NO FEAR OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Life After Death
THERE are very few people who believe that their lives will end after death and that life will not continue in one form or another. About 99% believe that death does not put an end to life, and that there is life after death which will continue eternally.
Despite this belief, there is almost no one who has any fears about the next stage of life. People accept life after the present life as a belief, but it has no bearing on their everyday lives. There are few exceptions to this rule.
What is the reason for this? It is because everyone has devised a self made belief regarding life after death which has placed this concept within the framework of ritualism.
Jews believe in the concept of life after death. But they believe, in addition, that they are the 'chosen people of God' (THE QURAN 5: 18); that they will all go to heaven after death. This concept of a certain salvation has made Jews fearless about the Hereafter.
Christians also believe in the concept of life after death. But they believe furthermore, that Christ allowed himself to be crucified to atone for their sins and, in this way, he assured the salvation of his followers. This concept has relieved Christians of any fear of the Hereafter.
The same is true of Hindus, Jains and Buddhists. They also believe that human life is not ended by death but, rather, continues after death. Moreover, these religions have a common belief that man is repeatedly born into this very world after death, sometimes in human form and sometimes in non-human form. But, after this new birth, man’s memory mysteriously vanishes. For instance, if a person in his previous life was healthy but led an immoral life, in his next life he will be born disabled. But he will have no memory of his previous life and will not realize that he has been born disabled due to the bad deeds committed by him in his previous life. Since he is not conscious of his past actions, he neither feels repentance nor has he any urge for introspection. He lives on in unawareness and dies in unawareness.
In this matter, exactly the same is true of the Muslims. Almost all Muslims accept the concept of life after death and the belief in heaven and hell. But if you go deeper, you will find that almost all the present day Muslims have no fears either about the Hereafter or about hell. They have, likewise, devised self-made concepts according to which salvation in the Hereafter appears certain to them.
For instance, all Muslims consciously regard themselves as being a special class. Any man or woman born into a Muslim family is surely entitled to paradise — so, many of them wrongly think. This concept is undoubtedly self-made, having nothing to do with either the Quran or the hadith. But it has become so common that it has become a part of Muslim thinking. All Muslims, whether scholars or commoners, rich or poor, intellectuals or laymen, have accepted this as an alleged established fact.
The belief in life after life acts as a powerful deterrent to man when he is about to commit evil, but when other self-made beliefs are added to this belief, then believing in the life after life is almost as good as not believing in it at all.
Not yielding to frustration
By forgetting what is lost,
one reorganizes one’s work
on the basis of whatever
one still possesses.
Planning anew replaces getting frustrated
and this makes it possible to set oneself to
starting one’s life’s journey all over again.
