Think for a moment what this other world must be
like. God’s prophet has stated that heaven and hell
exist there, and that everyone who dies must
eventually find his eternal abode in one of the two.
Those who are obedient to God in this world and
act in a virtuous fashion will be rewarded with a
place in paradise, while those who are evil and
rebellious towards God will be cast into an
excruciating Fire.
It is important to understand that human actions
fall into one of two categories. The first comprises
everyday, routine matters, in which no moral choice
has to be made, and also purely accidental
happenings whose outcome, whether good or bad,
cannot be judged from the moral standpoint
because they contained no purposive element. The
second category is very different in nature because
it covers a wide and complex range of actions the
rights and wrongs of which have to be scrupulously
considered before being carried out. This is known
as the ethical category.
Imagine a stone balanced precariously on the
branch of a tree. You walk under it, it falls, hits you,
and you find yourself badly injured. Do you strike
the tree and bear a grudge against it? Of course not.
But suppose a man picks up a stone, throws it at
you with the intention of injuring you and actually
does so, won’t you become enraged and feel an
urge to retaliate in like manner? You would be
perfectly justified in feeling that this wrong should
be punished because the act was intentional. Here it
is a question not just of some random happening,
but of right and wrong action, good and bad
intentions, in a word, of ethics.
The examples chosen to clarify this point are of a
simple nature in that the outcome of the action is
immediately apparent and, moreover, in the second
case, it is possible to make an instant moral
judgement. But there are other much more complex
situations in life where wrong-doing goes
undetected, its effects may be hidden or delayed for
long periods, and the culprits may never be brought
to book either by the moral condemnation of society
or in a court of law. Sometimes evil-doing is, of
course, perceived as such, but the miscreant is so
clever and resourceful that he is able to escape
punishment, or the human resources required to
inflict punishment are lacking and so the evil-doer
goes scot free. Crimes are often repeated for just
such reasons. But the perpetrator of evil should not
congratulate himself too soon on the success of his
schemes or on his ability to escape, for it is exactly
this type of action that he will be called to account
for by his Creator on the Day of Judgement.
Everyone, no matter from what walk of life he hails,
will be required to stand before his Maker and lay
his life absolutely bare before Him. On the basis of
the actions which fall into the ethical category,
where moral precepts, scruples, are of overriding
importance, he will either be ushered into paradise
or cast down into the flaming pits of hell. If all this
was kept hidden from him in this world, it was
because it was God’s plan to put man on trial.
The afterworld is where man will reap the full
consequences of his deeds according to their moral
nature. Every action has some consequences for the
perpetrator, and every state that he finds himself in
precipitates a favourable or unfavourable reaction.
He then makes or breaks himself by the manner in
which he employs his faculties.
Ref - Man Know Thyself
- by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
