Believing in The Hereafter with Certainty

The man who comes to realise that he was brought into this world to be tested by Allah, will then move on to another stage of thought. If we are tested in this life, then death cannot be the end. There must also be a result to this test. However, there is no result in the life of this world. Amongst all the people who have lived in the past, there were tyrants, dissolute people and murderers, as well as the messengers of Allah and other people of very high conscience who dedicated their whole lives to Allah. There were also poor and miserable people who were subjected to oppression. Those in the past are now all dead and gone; both the good and the bad are buried in their graves. Today, there is nothing left of them but some skeletal remains. Allah, the Owner of Eternal Justice, would not let the life of this world be resolved in this way.

In short, man's conscience will tell him that Allah's Eternal Conscience will pay every man in full for what he has done. Since the accounts are not completely settled in this world, then there must be a place to where this is deferred.

People who think through their conscience will also find the answer in the Qur'an. Allah states in the Qur'an that He has deferred the settling of the accounts until after death, when everyone will be fully paid for the things they have done in this world:

It is a fact communicated in the Qur'an and also through conscience and wisdom that the real life will begin after death, and everyone will meet different circumstances in the hereafter according to his or her conduct in this world. It does not suit people's purposes to follow their conscience in a life which they spend in joking and playing around, and by rote, without giving a thought to it at all. Everyone pursues plans they will benefit from in the life of this world, but none of these plans concern death or the hereafter. Death, however, is a reality far more absolute than all of these planned events. People, however, never take death into consideration. They try to live their lives as if they will never die.

What may then be the reason that the majority of people live by ignoring this important fact?

To answer this question, you must take a moment to think; how many times in your entire life have you thought about death? Have you ever thought that one day you will die, all your loved ones who buried you under the earth will then leave your grave and get on with their daily lives, and everything you ever had will be gone upon your death? Have you ever visualised how death takes place? Your flesh will rot under the soil, but what will your soul experience?

Man has a soul and the soul does not disappear. After man dies, a new life starts for his soul, but has he ever happened to wonder what kind of a new life awaits him? Like the majority of people, he, too, may have never thought about such things. This is because thinking about them makes people feel horrified. They try to avoid these facts as much as possible. When this subject is brought up, they try to dismiss its impact on them with jokes or flippant remarks.

Why, then, do almost all people try so strongly to escape this reality which is certain to happen one day? Will ignoring prevent it from happening? Of course it will not. The reason people avoid thinking about death and the hereafter is that it prods their conscience into action, reminding them that they are answerable to Allah and that they will give an account of their actions after death. At the moment the conscience awakes, everything that has been done until then loses its importance, and man comes to realise the subjects that are really important. When he thinks that he will die one day, what importance are the things he has done in the life of this world? Initially, it may perhaps be difficult for him to grasp this, but thinking of the exact moment of death in fine detail, will help him understand all the truths.

Death may come to you when you least expect it, and most likely you will have no chance to make any preparations. It could be now or in a few moments, or at a similar moment a few years hence.

Real conscience is felt at the moment the angels of death and the fire of hell are seen

You may have seen someone die, but what you have seen is the death of the body. There is also the experience that the soul goes through during death, which can only be witnessed by the person undergoing it. Onlookers will only see the dying of the body, which may appear very peaceful in the case of someone dying naturally in his bed, or indeed agonising in the case of a victim of a car accident or disease. However, the death of the soul, that is, what it goes through during death is very different from what it seems to be.

If the person who dies is a believer, then his soul is taken with ease and he is given the glad tidings by two angels that he will start his marvellous eternal life. This person is neither frightened nor grievous, for he possesses the immeasurable joy of knowing that he will be in happiness and peace for eternity. This fact is stated in the Qur'an as follows

In the case of a man who has not lived his life in accordance with Allah's approval, no matter how his body dies, what his soul experiences will be the beginning of a life full of torment. Allah warns these people in the Qur'an:

For these reasons, trying to visualise the moment of death in your mind's eye will cause you to behave with one hundred percent sincerity and conscientiousness.

Death may come to you while driving, or doing something that you do routinely. Suddenly the sight in front of you will change and you will meet two angels of death. Angels of death may assume a horrifying appearance to those who have not lived their lives in accordance with Allah's good pleasure and ignored death and the hereafter. In the Qur'an, it is told that they stretch out their hands to the person whose life they have come to take away, pull him close to themselves and declare to him a degrading, endless torment, while beating his face and back. Separation of the soul from the body causes great pain. At that point, the man realises what is to happen next. This moment is described in Surat al-Qiyama:

You too will certainly experience the moment of death. What will become important, and what will become meaningless to you? What will you regret having done or not having done? Whose advice will you wish you had taken? Whom will you wish you had never met? How concerned will you be about the details of your job? Of what importance is a dress you will wear to a party, or other people's opinions about your appearance, in comparison to the fact of the hereafter?

Those who answer these questions in full sincerity can come to terms with what their conscience tells them. If a person has not heeded Allah's good pleasure throughout his life and has not done his best to gain Allah's approval, the greatest feeling he will experience in addition to the fear he will feel at the moment of death, will be an irrecoverable remorse. Statements of remorse such as 'I wish I hadn't listened to such and such a person, I wish I had kept regular prayers, I wish I had lived for Allah,' etc. will keep crossing his mind.

Meanwhile, the impact of the moment of death will become more intense, for these two angels will drag man to hell, as they humiliate him. Before entering hell, everyone is questioned one by one and they see why they are to enter hell. At this moment, man will feel unspeakable horror because all the things he has done and thought in his entire life will be displayed to him one by one. The thoughts he supposed no one knew, and many other events even he himself had forgotten will be brought in front of him.

Think what will make you feel regret when your entire life in this world is brought right in front of you in such a manner. For what kind of things will you say 'I wish I had not done it' or 'I wish I had done it'? The irreparable regret on that day is expressed in a verse in the Qur'an:

Furthermore, people will feel great anger and repugnance against themselves for what they have done in the life of this world. Yet, the anger and resentment that Allah will feel for them will be even greater:

In the Qur'an, it is said that regret and remembrance on that day will be of no use. By that time, everything will have ended; no longer will it be possible to make up for what has been done in the past. The gates of hell will be locked behind man forever:

All men, even the most astray ones, will be able to see very clearly everything that their conscience tells them at the moment of death and while giving account, but since return is no longer possible, they will not be able to correct their situation by following their conscience. The purpose of this book is to reveal to people their conscience while there is still time, and to invite them to live a life by which they can make up for their past and feel no regret in the hereafter.

The difference between people who always follow their conscience and people who do not, is the power of faith the conscientious people have in Allah and the hereafter. A conscientious man always acts as if he is being questioned on the brink of hell. By example, Allah tells us about some of his messengers, who always remembered the hereafter: