Life After Death

[ابوالوليد المسلم]

Life After Death (2/2)

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan


Some misguided people even consider ‘life’ and ‘death’ to be the ‘accumulation’ and the subsequent ‘diffusion’ of multitudinous particles of matter as expounded by an Urdu poet, Chakbast, in the following words:
“What is life? Elements arranging themselves in order,
and death? Their diffusion.”
This, statement is however not borne out by fact. If life were simply ‘elements arranging themselves in order,’ then it follows that it should survive only so long as this orderliness endured, and it should conversely be possible for an expert scientist to create life by an accumulation of these elements; obviously, both these propositions are preposterous. We observe that it is not only those who have been torn limb from limb in some accident, who die. In every condition and at every age people are passing away.
Sometimes perfectly healthy human beings suffer sudden heart failure and die and no doctor can provide an explanation for this. We may regard a corpse as an ‘orderly, elemental manifestation,’ but the soul, which inhabited it, has departed. All elements are arranged in the same order as they were a few minutes beforehand, but they are utterly lifeless. This shows that the organization of elemental matter does not create life; rather life is an entirely separate entity.
A living human being cannot be produced in a laboratory, though such a physical form can readily be formulated. We have ascertained that the particles that compose a living body consist of normal atoms. The carbon in it is the same as that found in charcoal, its hydrogen and oxygen are the same as that which constitute water; its nitrogen is exactly the same gas as that which accounts for most of the atmosphere, and so on. But is it true to say that a living human being is a specific collection of ordinary atoms that have been arranged in an extraordinary way? Or is it something else besides this?
Scientists admit that although we know that the body is fabricated of certain material particles, we are still not in a position to create life just by combining these same particles. This proves that the body of a living human being is not just a conglomerate of inanimate atoms. It is rather a combination of ‘life’ and ‘atoms’. After death, the conglomerate of ‘atoms’ remains visible to us, while ‘life’ departs for another world.
Clearly, ‘life’ is not something, which can be eliminated. When we grasp that life is something with eternal properties, we can appreciate just how rational and natural the ‘life-after-death’ theory is. The facts cry out that life does not consist merely of what can be seen prior to death. Therefore, there must be a life after death also. Our intellect accepts the transient nature of this world, and the fact that man is a being, which survives it. When we die, we do not pass into oblivion, rather we retire to reside in another world.
Understanding this, most people now-a-days do believe in God and in the afterworld. It is not as if they deny these things; however their actions bear no relation to their belief. In practice, all that people are concerned about is ‘worldly successes. Let us understand this with the help of an example: if we were told that the earth’s gravitational pull had ceased to exist and that the planet was being pulled towards the sun at a speed of 6,000 M.P.H. Can you think what would happen? There would definitely be a total and complete panic in the entire world, as this would imply that within a few weeks all life would be obliterated from the face of the earth.
However, no one realizes that this world is perpetually facing a peril much greater than this. What is this peril? It is the peril of the Last Day in which man will be called to account for his deeds in this world. The Day, which has been destined for the world since the creation of the universe, which we are all careering towards at a reckless speed. As an article of faith, most of us accept this reality, but there are indeed very few who actually feel compelled to give it serious thought and even less who feel the need to prepare for the afterworld.