Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 511
THE FUTURE OF LIFE ON EARTH illustrate this point here with reference to the relevant verses because many of them have already been discussed in other chapters. Here we only want to explain the style of this argument. Speaking of some future events of this world at a time when no human could envisage them, the Quran simultaneously begins to speak of the life after death, sometimes in a language which has two concurrent meanings. The prophecies contained in these verses can be read as applicable to here as well as to the Hereafter. When the events of this world, mentioned therein, clearly and irrefutably become realized, the fulfilment of the events of the Hereafter becomes only a matter of time. The same superhuman agency which is proved right with the unfolding of the events of this world must also be trusted concerning that which remains to be fulfilled in matters pertaining to the Hereafter. This is as far as any argument can go regarding the life to come, otherwise it is impossible to prove by any other means before death. . Having discussed the possibility of an evolved form of existence after death, some verses of the Quran clearly depict the appearance of a new form of life here on earth, replacing humans and distinctly different from them. اَلَمْ تَرَ اَنَّ اللهَ خَلَقَ السَّمَوتِ وَالْاَرْضَ بِالْحَقِّ اِنْ يَّشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَيَأْتِ بِخَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ * وَمَا ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ بِعَزِيرٍ 21-14:20. Seest thou not that Allah created the heavens and the earth in accordance with the requirements of truth (Ḥaq)? If ( ) ) He so pleases, He can remove () . ( خَلْق ( you and put in your place a new creation. And that is not at all hard for Allah. 10. These verses simply cannot be applied to the case of life after death. The use of the conditional preposition in 486