The Afterlife Reminder

In these few minutes I wanna share with you a reminder or something's about the early revelations of the Quran. One of the themes that was highlighted more than perhaps any other was the concept of the afterlife. The day of Judgment, Paradise, Hell-fire, you know the reckoning, the world coming to an end and us being raised again for another life after this one. It's a recurring theme and it keeps coming on over and over again and it is discussed in a lot of detail. The question arises why? One of the benefits of having that as a main central discourse is in Islam and especially in the early revelations when the foundations of the faith were being set. Essentially the idea is...you know it's captured in for example, one place in the Quran, 'know (that) you love to rush.' Human nature that it loves to rush. We like to consume things and get things to come our way quickly, especially good things. Or we want bad things to be removed from ourselves quickly, Immediately. And so this mentality was challenged. And as a result you like to put the eventual things off and even the afterlife off. So if somebody says to you, 'you should worry about your salvation which is obviously a concern after you die.' 'Well I got bigger things right now to worry about. I got a job, I got finances, I got family issues, I got personal things. Whatever I have to do right now is a bigger priority for me for whatever is coming later, as opposed to whatever is coming later.' So, what the Quran does is, it gives us a bigger picture. In other words, nothing I do is any longer trivial. It is no longer meaningless. Allah says... It's very interesting. Allah says, 'have you assumed that We created you without purpose and that you won't be returned to Us.' 

In other words, returning to God in and of itself is a very powerful indication that everything you do has purpose! My actions don't die with time. Whatever I do, its consequences are recorded and they are going to have repercussions in this world and especially repercussions in the next. Some of the benefits of this, is of course, number one, it makes me conscious of my actions. I start thinking not just of the consequences that I'm gonna have here but later on. It removes from me the idea that nobody saw what I did. That's gone. God saw what I did and it's on record and I am gonna have to answer for it. So there will be an accountability for everything that I do. That's number two. Three, I realize that, as a result I have to keep turning back to God for forgiveness because there is a countless number of mistakes I make all the time. So it makes me a person that seeks God's forgiveness all the time. I seek Allah's forgiveness. And as a result, I become closer and closer to Allah! Closer to God. So the concept of the afterlife actually drives me to become closer to Allah. Because the focus in Islam is always Allah. It goes back to Allah every time. Even if the conversation is about paradise or hell fire, the point of it is to take us back to Allah Himself.

But, finally, and most importantly, we don't think of anything as trivial. In other words, we don't think of our time in this world as trivial. This little bit of time that we have on this earth compared to the actual life span that Allah has given me. In other words when He Almighty created me, this is even before the creation of, you know, the generations of people, and our souls, our ruh were created, and one of them is picked by the angel and dropped into the belly of a mother so that she can deliver this child. All of us are creatures before even the earth and if we were asked a question about our faith even before we came to this earth. And then after we die from here, we are going to go to another state of life and it's gonna go on for generations. Some people, that life in the grave that they are going through, they have been going through for thousands of years. And they have been in there. That's another phase of life. we don't see it as death. we see it as another stop in the journey of life. So when you compare all these stops in the journey of life, you will realize that this life, meaning from my birth to to my worldly death is the shortest stop in this journey. The Shortest span! you know, you don't even realize when it's over... you know. And so when you realize that, you also realize this tiniest space, this tiniest lifetime that i have, the span that i have, this is the one that will determine all of my actions in the future. My eternal life is based on those very few moments. So my time is no longer trivial.  I have to make the best of it. I have to make the most of it. There is no such thing as free time for me now. what the afterlife does is, (it) gives me respect for my time. A sense of urgency to accomplish more and more good and to get away from more and more evil. It destroys laziness inside me. So if i find Muslims in my audience, if you find yourself being lazy and you have to ask whether or not your beliefs in the afterlife are concrete enough. May be you need more reminder about the afterlife because they necessarily give you a sense of urgency. And for those of you who think,'well.. Judgement day, Paradise, hell-fire, its so far away.' what does Allah himself say, ' No doubt they see it far away - we see it near.' I hope this reminder would be of some benefit to you. I personally benefit from reminding myself in that all of us have to rejuvenate in ourselves, make better use of our time. Especially through the reminder of the Akhirah. May Allah give all of us success in the afterlife.

Asalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi wa barakatahu.

Commentary  by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan