Читать книгу What's Up With Those Crazy Muslims - Irfan Alli - Страница 7

The simple answer from God is life is a test and is temporary. Muslim believe that after death, there is life in the grave, followed by resurrection, a Day of Judgment and heaven or hell. God tells us:

“Blessed be He in Whose hands is Dominion, and He over all things has Power. He Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed and He is Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving.” (Quran 67:1-2)

Our soul has the capacity to be good or evil, and it is up to each of us to direct it accordingly. Our challenge in life is to keep our soul from becoming corrupted and sinful. God reminds us:

“By the Earth and its (wide) expanse: By the Soul, and the proportion and order given to it; And its inspiration as to its wrong and its right: Truly he succeeds that purifies it, And he fails that corrupts it!” (Quran 91:7-10)

Muslims seek to please God while enjoying life here on earth and preparing for the hereafter. In Islam worship is not just observing rituals, but encompasses all aspect of one’s life including family and community life. Good actions done with the right intentions are acts of worship. Worship includes how we treat people, animals and the environment. This saves Muslims from having to separate the spiritual from the material, and this world from the hereafter. Islam is perhaps the only religion that takes this approach to life. Muslims are required to live life not with a split personality, but within this spiritual framework. This makes Islam a spiritual attitude that can easily adapt in various cultural settings and borders. Muslims are encouraged to live their lives not in compartments or with split personalities, but as a whole person. This helps make Muslims spiritually secure and firm in their convictions.

In Islam we do not believe in original sin. A child is not responsible for a father’s sin nor is a father responsible for his child’s. Nor is there going to be a universal redemption of man’s sins because of Jesus (peace be upon him) dying on the cross. The Quran tells us:

“On no soul does God place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns...” (Quran 2:286)

“Nothing shall be reckoned to man but that which he has striven for.” (Quran 53:39)

“When the earth is shaken to her (utmost) convulsion, and the earth throws up her burdens (from within), And man cries (distressed): What is the matter with her? On that Day will she declare her tidings: For that thy Lord will have given her inspiration. On that Day will men proceed in companies sorted out, to be shown the deeds that they (had done). Then anyone who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it and anyone who has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it.” (Quran 99: 7-8)