Life after Death
This much is known to everyone that whoever is born into the world has
got to die one day or the other. But nobody knows on his own that happens
or will happen after death. This is known only to God. God vouchsafes
the knowledge of it to His Prophets and through the Prophets men like
you and me also come to know about it. Every prophet of God, in his
time, had revealed clearly to his people through what stages they would
have to pass after death and how at each stage they would be recompensed
for their deeds-good as well as bad-during their earthly sojourn. Since
Prophet Mohammad (Peace and Blessings of God be upon whom) is the last
of the Divine Apostles and Messengers and no Prophet is going to be
raised up after him, the different stages through which a man has to
pass after death have been explained by him in greatest detail and with
utmost clarity. If all that the Prophet has revealed in this connection
is brought together it would make a volume by itself. We will, therefore,
give a very brief summary of it over here.
There are to follow three stages after death. It is called Barzakh.
Whether a person is buried when he dies or he is cremated or cast into
the river his soul does not perish with him. It is immortal; it lives.
It only migrates from this material world or ours to another world.
In this other world the angels question him about his spiritual state.
If he is true believer, he gives the correct answers; whereupon the
angels impart to him the glad tidings that he is going to live in peace
and happiness till the Last Day. And if it is otherwise, that is, he
is an unbeliever, an infidel or a sham or hypocritical Muslim, he is,
at once, placed under dreadful punishment which is not to cease before
the Day of Reckoning.
The next stage comprises of the Last Day and the Resurrection. The Last
Day means that there will come a time when the entire material world
will be destroyed by the command of God. Annihilation will descend suddenly
on everything that exists around us. The whole world will be thrown
topsy-turvy. Then, after a long time, when God will wish, all men will
be raised up again. Every person born into the world will be re-created
and called upon to render a full account of his doings on the earth.
In the Great Reckoning those who will be found worthy of deliverance
will be awarded a place in the Paradise and those who will turn out
to be guilty and deserving of Divine chastisement will be consigned
to Hell.
After this, there will commence the last stage. The dwellers of the
Paradise will live in a state of eternal bliss, supremely immune from
every kind of pain, anxiety or suffering and exulting in the bounties
of their Lord the like of which they would not have dreamt of in the
world, while those that will be condemned to Hell will have to live
permanently in a condition of unmitigated misery and distress. There
will be for them nothing but horrible agony and castigation. This will
be the ultimate stage after death.
The above was the sum and substance of what the Prophets, specially
the last of them, Prophet Mohammad, have taught mankind about the Hereafter
and what is indicated about it in the Quran and the Traditions. We will
now examine some of the relevant verses of the Quran:
Every soul shall have a taste of death: in the end to Us shall ye be
brought back. (XXIX: 57)
Every soul shall have a taste of death: and only on the Day of Judgment
shall you be paid your full recompense. (III: 185)
The Last Day will be a frightful, horrible day.
O mankind! Fear your Lord! For the convulsion of the Hour (of Judgment)
will be a thing terrible! the Day ye shall see it: every mother giving
suck shall forget her suckling-babe, and every pregnant female shall
drop her load unformed! thou shall see mankind as in a drunkenriot,
yet not drunk! But dreadful shall be the wrath of God. (XXII: 1-2)
One day the earth and the mountains will be in violent commotion and
the mountains will be as a heap of sand poured out and flowing down.
(LXXIII: 14)
At length, when there comes the deafening noise, that Day shall a men
flee from his own brothers, and from his mother and his father, and
from his wife and children. Each one of them, that Day, will have enough
concern (of his own) to make him indifferent to others. Some faces that
Day will be dust-stained; blackness will cover them. (LXXX: 33:41)
On
the Day of Recompense:
That Day shall ye be brought to Judgment! not an act of yours that ye
hide will be hidden. (LXIX: 18)
One day we shall remove the mountains, and thou will see the earth as
a level stretch, and we shall gather them, altogether, nor shall leave
out any of them, And they will be marshaled before the Lord in ranks,
with the announcement, “Now have ye come to US (bare) as We created
ye first! Aye, ye thought we shall not fulfill the appointment made
to you to meet Us?” And the Book (of Deeds) will be placed before
you; and thou will see the sinful in great terror because of what is
recorded therein; they will say, “Ah! Woe to us! What a Book is
this! It leaves nothing small or great, but takes account thereof! “They
will find all that they did placed before them: and not one will thy
Lord treat with injustice. (XVIII: 47-47)
A man’s own limbs will depose against him before God on the Day
of Reconing.
That day shall be set a seat on their mouths. But their hands will speak
to Us, and their feet will bear witness to all that they did. (XXXVI:
65)
The Quran, in fine, has portrayed most graphically and vividly the happenings
of the Last Day: the terrific explosions and the dreadful tremors, the
total annihilation of the world-even the mountains will be wiped out
of existence, the rising again of men, the gathering together of them
for the Judgment, the presentation of the Book of Deeds, the deposing
of one’s own limbs against oneself, the judgment, and, finally,
the execution of the Divine Verdict and the allotment of Heaven and
Hell. All these events have been described so candidly in some of the
chapters of the Quran that one can obtain a full picture of the happenings
of the Last Day by reading them. The Prophet, thus, is reported to have
observed, “Anyone who wishes to know about the Last Day as if
the scene of it was drawn before his eyes should read these chapters
of the Quran: Takvir, Infitar and Inshiqaq.
We will now see a few Traditions of the Prophet appertaining to Barzakh
and the Last Day. Says he:
“When anyone of you dies the place that is going to be his abode
in the Heaven or in the Hell (on the basis of his conduct in the world)
is brought before his eyes every morning and evening and it is said
to him, ‘Behold, this is your destination, and, surely, you will
reach it’.”
“When the Trumpet will first be sounded on the Last Day by the
command of God everyone will faint and drop dead on the ground. When
it will be sounded next all men will rise again.
They will then be commanded to proceed to make their presence before
the Lord. The angels, thereafter, will be told to collect them together
and here the investigation into their conduct on the earth will begin.”
It is related that a Companion once enquired from the Prophet, “O
Messenger of God, how will God raise up his creatures from the dead?
Is there anything like it here in this world which may be cited as example?”
The Prophet replied, “Has it never accured to you that you may
have passed by a stretch of land in your country and found it dry and
bereft of all vegetation, and, then, on coming upon it again, after
sometime, discovered that it was covered lavishly with fresh, green
grass?” The Prophet remarked, “This typifies resurrection.
God will raise from the dead in the same manner.”
The Prophet is reported to have asked, after reciting the Quranic verse,
On the Day (the earth) will declare her tidings, “Do you know
what it means?” The companions are said to have replied, “God
and His Apostle know best.” The Prophet, the Tradition goes on
to tell, then said, “On the Day of Judgment the earth will bear
witness to all the deeds performed by men on it (i.e., at the bidding
of God the earth will tell that such and such a person had done such
and such a thing on it on such and such a day).”
Speaking of the Day of Recompense the prophet, further, is reported
to have said, “On that Day God will call upon everyone to come
forward and be his own witness. He will say to him, today you are your
own witness: Our recording angels are present; this much of evidence
is enough’. Then by the command of God the lips of the person
will become sealed and he will not be able to utter a word. His limbs
(arms, legs, etc.) will then be commanded to speak and they will relate
the whole story of his doings in the world.”
It is reported that once a person went to the Prophet and said, “O
Messenger of God, I have some slaves who sometimes disobey me, or they
steal or tell me a lie. I sometimes scold them and, sometimes, I also
punish them. How is it going to turn out for me on the Day of Requital?”
The Prophet observed, “God will dispense justice correctly on
the Day of Judgment. If the punishment you mete out to them is proportionate
to their faults you will neither get nor have to give anything; you
will be quits. If the punishment turn out to be of a lesser degree than
what they merited you will be recompensed for it. If the punishment
proves to be excessive you will have to recompense the slaves. “On
hearing the Prophet’s reply the enquirer began to cry. He said,
“Then, O Prophet of God, the best thing for me is to send them
away. I declare before you that I have set them free.” The Prophet
is also reported to have recited the following verse of the Quran to
him:
We shall set up scales of justice for the Day of Judgment, so that not
a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least. And if there be (no
more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it (to account)!
And enough are we to take account: (XXI: 47)
