Islam has established a complete balance between spirit and matter, and the world and the hereafter.

Judaism gives importance to bodily pleasures and material benefits. Therefore, the Jews are inclined to stick to the world ambitiously. Christians and Hindu religions give importance to developing the spirit only, weakening the desires of the soul by giving pain to their own bodies and ignoring the worldly life.  On the other hand, Islam has established a complete balance between spirit and matter, and the world and the hereafter; it does not aim to give pain to the body or to the soul. It gives the same importance to both of them and agrees to meet their needs separately.

This verse in the Glorious Quran, “Our Lord! Give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter ” (al-Baqara, 2/201) describes the balance of this world and the hereafter in Islam very well.

Islam does not permit ignoring the hereafter by giving more importance to the world; it does not permit ignoring the world by giving more importance to the hereafter, either.

Islam states that the happiness in the hereafter can only be achieved through this world and wants people “to work for the world as if they were going to live forever, and work for the hereafter as if they were going to die tomorrow”…