Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 348
348 painful. The Quran states that the punishment of evildoers will appear to be unending, but it will in fact be terminated when God wills (11:108). The joys of the life after death are also subject to God’s Will, but with respect to those, God’s Will has been announced; they are a “gift that shall not be cut off” (11:109). For the righteous there is an “unending reward” (95:7). Thus there will be continuous progress for all in the life after death. Those under sentence will work out their sentence, not as a penance, but as a curative process designed to cure the soul of the defects and disorders accumulated in its life upon earth and to bring it into a state of purity and health in which it can react with joy and pleasure to the conditions of the life after death. The righteous will be continuously praying for, and seeking the perfection of, their light (66:9). They will be greeted by their Lord with: “O, soul at peace, return to the Lord; thou well pleased with Him, and He well pleased with thee. So enter thou among My chosen servants, and enter thou My Garden” (89:28-31). In these words the righteous are told that because of their unending quest for knowledge of the attributes of God ⎯ that they may become perfect manifestations of those attributes ⎯ heaven is a state of being in which there is continuous progress and continuous action. Because the attributes of God are without limit, man’s seeking