The Essence of Islam – Volume II — Page 419
Resurrection 419. Three Qur'ānic Insights about the Hereafter. The Holy Qur'ān divides into three the conditions that one encounters after death and there are three Qur'ānic insights about the hereafter. . . . . The first is that the Holy Qur'an repeatedly states that the hereafter is nothing new but that all its spectacles are the reflections of this worldly life, as it is said: 182 وكل انساب الزمن طيرة في عنقه ، وَ نُخْرِجُ لَهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيمَةِ كِتَبَّا يَلْقَهُ مَنْشُورًا 2. In this very world, the effect of every person's doings have We firmly fastened to his neck; and We shall display their hidden effects on the Day of Judgement and show them to him in the shape of an open book. . The word bird has been here used metaphorically for deeds. For every deed, good or bad, flies away like a bird; its labour or its delight disappears and only its foulness or fineness remains in the hearts. . It is a Qur'ānic principle that every action has its hidden impress. Every action of a person attracts Divine action corresponding to it which preserves the quality of that action and does not let it disappear. Its impress is inscribed upon the heart and the countenance and the eyes and the hands and feet. This is the hidden record of actions which will be made manifest in the life to come. . At another place it is said with regard to those who are admitted to paradise: 183 يَوْمَ تَرَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَتِ يَسْعَى نُورُهُمْ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَبِايْمَانِهِمْ. That is to say: The light of faith which is bestowed in a 182 Bani Isrā'il, 17:14 [Publisher] 183. Al-Hadid, 57:13 [Publisher]