Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 62
62 islam’s response to contemporary issues and permits him to catch up only to make him understand the bitter meaning of pursuing nothingness. That is the punishment meted out to those who pursue the vanity of life, and that, according to the Holy Quran, is how all such societies end up. As against this, religion advocates an ideology which declares that life on this earth is not the be-all and end-all of things but that there is a life to come hereafter. If we do not die a permanent death here but continue to survive in one form or another, as Islam and many other religions would have us believe; if life on earth cannot be taken separately from the life Hereafter; and if both lives must be understood as the continuation of the one to the other, then it will be extremely unwise to ignore the role of social influences on a person here on earth. Evil, immoral and unhealthy influences are bound to give birth to an unhealthy soul in the life to come. Rejection of Life to Come This is no place to discuss the Islamic philosophy about life after death in detail but let it suffice here to mention that, according to Islam, the way we lead our lives here on earth influences our souls in a manner as sometimes, certain diseases of a pregnant mother influence her child in the embryonic stage. The child may be so congenitally handicapped that it may prove to be a hell for it to live with its disabilities among healthy children in a state of utter helplessness. The torment would become more bitter and profound with the maturity of its consciousness. This, in a nutshell, according to Islam, is how we shape our own heaven or hell.