Hereafter and God’s Wisdom

written by Dr. Syed Rizvi

Posted on: Feb 2, 2023
Hereafter-and-God’s-Wisdom

If the Resurrection is not going to happen, then the very purpose of man’s creation and of the Universe will be futile and that will be against the Infinite Wisdom of Allah.

Suppose a man out of his love and regards for his guests prepares delicious dishes and serves it under a magnificent canopy and for the safety and security of the guests deputes people for managing and taking care of the feast. But despite all these if these guests go after the dishes like cats and dogs and disrupt the whole arrangement, the host will wind up the feast ultimately. You can yourself make out as to what it will lead to? In the same way if there is no Resurrection the very purpose of Allah’s work will become more futile than that of the feast Allah too has spread a dinner cloth for the people in the shape of this world. The Holy Qur’an says:

Creator of the heavens and the earth from nothingness! How could He have a son when He has no mate? He created everything, and is Omniscience. (Quran, 6:101)

Who made everything excellent that He has created? (Quran, 32:7)

With him all things are in determined measure. (Quran, 13:8)

And ask, ‘To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth ?’ Say, ‘To Allah; He has ordained mercy on Himself’. He will gather you on the Day of Resurrection which is certain to come. As for those who have lost their souls, they will not believe. (Quran, 6:12)

It is He Who has created for you all that is in the earth, and He directed Himself to the heaven, so He made them complete seven heavens and He is Omniscience. (Quran, 2:29)

And surely, We have honored the children of Adam, and We carry them in the land and the sea, and We have given them of the good things, and We have made them to excel by an appropriate excellence over most of those whom We have created. (Quran, 17.70)

The Earth Underneath a Glorious Canopy

The Holy Qur’an says:

 Surely, We have adorned the nearest heavens with ornaments of stars. (Quran, 37:6)

Then those (angels who) distribute the blessings by Our command. (Quran, 51:4)

Then those who out-space the others swiftly. (Quran, 79:4) 

The Holy Prophet as a Sympathetic Physician

Imam Ali says, “The Holy Prophet was a leader who in the love and sympathy for the people used to take a round and after spotting spiritual patients used to treat them”. Truly speaking, the Almighty All-Wise Allah has spread for mankind a table which is equipped with all its characteristic specialties but many people do not pay due regard to it and one of the groups is tyrant, free and in comfort, while the other one is in captivity and is oppressed. After a time all will die and this spread will be rolled up for good. Can such an action on the part of the wicked group justified? The Holy Qur’an says:

Those who commemorate Allah while standing, sitting, or resting on their sides and who think about the creation of the heavens and the earth and say, “Lord, You have not created all this without reason. Glory be to You. Lord, save us from the torment of the Fire. (Quran, 3;191)

In the Holy Qur’an Allah has been called Wise about hundred times and we see the signs of His Wisdom everywhere, in the eyelashes, in the curve of our foot, in the mother’s love, in the act of a suckling child, in the saltiest tears of the eyes, in the soft watery flavor of the mouth, in the man’s inhaling of oxygen, in the plant’s inhaling of carbon-dioxide, in the sound waves with the ear, in the light rays with the eyes, and in the foodstuff with the digestive processes, in the noiseless motion of the earth, in the fulfillment of man’s total requirements, and in the abundance of the bounties which according to the Holy Qur’an cannot be counted.

The deep-laid natural phenomena are such that the experts of material sciences have spent their entire life to know them, but they have been unable to solve a single secret of their mystery. Is this world with all its delicacies, maturity, and holiness meant to be destroyed after a few days life?

An Example: Will you allow that for a high ranking officer a room which is ordered to be equipped with all the amenities, water, electricity, telephone, curtains, furniture, microphone etc. is blasted with a hand grenade after it is used once or twice? Therefore, how can we believe that Allah Who has created this vast Universe with such delicate details will blow it up with an earthquake of explosion after a short while?

Will a pot maker allow his potteries to be destroyed? Thus if there is not going to be Resurrection, then Allah’s work will only be restricted to making wheat from earth, sperms from wheat, a child from sperm, from child to be a grown up and stout man, then to an old and weak man, and finally to die and decay into dust particles. Is that all He should do? Really speaking if that was to happen, and we were to be reduced to dust then why were we not allowed to remain as dust? Will all this not amount to futility? The Holy Qur’an says:

Do you think We created you for nothing, and that you will not be returned to Us? (Quran,  23:115)

Is not the creation of the heavens, the earth, the rivers, the sun, the moon, the stars, the trees, the animals etc. for man and is the ultimate destruction of man a sign of wisdom?

If there is no Resurrection, then the life of man will be like converting thousands of liters of pure water into urine and thousands of kilograms of foodstuff into human excreta. In that case there will remain no differentiation between light of a candle and that of an electric lamp, and between a donkey cart and an air-plane.

Marxism which clamors for the workers’ rights, laborers’ government, importance of work, insurance of the laborers, their leave, bonus, right of strike, etc. says the same thing. It says that all these things come to an end, for after death we all perish.

If, however, the sole aim of our life and our slogans is to procure bread, clothes and shelter after which we are to be finished for good, then what is the necessity of undergoing all these troubles when sooner or later we have to perish, in that case why one should not end one’s life by committing suicide?

In short if it is taken for granted that after death, we all shall be perished then why should we undergo so much trouble in this world? Naturally when the youthful age is so short-lived it will be futile to invest one’s efforts to embellishments.

If we are supposed to be destroyed after death then why is there a desire for living in our nature? Of course, from the communist point of view, the future of the world is dark and has no existence. Here all actions are destined to be destroyed and the ultimate result of man’s life is useless and it has no reality.

From this point of view, sometimes man is prompted to ask why he has been created and what is the purpose of his creation? When he has been created why should he not turn a wolf so as to achieve some success even though it is achieved at the expense of many human lives? And when he is heading towards destruction then let it be so that he may revel in the destruction of others. If man is perishable like animals then let man use man as beast of burden and let him eat another man’s flesh. When all have to live and die for nothing then why not let them become a delicious morsel for me.

Yes, the materialistic approach of life leads to that dangerous point at which we have already reached. Though there are famine-stricken countries which are clamoring for help, the developed countries in order to maintain the price level throw their wheat and fruits away into the sea or bury them in the ground and this is shown on the television also.

To our mind we should ask the God as to how Your Wisdom has described the sure happening of Resurrection. In this connection the Holy Qur’an says:

Does man think that he is to be left to himself, alone? (Quran, 75:36)

That is to say will he die ultimately and there will be nothing afterwards? There are several verses in the Holy Qur’an which tell us that we have not come into this world just for fun and, nor have we to do any useless and wrong things. Neither our aims and objectives by any means are simple and ordinary, nor are we intended to be lost in the wilderness of this world.

But the purpose of our creation is for the training of mankind and to be brought to trial in this world which is based on definite rules and principles. The real objective of this creation is to choose from among various wrong and un-divine ways the Path of Allah, and to recognize and worship Allah. Sooner or later this Path will lead us to Allah. The Holy Qur’an says:

Surely, we are Allah’s and to Him we shall return. (Quran, 2:156)

And Allah created the heavens and the earth with truth and that every soul may be rewarded for what it has earned and they shall not be wronged. (Quran, 45:22)

Every soul is held in pledge for what it earns. (Quran, 74:38)

And about Luqman advising his son the Holy Qur’an says:

O my son! whatever it may be, even though equal to a mustard seed in weight, or within a rock or in the sky or deep down in the earth, Allah will bring it forth. Verily Allah is Perceptive, All-Aware. (Quran, 31:16)

A True Incident: A man came to Prophet’s Mosque and started saying, “O Prophet of Allah teach me the Holy Qur’an”. The Holy Prophet entrusted him to one of his companions. The companion took him aside and started teaching him Chapter 99:7,8 from Quran and when he read the following verses:

He who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it. And he who has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it. (Quran, 99:7, 8) 

That man pondered over for a while and then asked his tutor. “Is this Allah’s revelation?”. The tutor said, “Yes”. Then the man said, “I have now got my lesson from these very verses and when all my deeds, small and big, are to be accounted for ultimately, I am now aware of my obligations and this is enough for me to lead to the correct Path. I now go. Allah may bless you”.

When the man had gone away the tutor came to the Holy Prophet and said, “Today’s pupil was not enthusiastic, he did not let me recite anything more than the short verses of the Holy Qur’an; and said.’If there is one person only in the house, then for him one call is sufficient. Yes, I have got my lesson all right”.

The Holy Prophet said, “He has already attained the cognition of Allah and gained the religious teachings”.

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References

Muhsin Qara’ati , Lessons From Qur’an , Publisher: Islamic Seminary Publications, ISBN 0-941724-51-4

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