An Elementary Study of Islam — Page 50
50 This is the categorical statement of the Quran on the subject. In recent times, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Community, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as of Qadian, presented this view of spiritual existence as against carnal existence in his unique and outstanding treatise entitled The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam. 5 All views propounded in the book are well documented with Quranic references and traditions of the Holy Founder of Islam. A brief account is reproduced here. According to his profound study, the life in the hereafter would not be material. Instead, it would be of a spiritual nature of which we can only visualise certain aspects. We cannot determine precisely how things will take shape. One of the salient features of his vision of the hereafter concerns the soul giving birth to another rarer entity, which would occupy the same position in relation to the soul as the soul occupies in relation to our carnal existence here on earth. This birth of a soul from within the soul will be related to the sort of life that we have lived on earth. If our lives here are spent in submission to the will of God and in accordance with His commands, our tastes gradually become cultured and attuned to enjoying spiritual pleasures as against carnal pleasures. Within the soul a sort of embryonic soul begins to take shape. New faculties are born and new tastes are acquired, in which those accustomed to carnal pleasures find no enjoyment. These new types of refined human beings can find the content of their heart. Sacrifice instead of the usurpation of others’ rights becomes enjoyable. Forgiveness takes the upper hand of revenge, and love with no selfish motive is born like a second nature, 5 The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam , Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, The London Mosque, 1979.