Afterlife

From within the constraints of this world,

it is not possible to prove the existence of an Afterlife

any more than the existence of God.

In this life that knowledge needs faith.

So throughout history there have always been those who

believe that death is just an end

a doorway to nothingness,

just like the losing awareness part of sleep,

without the waking up

Which of course is all you can see from this side,

observing someone dying.

To know what happens from their

and ultimately 'our'

perspective

we need guidance from outwith the Dunya.

Now we know that God has offered regular guidance to humankind

but even demonstrably miraculous events,

such as those surrounding Moses and Jesus,

were not enough to persuade people

of the truth of the Message they accompanied,

the existence of a unitary God,

and the prospect of ultimate justice in an Afterlife.

We need to know the truth of these things to believe in,

because the nature and purpose of humankind

and the experience of morality

are intrinsically tied to the nature of death

and the afterlife that follows it.

The Qur'an makes clear

the truth of the miraculous events of previous Messengers

and expresses the same necessary truths for human guidance.

This was revealed in language that could be understood by the community that heard it,

while always recognised as being itself a miraculous event

with a relevance to all people at all times.

And as our understandings of the world have changed,

so we must find a way to understand what these words mean to us

ourselves

if we are to understand the meaning of our lives.

The Qur'an has more to say about life and how to live it, than about death itself,

which happens in much the same way to all humans,

so the living tend to know what they mean by it,

and it needs little description.

The Qur'an has quite a lot more to tell us about the Afterlife

but something that we have never experienced is clearly

something that will be difficult to describe.

So what can we make of what it tells us?

Well we are told it is eternal for a start,

outside time,

which is hard for us to imagine,

especially as we are also told that our bodies will be resurrected on Yaum-i-Deen,

able to experience aspects of life we associate with our bodily form in this world (2.25)

including pleasure and pain.

And our experience of the Afterlife must be different for each individual

as it is dependent on our former lives

And clearly there is a major division between two kinds of that experience,

heaven and hell,

Jannat and Jahannum.