You have indeed in the Messenger of Allah the perfect pattern of conduct.
(al-Aḥzāb 33:21)
Related Qur’ānic passages for self-study
4
Life and Afterlife
Present before them the similitude of the life of this world. It is like the rain which Allah sends down from the heaven. The earth’s vegetation absorbs it. But it soon becomes dry stubble which the winds scatter. And Allah prevails over everything.
Wealth and sons are the adornment of the life of this world. However, good deeds which last are best in the sight of your Lord as reward and excellent in respect of hope.
And beware of the Day when We shall remove the mountains and you will see the earth plain. And We shall gather them (mankind) all together. We shall not leave out anyone of them. And they shall be marshalled before your Lord in ranks. (It will be announced to them): Now you have come to Us as We created you the first time. You thought We should not fulfil the appointment made to you to meet Us.
And the book (of deeds) will be placed and you will see the culprits in terror because of what is recorded in it. They will say: “Ah! Woe to us! What a book is this! For it does not leave out anything, small or great. It records everything.” They will find all that they had done. And your Lord does not treat anyone with injustice.
(al-Kahf 18:45-49)
WHAT is life? Is there any Afterlife? Are the two interlinked in any way? Questions such as these have agitated the human mind from the very beginning. As the divine message was forgotten and distorted by recalcitrant communities, many fanciful speculations gained currency about the nature of life in this world and the Afterlife. Philosophers, faith and community leaders and thinkers grappled, down the ages, with this issue in their own varied ways. In Hindu thought the purpose of life undergirds the cycle of birth and rebirth. By achieving the ultimate identity between the human self and the universal self, man may bring this cycle to an end. Buddhist thought rejects the concept of the universal self. Rather, the goal of life consists in suppressing desire and attaining a state of changeless tranquillity (nirvana). In modern Western philosophy life appears devoid of any meaning. The phenomenon of the Afterlife was denied by many including the ancient Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites and Greeks. Some rule out the Afterlife outright, regarding the life of this world as an end in itself. At the other end of the scale, some dismiss this life and world as sheer illusion and prescribe asceticism and monasticism as the way out for attaining the joys of the Afterlife.
In the passage from the Qur’ān, quoted above, the issue is, however, resolved and the true nature of life in this world and its link with the Afterlife are explained. More importantly, it deals with the two in the context of man, clarifying that man’s deeds in this life determine his status in the Next Life. Since it is a complex subject, the Qur’ān employs figurative language – parables, similes and metaphors for stating the Islamic stance on the issue.
What strikes one most in the above parable is that images are taken from ordinary, everyday human experience of the objects of nature – rain, vegetation, winds, and dry stalks left in a harvested field. This could easily be grasped by the immediate addressees of the Qur’ān – the seventh-century nomadic Arabs with a negligible literacy rate and also by people of later generations regardless of time and place. Another point worth mentioning about the Qur’ānic account is its note of balance and moderation. It neither condemns this world as an evil place nor rejects it as a mere illusion, recommending monasticism as a desirable way of life. Nor does it delink the present life from the Next, lending a sense of purpose and seriousness to the present life. The Qur’ān thus saves man from taking an extreme, fallacious position on this important issue.
The life of this world is one of Allah’s major bounties. Life flourishes at Allah’s command. As rain revives the dead land, filling it with thick foliage and pleasant vegetation, in the same measure Allah makes life full of charms and joys. Life must, therefore, be led only in the manner that its Master, Allah asks us to do. Notwithstanding its great attraction, the greenery around us should not blind us to its short life. Allah Who causes life to appear in its innumerable forms does and can reduce it to nothing in no time. The dense vegetation withering and decaying into dry, ugly stubble is a common sight. From this everyday occurrence man must learn the striking truth that all life is mortal, as brief as seasonal vegetative growth is. Equally significant is the truth that Allah being All-Powerful causes life to appear in its countless splendid manifestations and again, it is Allah Who ends it suddenly. Man should not therefore be carried away by the outward beauty of life. Rather, he should realise that life is temporary and that it is solely at Allah’s command.
To illustrate the point further, the Qur’ān cites the concrete examples of wealth and sons who are extremely dear to man in this life. They are, no doubt, precious assets and a source of much joy. Yet they too, are as impermanent as seasonal vegetation is. Man cannot turn wholly indifferent to worldly objects. He is dependent upon them in leading his life. And precisely for the same reason has Allah blessed man with the basic necessities, especially wealth and children, sources of immense physical and emotional support and comfort. However, man should not be engrossed in these. Wealth and sons often distract man from strictly and consistently following Allah’s way. Out of his love of wealth and children man is liable to do things which are not desirable in Allah’s sight. The Qur’ān therefore, cautions man against this pitfall. Wealth and sons are not evil in themselves. For their outright rejection implies monasticism as the preferred way of life. Islam does not banish economic pursuits from the sphere of man’s life. The Qur’ānic note of caution, nonetheless, is that man should not be given wholly to this world which might misdirect him away from Allah’s path. In Islam these are rather the favours which Allah showers on man, and which render his life joyful and meaningful.
Man should, therefore, set his eyes firmly on the performance of good deeds which bring him Allah’s pleasure. Wealth and sons may be deployed for achieving the same end. Significantly enough, Allah promises eternal reward and hope for deliverance for every good deed. Any particular deed is not specified on this count. It is