BOOK REVIEW

Name of the Book: The Reality of Life

Author: Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Published by: Goodword Books, New Delhi

First Published: 2007

ISBN: 93-91481-24-8

Pages: 50

Reviewed by: Faheem-ul-Islam

This booklet is extraordinary in the way that it transforms thoughts and insists readers to ponder over the universe and on “Self”.

The book starts with a question of whether man has been made for the world or vice versa. This makes a reader ponder over a very important question.

Maulana had rightly answered this question in different ways to make our conscience aware of the happenings of life. As we all are known to the fact of being alive, the question is why we have been here and why without our own will we are being taken back to the place of origin? Why we have been sent to face the atrocities and difficulties without any benefit? These questions are addressed when we understand the creation plan of God.

We are living in an era where things are accepted only when they are observed. We find it hard to believe in those things which we cannot observe. The terms like Paradise, post-death life, Hell, angels and other things are not visible or sensed by naked eyes, it becomes impossible to believe in them.

Human life is eternal but God has divided it into two phases, one the life here on earth (pre-death) and the second one the life after death (post-death). God has created this plan to test human beings whether they will fit in the criteria of goodness to enter the second phase of life where there is no death. Human desires are uncountable and unsatisfied in the first phase of life as this world is just the trial room; you have to be obedient to the superpower in this world.

The book starts with the creation plan of God. Without being acquainted with the “Self”, no one will be able to get familiar with the creation plan of God. Man is a unique creation in the entire known universe. Therefore, when the Quran calls human beings as created on the best of mould, this life cannot be without a purpose or meaning.

According to the creation plan of God, man must spend a period of trial in this present, imperfect world and after this, according to his deeds, he will receive the right to inhabit the perfect and eternal world, another name for which is Paradise.

Now, let’s come to the era of present tremendous development in the human fields, the negative and adverse conditions still prevail there but due to the lack of understanding of the creation plan of God, we easily give up and respond negatively to the situations. We thus prove ourselves wrong in the eyes of God and we prove to be failures in the examination He has set for us.

We should know that this life is a test. We have been blessed with not only two eyes but the third one is also there. The two eyes are to be used to observe the world and the phenomenon occurring around us, but the third one is called “intellect”. It is the most important for us as we can understand the unseen world with the help of intellect. This eye helps us to ponder over the invisible world which has been kept hidden.

Now let’s move to another important topic “Death”. Everyone whether religious or not believes that one day death will occur and we have to be buried or cremated according to the different customs. But at the final stage of this first phase of life, we are still bound to the questions like what will happen to my children after my death? Who will take the charge of my business?

If we only realize that when we are buried we are actually being ushered into another world, we would be more worried about ourselves rather than about the future of our children and business.

There may be two factors that make us less serious and even forgetful towards the Hereafter. Firstly, we doubt when we die we will turn to dust and how can we be revived? Secondly, life after death is not visible to us.

Our physical body is made up of tiny particles called cells and these cells are continuously destroyed in the course of our daily life. By eating food, we compensate for them and put balance in our bodies. In the course of 10 years, our body cells are completely renewed and the old ones get destroyed. We nonetheless remain the same, this indicates that another portion is there which is immortal and that is soul.

The last portion of this amazing book talks about “God-oriented life”. Just like the rest of the universe follows the command of God, in the same way, we should fashion our lives in accordance with the guidance provided by God. We must ponder over the universe to find the symbols of Almighty God to make our belief stronger. We should work for the second phase of life to fulfill the eternal quality of being obedient to God. Submission to God is the only way of life for both man and the universe.