(part 1 of 2): An argument
The question of whether or not there is life after death does not fall within the field of science, because science is only concerned with the ordering and analysis of reported data. Furthermore, man has only been concerned with scientific questions and research in the sense of what we mean by it today, whereas the idea of life after death has always been known to him. All of God’s prophets called on their people to worship God and believe in life after death. They emphasized belief in life after death so much that even the slightest doubt was to deny God and made any evidence of belief meaningless. The prophets of God came and went the epochs of their work are scattered over thousands of years, but the afterlife proclaimed them all. The very fact that they all dealt with this metaphysical question – and this so convincingly and uniformly – shows that the source of their knowledge of what awaits us after death must be the same: divine revelation.
We also know that these prophets of God have been greatly opposed by their peoples, largely because of the belief in the resurrection to life after man has died, because the peoples thought this was impossible. Despite this opposition, the prophets also won numerous serious followers. The question is, what prompted those followers to give up their previous belief systems. What made them reject the established beliefs, traditions and customs of their forefathers, even though they risked being rejected by their own community? The simple answer is that they used the abilities of their minds and hearts and recognized the truth. Did you know the truth through experience? It couldn’t have been like this
In fact, in addition to the awareness of perception, God also gave people rational, aesthetic and moral awareness. It is this consciousness that guides people in the face of reality, which cannot be replaced by sensory experiences. For this reason, all of God’s prophets appealed to the aesthetic, moral, and sensible sides of man when they called on their people to believe in God and in the hereafter. For example, when the idolaters of Mecca even denied the possibility of life after death, the Quran showed the weakness of their view by providing very logical and reasonable arguments:
“And he shapes us parables and forgets his own creation. He says: ‚Who can revive the bones when they have rotten?‘ Say: ‚He who created them for the first time – He will enliven them; because He knows all creation. He who brings fire out of green trees for you; and behold, you have fuel from that. Is He Who created the heavens and the earth unable to create their kind? ‚ Yes, and He is the creator, the omniscient. ” (Quran 36: 78-81)
On another occasion, the Quran verse clearly states that the unbelievers have no basis for denying life after death. It is based on pure conjecture:
“And they say: ‚There is nothing but this, our earthly life, and nothing but the time that destroys us.‘ However: they have no knowledge of it; they only suspect it. And if Our clear verses are read to them, they only object: „Bring our fathers back if you are truthful.“ (Quran 45: 24-25)
God will surely raise all the dead, but not according to our mood or for our vain control in the earthly world; God has His own plan of things. There will come a day when the entire universe will be destroyed, and then the dead will be resurrected to stand before God. That day will be the beginning of life that will never end, and that day every person will be rewarded by God according to their good and bad deeds.
The Qur’an’s explanation of the need for life after death also corresponds to our logical, moral consciousness. Because if there was really no life after death, the sole belief in God would be meaningless, or even if one believed in God, it would be an unjust and indifferent God. He would be a god who once created man and then left him to his own devices. Verily, God is just. He will punish the tyrants, whose crimes are innumerable: they kill hundreds of innocent people, create a lot of corruption in their society, enslave numerous people who serve their will, etc. Man has a very limited life span in this world, and this physical world doesn’t last forever either so that punishment or reward is impossible here according to a person’s good or bad deeds. The Quran states very emphatically that Judgment Day will come with absolute certainty. God will then decide the fate of each soul according to the report of their deeds:
“And those who disbelieve say: ‚We will not experience the hour.‘ Say: ‚Yes, yes, by my lord, the connoisseur of the hidden, she will surely come upon you! Not even the weight of a speck in heaven or on earth is hidden from Him; there is still something smaller or larger than this that is not in a clear book. It certainly rewards those who believe and do good works. It is those who will receive forgiveness and honorable care. ‚ But those who try to invalidate Our Signs – it is they who are punished with painful pain. ” (Quran 34: 3-5)
The day of revival will be the day when the righteousness and grace of God will be fully revealed. God will shower His grace on those who have suffered in His name in their worldly lives and believed that an eternal bliss awaits them in paradise. But those who misused God’s gifts and did not care about life beyond would be in an extremely miserable condition. In the Quran, these two are compared:
“Is the one to whom we made a beautiful promise that he will see fulfilled, like the one whom We have provided with the good things in life? But then, on the day of the resurrection, he will be among those shown. ” (Quran 28:61)
(part 2 of 2): The Fruits of Belief in Afterlife
The Quran also states that this worldly life is a preparation for eternal life after death. But those who deny it become slaves to their passions and make fun of righteous and God-conscious people. Such people realize their foolishness only at the hour of their death, and they wish in vain that they would be given a second chance in this world. Her terrible state at the time of death, the horror on the day of judgment, and the eternal bliss guaranteed to the serious believer were mentioned in the following Quran verse:
„Then when death approaches one of them, he says, ‚Sir, bring me back to do good of what I failed to do.‘ Not at all, it’s just a word that he speaks. And there is a barrier behind them until the day they are raised. Then when the horn has been thrust, there are no more ties between them and that day, and they will not question each other. Then those whose scales are heavy will be the successful ones. But those whose scales are light will be those who have lost themselves; in hell they will stay forever. The fire will burn their faces and they will be deformed in them. ” (Quran 23: 99-104)
The belief in life after death not only guarantees success in the hereafter, but already fills this world with peace and happiness. This is because people feel responsible for their actions and dutiful towards others because of their reverence for God. This is the fear of His punishment and the hope of His reward.
Think of the people in ancient Arabia before the time of Islam. Games, wine, tribal feuds, looting and murder were the main features of their society when they had no faith in the hereafter. But once they accepted belief in the One God and life after death, they became the most disciplined people in the world. They gave up their vices, helped each other in times of need, and resolved their issues based on equality and justice. Accordingly, the denial of life after death has its consequences not only in the hereafter but also in this world. If an entire nation denies it, evil and corruption of all kinds will prevail in their society and sooner or later destroy it. The Quran mentioned the terrible end of the Aad, Thamud and Pharaoh:
“(The tribes of) Thamud and ‚Aad denied the judgment. Then, as for the Thamud, they were destroyed by a terrible sound. And as for the Aad, they were destroyed by a tremendous, ice-cold wind, which He raged against them continuously for seven nights and eight days, so that you could have seen the people, struck down there as if they were hollow palm trunks. Do you see one of them left? ”
“And Pharaoh and those who were before him, and the cities that had collapsed, were guilty of great wickedness, and they were unruly against their master’s messenger, so He gripped them with a throttling grip. See, when the water swelled, we carried you on the ship, so that we made it a memory for you and that preserving ears may preserve it. ”
“And if the horn is thrown with a single blow and the earth and the mountains are lifted up and then crushed with a single blow, the event will have happened that day. And the sky will split because on that day it will be brittle. And the angels will stand on its edges, and eight (angels) will carry the throne of your Lord over them that day. That day you will be present (God) – none of your secrets will remain hidden. ”
“As for the one who is given his book in the rights, he will say: Well, read my book. Truly, I expected to be accountable. ‚ So he will live a good life in a high-lying paradise, the fruits of which are easily accessible. ‚Eat and drink and let yourself be well taken care of for what you have worked in the past few days.‘
“But as for the one to whom his book is given on the left, he will say: ‚Oh, my book would not have been given to me! And I would never have known what my accountability is! Oh, death would have ended (with me)! My possessions were of no use to me. My power has passed away. ‚”(Quran 69: 4-29)
There is very convincing evidence to believe in life after death:
First, all of God’s prophets have asked their people to believe in it.
Second, whenever a human society was founded on the basis of this belief, it was the most exemplary and peaceful society, free from social and moral problems.
Third, history is evidence that whenever a group of people collectively rejected the faith rather than accepting the repeated warnings from their prophet, the whole group has already been punished by God in this world.
Fourthly, the moral, aesthetic and sensible disposition of man agrees with the possibility of life after death.
Fifth, God’s qualities of justice and grace would be meaningless if there were no afterlife.
Source: https://www.islamland.com/deu/articles/das-leben-nach-dem-tod