SPIRIT OF ISLAM MARCH 2O18

33 Spirit of Islam Issue 63 March 2018 ARGUMENT FOR THE LIFE HEREAFTER From Probability O NE of the most important tenets of religion is the existence of the life Hereafter. After death, human beings will leave this present ephemeral world, and, on the Day of Judgement, will enter another world, which will be eternal. The present world is but a place of trial where man, throughout his entire life span, is on probation. When the time has come for the Last Reckoning, God will destroy this world and replace it by another world created on an entirely different pattern. All human beings will then be resurrected and will be brought before the Almighty to be judged: it is then that they shall be rewarded, or punished, according to the merits and demerits of their deeds on this earth. We shall now examine this concept from different standpoints and determine whether it is right or wrong to believe in this concept. Probability The question that first arises concerns the possible advent of an after- life in the present system of the universe. Do any events or indications substantiate our view? The first thing that this concept of the other world presupposes is that man and the universe, in their present form, are not eternal. From the entire array of human knowledge up to the present, this fact stands out as indisputable. We all know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that for both man and the universe, death is an inescapable fate. The greatest desire of those who do not believe in the other world is to convert this world into a heaven of eternal bliss. Research into the cause, or causes of death have even been carried out so that it could be forestalled and prevented, thus rendering human beings immortal. But the failure of such research has been abysmal, and with each unsuccessful attempt, it has been borne in more and more upon researchers just how ineluctable death is. Why does death occur? About two hundred explanations have been put forward as to its causes. Organic decay in the body; the exhaustion of constituents; the atrophying of veins; the replacement of dynamic albumens by less dynamic ones; the wearing out of the tissues; the secretion of poison by intestinal bacteria, which is spread throughout the body, and so on.