What happens if the religion of Islam turns out to be a false religion after death and Christians or atheists become the rightful side? In that case, why should I work for Islam? Maybe, the other possibilities are true?

What happens if the religion of Islam turns out to be a false religion after death and Christians or atheists become the rightful side? In that case, why should I work for Islam? Maybe, the other possibilities are true?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Throughout history, in all religions including the past and contemporary ones, there is a strong or weak trace of the belief in the hereafter. There is no doubt that in divine religions especially in the holy Qur’an, there is an elaborate explanation of the belief in the hereafter.

Throughout history in all communities, though not exactly in the Islamic sense, the traces of belief in the hereafter with an either strong or weak manner can be observed. The results of the researches on religious history prove this reality, too. There are not any nations without religion throughout the history, there are not any nations that do not believe in a God, life after death or at least a belief in a life after the soul departures its body, either. Though there are people who deny everything including God, life in the hereafter and everything about religion, they are minorities.

Though there are traces of belief in the hereafter in religions and beliefs, none of them has given elaborate and realistic explanations when compared with Islam. Nearly one third of the Qur’an gives information about the hereafter.

Though Judaism is primarily based on the revelations of Hz. Moses and a divine book, the Torah, it gives so limited space to the life in the hereafter; this fact let some scholars think that there is no belief in the hereafter in Judaism. Some contemporary scholars stated that the Torah, which is called the Old Testament, is completely isolated from the life in the hereafter, resurrection and divine punishment, encouraging elements about the hereafter; thus, this situation astonishes man since it is a divine book. Addison says that religious customs and traditions which are based on a national doctrine play an important role in Judaism’s present situation and this caused them to think of the future of Israel rather than the future waiting for them all after their deaths and this makes them indifferent to the subject of life after death.

The fact that resurrection after death was informed by Hz. Isa (Jesus) when he was in the cradle shows the importance of this belief and the significance of it in Hz. Isa’s declaration. However, principles of reward and punishment in the hereafter are interpreted and different ideas are put forward. For example, according to the Bibles, the torment of hell is eternal; however, some Christian sects claim that Allah will not break His promise but He may give up punishment; therefore, He will put everyone to Paradise by not punishing polytheists; they also claim that  eternal torture does not befit Allah. Though it is mentioned in the Bibles that there exist the resurrection of soul along with the body as well as material aspects of Paradise and hell, the general view by Christians from the past to nowadays is as follows; there are no bodily pleasures such as eating, drinking and marriage in Paradise because, the interpreters of the Bible interpreted the expressions of the bodily expressions of Paradise as spiritual meanings such as happiness; they misinterpreted them. One of the reasons that caused Christians to have such a belief is their belief that in the resurrection, bodies will be different and man will have superhuman qualities in those bodies; and they will almost become like angels.

The subject of the hereafter is elaborately discussed in the Qur’an. The taking of the spirit of man during death by angels, signs of the Doomsday, terrific events in the universe during the Doomsday, blowing of the trumpet, resurrection of man, people being sent to the Gathering Place, the reckoning, dialogues at that moment, distribution of the book of deeds, people being classified for Hell and Paradise, elaborate explanation of the benefactions in Paradise and the torments in Hell, salutation and addressing the folks of Paradise and Hell by angels, dialogues between the people of Hell and Paradise, topics on the eternity of the life of Paradise and Hell are subjects that are elaborately mentioned in the Qur’an about the hereafter.

We should not forget that the Holy Qur’an elaborately informs about the events that man will experience in the hereafter by addressing his/her reason with certainty and in a realistic way, that it is the word of Allah (SWT), that other divine books were distorted and the truth that even a word of the Qur’an has not been changed by anyone. It would be enough to see the difference by looking at the Qur’an and the Bible together.

The subject of the hereafter is among the subjects of the realm of the unseen (ghayb). One of the qualities of Muslims is believing in ghayb. As Badiuzzaman puts it, “belief necessitates affirmation of Divine Unity, affirmation of Divine Unity necessitates submission to God, submission to God necessitates reliance on God, and reliance on God necessarily leads to happiness in this world and the next.”

We can explain those concepts as follows: belief and submission are concepts that complement each other. A believer without submission is not a real believer; submission is out of question for a person without belief. A person who believes is called a believer and a person who submits is called a Muslim.  

The main source of thoughts like that are the scruples of Satan. For instance, the idea in the Christian belief that man will not be punished and that he will be put into Paradise is a nice idea for the soul; they ignore the punishment in the hereafter that will be caused by committing sinful deeds through that belief. They want to relieve their consciences by finding a way out. However, they are all delusions of the soul and Satan.

Questions on Islam