Islâm

by Syed Ameer Ali

The Koranic Conception of a Future Existence.—The pictures of a future existence in the Koran are all drawn to suit the comprehension of the people among whom and the age in which the New Gospel was preached. To the famished, thirsty Arab of the desert what could be more comforting or more consonant to his ideas of paradise than rivers of unsullied, incorruptible water, or of milk and honey; or anything more acceptable than unlimited fruit, luxuriant vegetation, inexhaustible fertility? Large masses of Moslems, no doubt, accept in their literal sense all the word-paintings of the Koran, a characteristic by no means confined to the followers of Islâm. But it is a calumny even against those Mussulman literalists to say that they look forward to sensual enjoyment in the next world. The pictures in the Koran of the joys and pains of after-life, although poetical and vivid, give no warrant for such an assertion. ‘But those who are pious shall dwell in gardens amid fountains; (they shall say unto them) Enter ye therein in peace and security; and all rancour will We remove from their bosoms; they shall sit as brethren face to face; weariness shall not affect them therein, neither shall they be repelled thence for ever.’ ‘For those who do good is excellent reward and superabundant addition; neither blackness nor shame shall cover their faces. These are the inhabitants of Paradise; therein do they abide for ever. But those who have wrought evil shall receive the reward of evil equal thereunto.’... ‘Blessed are they who fulfil the covenant of God and break not their compact; and who join together what God hath bidden to be joined; and who fear their Lord and dread an ill-reckoning; and who from a sincere desire to please their Lord are constant amid trials, and observe prayers and give alms, in secret and openly, out of what we have bestowed on them; and turn aside evil with good; for them there is the recompense of that abode, gardens of eternal habitation, into which they shall enter, together with such as shall have acted rightly from among their fathers, their wives, and their posterity, and the angels shall go in unto them by every portal (saying), “Peace be with you! because you have endured with patience.”’ ‘Excellent is the reward in that abode!’[12] ‘No soul knoweth the joy which is secretly prepared for it as a reward for that it may have wrought.’[13]

The Spirituality of Islâm.—Thus behind the description of material happiness portrayed in objects like trees, rivers, and beautiful mansions, with fairy attendants lies a deeper meaning:—‘O thou soul which art at rest, return unto thy Lord, pleased and pleasing Him; enter thou among My servants; and enter thou My garden of felicity.’

Sufi Ideas.—A large section of Moslems, especially those inclined to Sufiism, believe, however, that as the human soul is an emanation from God, the highest joy would consist in its fusion with the Universal Soul, whilst the greatest pain would be in a state of separation from the Divine Essence.

The Conception of Evolution.—This idea, with the conception of progressive evolution, has been expressed in a poem of untranslatable beauty by the great poet of Islâmic mysticism which may be paraphrased thus: ‘Dying from the inorganic we developed into the vegetable kingdom. Dying from the vegetable we rose to the animal. And leaving the animal we became men. Then why should we fear that death will lower us? The next transition will make us angels. From angels we shall rise and become what no mind can conceive; we shall merge in Infinity as in the beginning. Have we not been told,[14] “All of us will return unto Him”?’[15]

The Islâmic Conception of the Great Account.—Human conduct in the relations of life consists of a connected sequence of acts the effect of none of which is isolated. The faithful observance of the primary rules of ethics justly regarded as the Divine Laws, like their transgression, stretches far into futurity. Every son of man is thus responsible to his Lord for the use he makes of his life. He will be asked whether the powers he had been endowed with were applied to promote the good and the happiness of his fellow beings or to their detriment; and his reward or punishment, his happiness or misery, will depend on the result of the reckoning at the Great Account as to the manner in fact in which he had obeyed the behests of his Creator.

The Idea of Eternal Punishment Repellent to Islâm.—The idea of eternal punishment is repellent to Islâm. The Lord of the Worlds, who is swift in meting out justice, is withal pitiful and compassionate. Mercy is His chief attribute; with mercy is joined a supreme love which surpasseth all other love of which the human mind has any conception. Justice is tempered with mercy; and whatever punishment man undergoes here or hereafter is only for purifying and fitting him to enter that state of perfection which will bring him ‘nigh unto God.’

Moral Responsibility.—‘Just balances will He set up for the day of Resurrection, neither shall any soul be wronged in aught; though were a work but the weight of a grain of mustard seed We would bring it forth to be weighed; and Our reckoning will suffice.’... ‘O our Lord! forgive us then our sin, and hide away from us our evil deeds, and cause us to die with the righteous.’...

‘And their Lord answereth them: I will not suffer the work of him among you that worketh, whether of male or female, to be lost.’... ‘O My servant, who have transgressed to your own injury, despair not of God’s mercy, for all sins doth God forgive, gracious and merciful is He.’[16] ‘Seek pardon of your Lord and be turned unto Him, verily my Lord is merciful, loving.’[17] ‘And your Lord saith, “Call upon Me and I will hearken unto you.”’[18]

This is the pivot on which the Islâmic doctrine of future life turns, and it is the only doctrinal point an Islâmist is required to accept. ‘All the other elements caught up and syncretised from the floating traditions of the races and peoples of the time are mere accessories.’[19]

Nor is the Islâmic belief in disharmony with scientific thought. To quote a recent writer, ‘The religious doctrine of ceaseless moral accountability is identical with the scientific doctrine of ceaseless cause and effect. As science postulates matter and force are indestructible, so religion postulates that the human soul is indestructible.’[20]