(The Hereafter 2)
THE HEREAFTER – LIFE AFTER DEATH (Continued)
How can you prove the existence of hereafter, i.e. life after death?
- A Muslim can convince a powerful and influential criminal
Now let us switch sides. Suppose you are the most powerful and influential criminal in the world, who has the police and the ministers on his payroll. You have army of thugs to protect you. I am a Muslim who will convince you that robbing, raping, cheating, etc. are evil acts.
Even if I put forth the same arguments to prove that robbing is evil, the criminal will respond the same way as he did earlier.
I agree that the criminal is being logical and all his arguments are true only when he is the most powerful and influential criminal.
- Every human being wants justice
Each and every human being desires justice. Even if he does not want justice for others he wants justice for himself. Some people are intoxicated by power and influence and inflict pain and suffering on others. The same people, however, would surely object if some injustice was done to them. The reason such people become insensitive to the suffering of others is that they worship power and influence. Power and influence, they feel, not only allow them to inflict injustice on others but also prevent others from doing likewise to them.
- God is Most Powerful and Just
As a Muslim I would convince the criminal about the existence of Almighty God (refer to answer proving the existence of God). This God is more powerful than you and at the same time is also just. The Glorious Qur’an says:
“Allah is never unjust in the least degree:”
[Al Qur’an 4:40]
- Why doesn’t God punish me?
The criminal, being a logical and scientific person, agrees that God exists, after being presented with scientific facts from the Qur’an. He may argue as to why God, if He is Powerful and Just, does not punish him.
- The people who do injustice should be punished
Every person who has suffered injustice, irrespective of financial or social status, almost certainly wants the perpetrator of injustice to be punished. Every normal person would like the robber or the rapist to be taught a lesson. Though a large number of criminals are punished, many even go scot-free.
They lead a pleasant, luxurious life, and even enjoy a peaceful existence. If injustice is done to a powerful and influential person, by someone more powerful and more influential than him, even such a person would want that perpetrator of injustice to be punished.
- This life is a test for the hereafter
This life is a test for the hereafter. The Glorious Qur’an says:
“He who created death and life, that He may try which of you is best in deed; and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving”
[Al Qur’an 67:2]
- Final justice on the day of judgement
The Glorious Qur’an says:
“Every soul shall have a taste of death: and only on the Day of Judgement 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.”
[Al Qur’an 3:185]
Final justice will be meted out on the day of judgement. After a person dies, he will be resurrected on the day of judgement along with the rest of humankind. It is possible that a person receives part of his punishment in this world. The final reward Almighty may not punish a robber or a rapist in this world but he will surely be held accountable on the day of judgement and will be punished in the hereafter i.e. life after death.
- What punishment can the human law give Hitler?
Hitler incinerated six million Jews during his reign of terror. Even if the police had arrested him, what punishment can the human law give Hitler for justice to prevail? The most they can do is to send Hitler to the gas chamber. But that will only be punishment for the killing of one Jew. What about the remaining five million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine Jews
- Allah can burn Hitler more than six million times in the hellfire
Allah say in the Glorious Qur’an:
“Those who reject Our signs, We shall soon cast into the Fire; as often as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the penalty: for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise”
[Al Qur’an 4:56]
If Allah wishes He can incinerate Hitler six million times in the hereafter in the hellfire.
- No concept of human values or good and bad without concept of hereafter
It is clear that without convincing a person about the hereafter, i.e. life after death, the concept of human values and the good or evil nature of acts is impossible to prove to any person who is doing injustice especially when he is influential and powerful.
Source: answers to non-Muslims common questions about Islam
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