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Muslim Realist and Religious
Muslim Realist and Religious Abdul Rashid is a member of the Ottawa Muslim community, the Christian-Muslim Dialogue and the Capital Region Interfaith Council. Death is inevitable but it is not the end of life. The Islamic view is that life in this world is a short sojourn and death is a way station to a permanent life in the Hereafter. Belief in the life hereafter is fundamental in Islam. There is hardly a page in the Muslim scripture, the Holy Qurn, without a direct or indirect reference to this subject.
Unlike any other living beings, humans are moral beings with a will to act or not to act. In this physical world, neither good is always rewarded nor is evil always punished. But our sense of justice and our reason demand that death should not come to the rescue of the evil from due punishment, nor should it deprive the righteous from enjoying the fruits of good deeds. The Islamic view is that, irrespective of the outcomes of our actions in this world, all of us, individually and collectively, will be accountable for our deeds in the life Hereafter where no one will escape the Divine justice (39:55-57).
Human beings are unique in the creation. The Creator has blessed them not only with an in born faculty to distinguish between good and evil, He has also provided them through the scriptures and the prophets clear moral guidance. At the same time, He gave them the freedom to choose between right and wrong. A believer will always be on the look out for some investment for greater dividends in the eternal world (63:10). Indeed, the thought of ultimate appearance in the Court of Almighty God and His justice is the only source of morality, prosperity and well being of humanity, both in this world and in the world to come. The basic principle is work for this world as if you will live forever and work for hereafter as if you will die tomorrow.
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