Apart from the various special traits and skills that humans have, curiosity, I believe, is to be blamed for the real progress of mankind. Curiosity is responsible for all inventions and discoveries on this planet and this itching sensation in the brain leads us to great things.

Sometimes however, no matter how curious you are, some questions always remain unanswered. One such question is the conclusion of our physical self in this world. Different theories exist as to what will happen when we die, each more convincing than the previous, and each have more points to present than the number of stars I gaze upon each night.

The philosophical mind talks about the existence of a soul and the uncertainty of mortality. It says that it would be downright cruel to put humans on a planet and make them live one life after the other, creating a cycle of all the horrible things that we endure during our entire lifetime. This would make the whole point of life pointless, and would make every action that we perform in our life meaningless. The philosophical mind oscillates between the concepts of God and existence of soul and gives no definite perspective.

The scientific mind restricts itself only to proven theories and hard facts, neglecting those concepts that are as yet, impossible to prove. It converts our sunrises and sunsets into wavelengths, leaving hollowness inside our little pitiful minds, and destroying every enjoyment and passionate entity that nature has gifted us with. Science has never believed in a Creator and it never will and it very conveniently says that everything exists for no reason at all and that humans are just organic beings and will decay after death.

The naive says that this planet is all there is and we never leave this world no matter what, and we are reborn as someone else. The very thought of the possibility of me being Adolf Hitler in my past life shakes me on my chair. Had this been true, we would never have faced a problem of increasing population and humans would be casual about death since we would be getting another life whether we made good in this life or completely screwed it up.

The Prophet SAW said “People are asleep as long as they are alive; they are awakened when they die”.

What we must know is that we are the soul and we have a body that is a gift from Allah SWT. This life is just a phase that we go through. Death is not really dying, but being born into a new world.

Allah SWT says in the Noble Qur’an:

“Until, when death comes to one of them (those who join partners with Allah), he says, “My lord! Send me back. Perhaps I may do good in that which I have left behind,” Indeed no! It is but a word that he speaks, and behind them is a Barzakh until the day when they are raised up.”

When we die, our soul is sent to a realm called Barzakh till the day of resurrection. Al-Barzakh has two states. A person will either be punished in this realm, a state known as Azhaabul-Qabr or he will receive the blessings of Allah SWT due to his faith and good deeds, which is known as Tan’eemu Ahlit-Taa’ah Fil Qabr.

As a mortal human, we may be scared to think about what will happen to us after we die and might not want to think about it. But an honest and true being does not carry this attitude. For well-organized souls, death will be like sleeping after a long day’s work. Prophet Muhammad SAW said, “Live in this world as though you are a stranger or a traveler (passing through it).” We are on a journey and should know about the whole journey’s plan, not just specific parts.

Death is inevitable and Allah SWT promises that every soul shall have a taste of death, no matter who they are, so instead of running away from it we must set our errands right and embrace it with open arms when it comes to us.

Shahenshah Jaffri
Shahenshah is a computer science engineer who likes to do things differently. He spends most of his time with the love of his life which is his computer, using it mostly for gaming and writing and has a incredible knack for peppering humour into his life.