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The centrality of the afterlife
The key to Islam’s success in this world is that it aims at the next. This long-term view prevents the adherents of Islam to get caught up in the meaningless nitty-gritty of everyday life, setting their aims high and spurned on by an ideal rather than being weighed down by mundane events. For a Muslim, life after death is a certainty, not a possibility. Our existence on earth is temporary, however long we might live: we enter it involuntarily and leave it involuntarily. What we can achieve during our lifespan is limited, and we can take none of our material acquisitions
with us. Life becomes meaningless unless the soul lives on. A believer thus sees the material life as an intermediate stage on a greater journey. It is a test or an examination, for when we return to Allah, our Maker, we will be judged on the basis of how we conducted ourselves during our lifetime. When we begin our life’s journey, we are fully equipped by our Creator with the sensual, physical, and mental resources at our disposal, but we need to gradually learn to find our way around in this new environment. As a child grows up it discovers the self, and the demands and desires of the self lead to a life of lust and greed unless moderated by obligations and responsibilities. We learn that others also have similar demands on us as we have on them. Islam’s teaching reminds us that we cannot repay Allah for His favours, but we can share them with others whenever they are in need of them. Service of Allah thus becomes service of the common good. The Qur’an calls its own message a reminder. It reminds us of the bliss of paradise which we had to leave in order to exist on earth. It reminds us that this innocent state can be obtained once more by willingly giving up any selfishness we find in ourselves. Ultimately, we will have to leave everything behind anyway, even our own body, so there is little point in becoming obsessed with worldly accumulations nor the attempt to make our physical appearance last forever. We are more than our physical shell. We are our ideals, our beliefs, our deeds. The wealth we acquire in our lives is merely a tool to help us achieve our ideals. That’s why a Muslim is prepared to sacrifice his wealth for the sake of his ideals and is even willing to die for his belief rather than live on betraying it.
Islam
teaches that all souls were created long before their physical
presence on earth, and that all shall be raised on the Last
Day and brought before Allah for judgment. We were told of the
test of life when all the souls were gathered initially, and
depending on our eagerness or weariness to put ourselves
through it, Allah has adjusted the tribulations of life to
what we can manage. He says in the Qur’an that no soul is
burdened beyond its capacity. Some die in early childhood to
save them from what they could not have handled. Life is like
an examination room where people enter at different levels.
Those who sit the advanced papers might have to stay on
longer, and certainly their tasks are more difficult. In the
end, as long as we try our best, we will get a mark. On the
other hand, if we deny that there is a test and waste our time
off-task, we will not be graded. Imagine a car exhibition; it
would be boring if all the cars on show would be the same
latest model. There will be small and large, fast and slow,
luxurious and basic cars in a good exhibition, and a superb
car is only recognised as such in comparison to a lesser, or
different model. Each and every one of us is equipped with
different capabilities. None is worthless. But in the end, you
would only buy a car, if it drives. A posh car without an
engine will be abandoned in favour of a basic car fit for the
job. Equally, in this exhibition of life, whilst we find out
more about ourselves by comparing with others, ultimately only
those with faith in Him will be accepted by Allah, and the
rest will be discarded. The strong believer is better than the
weak one, but a weak believer is better than a strong person
without faith.
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