Life after Death

Introduction

There are those who believe in life after death and there are those who do not. Then there are those who are not sure. Amongst the ones who are not sure are those:
· who are not sure because they have not thought about it enough or
· who feel that they measure themselves by a higher standard and therefore this is not for them or
· who are waiting for more tangible proof.
This verse will be particularly helpful to those who have not given much thought to it. I never understood it myself until recently and my understanding is quite incomplete.
The Quran is emphatic that we should not be in any doubt about the final meeting with our creator. For Muslims, it is one of the cardinal principles. The concept of self accountability flows from it and is very powerful.



Sura Ali Imran Verse 4/ 185 ( translation Abdullah Yusuf Ali )



“Every soul shall have a taste of death: *

And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense.
Only he who is saved Far from the fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained
the object (of Life).

For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception. **”


*
“ taste of death” is a vivid description suggesting that death is simply an event in our journey and certainly not a permanent event.

**
“ goods and chattels of deception “, suggests that you could become so enamored with the life of this world that you begin to deny that there could be anything better.





My explanation

For the human soul, the life of this world will present many temptations. Material belongings, desires that satisfy the ego, accumulation of wealth and influence, all have the power to make a human being lose focus on the object of life.

No one will be spared death. Knowing this surely it would be better to lead a life that will accumulate for you spiritual wealth, the prayer and blessing of others, inner satisfaction of the soul rather than the ego.

The reward and punishment that you perceive to receive in this life or that you perceive others to receive in this life are but a portion of the total reckoning that will take place on the day of judgment. It is then and only then that a full account will be taken of each one of us and only then will we learn as to who succeeded in leading a good life and who did not.



Discussion

This verse is not intended to discourage humans from worldliness but to warn them from losing perspective. It is possible to become drunk with worldly success. It is possible to gauge success and failure in material terms.. When we see some one materially successful or unsuccessful we tend to assume that the path they took is worth following or avoiding.
We acknowledge with a lot of difficulty and many misgivings that one day we will die. Acceptance of the fact that we will die is less than half the story. Our understanding of death is not complete unless we also acknowledge that there is life after death. If we have so much difficulty with death, which is a proven fact, consider how we can deal life after death, which is unproven.

Accepting life after death as a fact dramatically changes the way we conduct ourselves in this world. The concept of life after death is not simply about rising from the dead but about being held accountable for the way we conducted ourselves in the life of this world.
If accountability is missing and death is our final destination then surely we would descend into chaos. We would have every reason to seek pleasure and the fulfillment of all our desires while we have the chance. The only thing that would prevent us from chaos is man made laws. We would then try to break many man made rules if we felt no one was watching and we could get away with it without being caught.

As an example if we thought that the police was not watching, we do and we would exceed the speed limit on the highway. If we thought our spouses would not find out we do and we would be unfaithful to them. There would be no need to have a higher purpose in life. The highest purpose would be to somehow prolong life, to avoid pain and to constantly seek pleasure. It would be a world of might makes right and survival of the fittest.

On the other hand if we believed that all our actions are being recorded and we will be confronted with them by an all seeing, all powerful Being, who will measure them against a higher code of conduct, then we would spend our lives getting to know that code and aspiring to follow it. That would become our highest priority and the seeking of the pleasures of this world would become a non- priority. We would inculcate, love, sacrifice, giving and shun lust, power, greed.

This is what defines a Muslim. This is what the Quran is asking of us in this verse.

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