Hereafter-Oriented Thinking

In a general comment on human beings, the Quran (76:27) says:

Those people [who are unmindful of God] aspire for immediate gains, and put behind them a Heavy Day.

Man has been created as an eternal being. But his lifespan consists of two parts: the pre-death period, and the post-death period. A common weakness of man is that he takes his pre-death period as the basis or framework of his thinking and is concerned about it alone. He does not think in the context of the post-death period of his life. This is the truth that is referred to in the above-cited Quranic verse. This is no ordinary matter. It is this issue that gives a person’s thinking the right or wrong direction.

A person who thinks only in the framework of the problems and issues of the pre-death period of life develops in himself world-oriented thinking. His thinking will, in every sense, become non-realistic thinking—because he ignores the reality of the eternal life after death. And non-realistic thinking is another name for wrong thinking.

In contrast to this, a person who thinks in the framework of the issues of life after death will develop in himself Hereafter-oriented thinking. This sort of thinking is realistic thinking, because it is based on the reality of the eternal Hereafter. And realistic thinking is but another name for right thinking.

A person’s progress or destruction depends entirely on this issue. If a person who develops in himself world-oriented thinking, his entire life will move in the wrong direction. In contrast, the person whose thinking is Hereafter-oriented will head in the right direction. It is this issue that is of fundamental importance for an individual’s character-building.