Ahmadiyya Movement — Page 52
52 Heaven and Hell. The third question is, what is the nature of heaven and hell ? His answer was that heaven and hell are similar stages in which a man experiences joy or sorrow according to the character of the life he led before death. They are not material for they cannot be experienced by our material bodies nor can they be described as entirely spiritual, for, in that life also man would possess a spi- ritual body, which shall serve as a shell for the soul that a man owns in this life, and which will possess much finer and more delicate perceptions than the latter. The delights and pains of the life after death shall, therefore, correspond to the faculties of the spiritual body with which man will be invested in that life. The fourth question is, whether heaven and hell shall be eternal or of limited duration ? His answer was that the soul will be given eternal life and that heaven shall open to man avenues for unending development, but that, as man has been created with the object of attaining perfection, the punishment of hell will not be everlasting. For, if hell were eternal, the object of man’s creation would be defeated, for some men would for ever remain in a state of imperfection. Indeed, hell is like a hospital, where man would be cured of those spiritual diseases which he con- tracts as the result of his actions in this world, and owing to which he is unfit to enjoy the delights of Paradise. As, for in- stance, a man suffering from some ophthalmic trouble is hurt by the glorious light of the sun, and instead of taking joy in it, he has to be kept in a dark room till he is cured of his disorder. When a man has been cured of his spiritual disorders in hell, the Mercy of God will lead him to Paradise to enable him to start afresh on the path of development in the new life. So that, in the end there will be no man left, whatever the form of his belief, disbelief and whatever his spiritual condition may be, who will not be ga- thered under- the everlasting shade of God’s Mercy and will not be admitted to that Eternal Home, which is the final goal of human existence. In short, the Promised Messiah cleared every