Belief in the Hereafter

We have come from the unseen world and will move into it again. Each world has its own peculiar laws. Moving from one world into another entails changes in the laws we are controlled by, because of such transfer.

Do you not see that the laws controlling us while we are fetuses in our mothers’ wombs are different from those waiting for us outside the womb? But even the laws controlling us on the surface of the earth are different from those controlling the astronauts in outer space. What about the laws that are waiting for us after our death and departure from this life? None can inform us for sure about our future we are heading for except He Who will transfer us to it. It is Allah, the Glorified, the Almighty. Therefore, He sends the Messengers (Peace be upon them all) to inform us of our own future and the type of life and the laws that we will face in the stage of life following death.

Allah (SWT) says: “He sends the revelation by His command to any of His slaves He wills that he may warn (men) of the Day of Mutual Meeting. The Day whereon they will all come forth: not a single thing concerning them will be hidden from Allah. Whose will be the Dominion that Day? That of Allah, the One, the Irresistible.” (XL: 15-16)

1.The Indicators of the Hereafter.
Its mention in the Qur’an and Sunnah: He Who created the Day of Resurrection and Paradise and Hell tells us of what He has prepared for his believing servants and what He has threatened the unbelievers with.

2.Playfulness is impossible: We cannot be left uncontrolled (without purpose):
This life without the Hereafter would be futile. Allah is too Exalted and Superior to do something futile. Purposefulness is evident in all aspects of this Universe and its structure and in all man’s cells and systems. Every part of man’s body has been created for a specific purpose. How, then, could life as a whole have been created in play and without purpose? Therefore, there must be a wise purpose, which, if not evident in this life, must be revealed on another Day.

3.The Divine Justice:
If you should see a tyrant oppressing a little child, you would certainly feel annoyed and would disdain that aggression, and any act of injustice you may witness. A donkey witnessing the same scene of oppression and injustice would not be stimulated to hate the oppressor, for the Creator has created you with innate love for justice, but He has not created the donkey with the same trait.

Every human being has been created like you, with that love for justice. If we were to collect all the justice distributed among former and latter people, in the persons of Prophets and honorable righteous people it would be just a flash of Allah’s Justice, for love of justice is a trait of perfection. As the Creator is more perfect than His creatures, He is characterized by perfect flawless justice.

4.The proof of propriety:
If you should visit a materially civilized country and see all the streets in all the cities paved and provided with lamp-posts, you would conclude that the Law of the state and its system require that the streets be paved and lit.

5.Greed and love of immortality:
Creating limbs for a fetus seems purposeless for it cannot use them in the narrow space of the womb, where it does not need them. But the purpose of creating them becomes evident when the body is born leaving behind that narrow space to live in a wider area where it needs these limbs to walk and move from one place to another on the land. Thus, creating these limbs perfectly has been for the sake of a following stage of life.

6.The proof of initiation and repetition.

7.The proof of reward and punishment:
Allah (SWT) has not made this life a place for absolute full requital or recompense. Yet it is often so, for a great many criminals are captured after a long series of crimes! Many oppressed persons are recompensed by Allah by punishing their oppressors. Many unbelieving nations were destroyed by Allah after having been prosperous and powerful. Many believers have been granted victory over their enemies as a result of invoking Allah, Who responded to their prayers.

When Muslims adhered to their religion and observed its instructions they enjoyed Allah’s support, but when they deviated, Allah made their enemies overpower them. When the imperialists came to fight against Islam and oppress the Muslims, the oppressed nations revolted against them and dismissed them from their countries. When the Soviet Union disseminated disbelief, injustice and corruption, Allah destroyed it while it was at the peak of its power. So, if we survey the life of individuals, families and societies, we notice that this life is almost a place of recompense where an offender is punished and that who does good is rewarded.

Thinking over that will lead you to conclude that He Who inflicts upon the unbelievers, oppressors and tyrants some of the penalty they deserve, will certainly give them their full due retribution in the Hereafter, as Allah (SWT) says about the people of ‘Ad: “So We sent upon them a furious wind in days of evil omen that we might give them a taste of disgracing torment in the present worldy life. But surely the torment of the Hereafter will be more disgracing, and they will never be helped.” (XLI: 16).

8.The appearance of the Signs of the Hour (approach of the Day of Judgement):
Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) told us about events that would take place in this life, and would be signs indicating the approach of the Day of Judgement.

The Signs of the Hour we have seen confirm the truthfulness of what Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) has told about the Hour and the Hereafter. And as we have seen these signs in reality in this world we will see Paradise and Hell in reality and each party will find what it has been promised. Allah (SWT) says: “And the dwellers of Paradise will call out to the dwellers of the Fire (saying): ‘We have indeed found true what our Lord had promised us. Have you also found true what your Lord promised?’ They shall say: ‘Yes.’ Then a crier will proclaim between them: ‘The curse of Allah is on the wrongdoers.’” (VII: 44)