How did we come here? What was before this life, were we alive? What will happen after death? Is death the end of our current physical life and body, including our mind? If this worldly life is a test, how is this test fair?
These are some of the questions that each & every human must ask him/herself. Below is a brief explanation on how do Muslims view life and death.
Allah says in Qur’an: “How can you disbelieve in Allah (God), Seeing that you were dead and He gave you life. Then He will give you death, then again will bring you to life and then unto Him you will return.” (2:28)
They will say: “Our Lord! You have made us to die twice, and You have given us life twice! Now we confess our sins, then is there any way to get out?” (40:11)
These verses show that, we were alive, then we died, then again we were given life (i.e this worldly life) and we will again die and then there will be another life.
Before the creation of the universe , Allah created the Souls & Angels. This is related to “Alam al-Amr (the World of Command)”.
After this from the material universe, that started with the big bang, our bodies were created. This is related to “Alam al Khalq (World of Creation).”
Alam al-Amr matters are with “Kun Fayaqoon” which means, Allah says, “Be” & it happens, there is no time element involved in it. But in Alam al Khalq, time is involved.
So, the first phase was when all the souls were created, from Adam to the last human that will come on this earth, till the day of judgement. After creating these souls, Allah took a covenant from all of them.
Allah says in Qur’an”: “And (remember) when your Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their seed and made them testify as to themselves (saying): “Am I not your Lord!” They said: “Yes! We testify,” . Lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection: “Verily, we were unaware of this.” Or lest you should say: “It was only our fathers aforetime who took others as partners in worship along with Allah, and we were (merely their) descendants after them; will You then destroy us because of the deeds of men who practiced falsehood!” (7:172-173)
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him) said: “It will be said to a man from the people of the Fire on the Day of Resurrection, `If you owned all that is on the earth, would you pay it as ransom!’ He will reply, `Yes.’ Allah will say, `I ordered you with what is less than that, when you were still in Adam’s loins, that is, associate none with Me (in worship). You insisted that you associate with Me (in worship).”
From the above verse & narration we can conclude that: “As there can be no agreement if both the parties are not conscious or are not in their senses, therefore, it shows that the agreement/covenant was done when humans were in their senses & were conscious, and all of us accepted that there is no God but One, Allah.”
As all the souls were present at that time, therefore when on the day of judgement the souls will be presented in front of Allah once again, then Allah will say: “And truly you have come unto Us alone, as We created you the FIRST time. You have left behind you all that which We had bestowed on you.” (Qur’an 6:94)
After this, all the souls were put to a state of death. That was the first death we faced. We were only souls & we had no material body at that time.
This shows that, in this world we have these two existences, our body and the soul and they are joined together. About, how are they joined, we don’t know.
The Prophet said: “Each of you is constituted in your mother’s womb for forty days as a nutfah, then it becomes an ‘alaqah for an equal period, then a mudghah for another equal period, then the angel is sent and he breathes the soul into it.”
One is our bestial existence which came from the earth & one is our spiritual existence. Till the time we are alive on this earth, our souls & material bodies stay attached & when we die, our material existence goes to where it came from – the earth, but our spiritual existence did not come from the earth & will not go into the earth, it came from Allah (God) & it will return to Allah. This will be our second death, and then we will be resurrected again on the day of judgement, as it is mentioned in Qur’an: “Our Lord! You have made us to die twice, and You have given us life twice!” (40:11)
After this second death, it will be our final eternal life, either in heaven or hell (based on our deeds). And after this (second death) there will be no way to get out. So, we all must live wisely in this world, we must try our best to search for truth with sincerity. This worldy life is just a test for the hereafter, 70-80 years & we will be gone. Heaven is peace & pleasure for eternity & Hell is torture for eternity. Choose wisely.
This Is The Philosophy Of Life & Death In Islam. Qur’an surprises me whenever I study it, & i would like to invite all the readers to study Qur’an & understand its meaning.
The Qur’an is a dynamic and intrusive text that constantly seeks to engage with the inner dispositions of man. The Qur’an achieves this by asking profound questions concerning natural phenomena, life and the universe. However the Qur’an does not stop at addressing these themes, it also asks about man himself. Who is he? Where is he going? What is he? It eloquently asks the question “Do they not reflect within themselves?” (Hamza Tsortis)
“Islam is not a ‘religion’ in the sense this term is commonly understood. It is a system encompassing all fields of living. Islam means politics, economics, legislation, science, humanism, health, psychology and sociology. It is a system which makes no discrimination on the basis of race, color, language or other external categories. Its appeal is to all mankind. It wants to reach the heart of every human being.” (Abd’ul Ala Maududi)
Allah Knows Best.
Bitter Truth 