explained:
“When the time of the death of a disbeliever approaches, he receives the evil news of Allah’s torment and His Requital, whereupon nothing is more hateful to him than what is before him. Therefore, he hates the meeting with Allah, and Allah too, hates the meeting with him.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
The evil soul leaves the body with great difficulty, drawn out by the angels as a thronged skewer is dragged through wet wool. The Angel of Death then seizes the soul and puts it in a sack woven from hair which gives off a putrid stench, as foul and offensive as the most foul-smelling rotting corpse found on earth. The angels then take the soul up past another company of angels who inquire:“Who is this wicked soul?” to which they reply:“So and so, the son of so and so?”- using the very worst of names that he was ever called during his time on earth. Then, when he is brought to the lowest heaven, a request is made that its gate be opened for him, but the request is denied. Whilst the Prophet was describing these events, when he reached this point, he recited:
“The gates of heaven will not be opened for them and they will not enter paradise until a camel can pass through the eye of a needle.” (Quran 7:40)
God will say:“
Record his book in Sijjeen in the lowest earth.”
…and his soul is cast down. At this juncture, the Prophet, may God praise him, recited:
“He who assigns partners to Allah is as if he had fallen down from heaven and been snatched up by the birds, or made to fall by the wind in a place far distant.”(Quran 31:22).
The wicked soul is then restored to its body and the two fearsome, dread-inspiring angels, Munkar and Nakeer, come to it for its interrogation. After making him sit up, they ask:
Munkar and Nakeer:“
Who is your Lord?”
Disbelieving soul:“
Alas, alas, I do not know.”
Munkar and Nakeer:“
What is your religion?”
Disbelieving soul:“
Alas, alas, I do not know."
Munkar and
Nakeer:“
What do you say about this man (Muhammad) sent to you?”
Disbelieving soul:“
Alas, alas I do not know.”
Having failed his test, the disbeliever’s head will be struck with an iron hammer with a force so violent that it would crumble a mountain. The cry will be heard from heaven:“He has lied, so spread out carpets of Hell for him, and open for him a portal into Hell.” The floor of his grave is thus set alight with some of Hell’s fierce fire, and his grave is made narrow and constricted to the extent that his ribs become intertwined as his body is crushed. Then, an incredibly ugly being, wearing ugly garments and giving off a foul and offensive odor comes to the disbelieving soul and says:“Be grieved with what displeases you, for this is your day which you have been promised.” The disbeliever will ask:“Who are you, with your face so ugly and bringing evil?” The ugly one will reply:“l am your wicked deeds!” The disbeliever is then made to taste bitter remorse as he is shown what would have been his abode in Paradise - had he lived a righteous life - before a portal is opened for him every morning and evening showing him his actual home in Hell. Allah mentions in His Book how the wicked people of Pharaoh are, at this very moment, suffering from such an exposure to Hell from within their graves:
“The Fire: they are exposed to it, morning and afternoon, and on the Day when the Hour will be established (it will be said to the angels):‘(Now) cause Pharaoh’s people to enter the severest torment!’”(Quran 40:46)
Overcome with fear and loathing, anxiety and despair, the disbeliever in his grave will keep asking:“My Lord, do not bring the last hour. Do not bring the last hour.”
The Companion, Zaid b. Thabit, narrated how, when the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his Companions were once passing some graves of polytheists, the Prophet’s horse bolted and almost unseated him. The Prophet, may God praise him, then said:
“These people are being tortured in their graves, and were it not that you would stop burying your dead, I would ask Allah to let you hear the punishment in the grave which I (and this horse) can hear.” (Saheeh Muslim).
@SWORD of GOD,
Boy are you long winded. I know, that is the pot calling the kettle black.
Who is God? Yahweh. Who is His Son? Christ Jesus. Whose Word should we live by? Yahweh's!
Repent and ask God's forgiveness through the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Christ Jesus.
Once to die and then the judgement. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. Christ Jesus will judge all and all will acknowledge He is Lord. All means all. I pray you will be saved.
@SWORD of GOD,
A full
century from now, Islam will still be barbaric and drenched in its own, self-generated
bloodbath. For the average Muslim, the only way out is to escape to the West, which his fellow immigrants will instruct him to destroy.
@SWORD of GOD,
All the way, Airborne. All the way. Keep saving lives, Trooper. Keep saving our troops.:headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:
@SWORD of GOD,
Sword, I admire your commitment -- not your beliefs, but your commitment to them. Have to admit, though, I don't have time to read this stuff.
@Pinochet73,
Pinochet73;29120 wrote:A full century from now, Islam will still be barbaric and drenched in its own, self-generated bloodbath. For the average Muslim, the only way out is to escape to the West, which his fellow immigrants will instruct him to destroy.
Pinochet, I could not of said it better.
@SWORD of GOD,
[SIZE="3"]The Journey into the Hereafter: Life After Death[/SIZE]
(
Part 6 of 8):
[SIZE="3"]The Unbeliever on Judgment Day
[/SIZE]
Some of the trial the disbeliever will face on Judgment Day.
A great terror will befall the resurrected on the mighty Day of Resurrection:
The heart will be trembling, confused about what evil retribution lies in store for it:
The second time, they will present their excuses while acknowledging their guilt. Even the devils will try to excuse themselves from their crimes of leading men astray:
But Allah (God), Most High and Just, will not be fooled. He will say:
The third time the wicked soul will meet its Maker to receive its Book of Deeds, a record omitting nothing.
Upon receiving their records, the wicked ones will be rebuked in front of the whole of mankind.
Besides his own sins, the disbeliever will also bear the sins of those he misled.
The psychological pain of deprivation, loneliness and abandonment will all to the physical torture.
While the Prophet Muhammad will intercede on behalf of all believers, no intercessor will the disbeliever find; he who worshipped false deities besides the One, True God.
Their saints and spiritual advisors will dissociate themselves, and the disbeliever would wish he could come back to this life and do the same to those who now disown them:
The disbelieving soul will then be handed in his left hand and from behind his back, his written record which was kept by angels who noted his every deed in his earthly life.
Finally, he will be made to enter Hell:
The first to enter Hell will be the pagans, followed by those Jews and Christians who corrupted the true religion of their prophets. Some will be driven to Hell, others will fall in it, snatched by hooks. At that point, the disbeliever will wish that he had could have been turned into dust, rather than reap the bitter fruits of his evil works.
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