YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
The remedy for ignorance is asking questions. (Prophet Muhammad) The spirit of enquiry is the hallmark of an open society and the above saying of the Prophet aptly illustrates this principle. A culture of curiosity and open-mindedness will foster development in any society by motivating its members to learn enthusiastically and enrich their knowledge. This is because awareness of one’s ignorance is half of knowledge, as it becomes a stepping-stone to seeking and finding answers. A questioning mind is like a flowing river that is replenished with fresh thoughts and ideas and continues on its journey.
Miss Sarah Bancroft is the associate editor of Independent, an English newspaper published from London. She visited New Delhi in the last week of April 2002. Through Mr Muhammad Khalid Ansari (Hindustan Times), she sent us a questionnaire. The below are the answers that were emailed to her.
What is the purpose of man’s existence?
What is the purpose of man’s existence in this world, to understand this question, we should first know what the creation plan of God is. According to the Quran, God created an ideal world called Paradise. This is an eternal and perfect world where man will get everything that he desires. This world with its limitations and imperfections is a selection ground. Here, those people are being selected who will prove worthy to be settled in the eternal world after death.
Studies show that man is such a creation which has exceptionally unlimited capacity. The busiest or the most successful of human beings, however, could hardly utilize 2% of this capacity. The reason being that this world with its limitations does not offer unending opportunities to human beings to live life utilizing the full capacity.
According to this study, there is a difference in human capacity and the world that can be made full use of. This difference is an indication that there must be another world where man could obtain total fulfilment, where man could live his life utilizing his full potential. It is like a psychological proof that apart from this limited world, there indeed is an unlimited and perfect world. Paradise is the other name for this world.
According to this creation plan, the status of this world is of a preliminary selection ground. It is a place where those people are being selected who will prove by their words and deeds that they are worthy of being settled in the perfect world of Paradise.
Once our body perishes, where exactly the life-force that leaves the body goes?
The death of a human being is the death of his body. It is not the death of his soul. Human personality is changelessness in change. According to Islam, when a person dies, he leaves his material body and enters the next world where he could live eternally with a new and better body.
Man being caught up in a whirlpool, where each philosophy claims to be the ultimate one, how can we be sure of a particular form or shape of life after this?
The concept of whirlpool is an imaginative ideology devised by some philosophers. There is no such concept in the ideology of life presented by Islam. Islam says that it is not that all human souls are being gathered like a whirlpool in a state of perplexity and confusion.
According to Islam, every person has an individuality. Every person has his own unique existence. According to one’s words and deeds, a person is developing his personality, which may be either good or bad. This personality development is being recorded. Based on this record, he shall receive good or bad outcome in the Hereafter.
If this is not the real face of Islam, then what real Islam is?
Islamic ideology of life is different from those presented in philosophy and other existing religions. Islamic ideology of life is based wholly on the principle of test. It means the present world is a testing ground.
This is a place to develop one’s personality. Here, man is given freedom to pass through various experiences and thereby prepare himself. He is expected to respond positively to negative situations, even in untoward situations; he should prove to be a person of lofty morals; he should remain unaffected by fleeting emotions and concentrate on his future; he should disentangle himself from the spurs of the moment and live in the eternal realities; despite his freedom, he should subjugate his ego before God; instead of leading a self-oriented life, he should lead a God-oriented life; instead of exerting his energy to build his world here, he should make the building of the Hereafter his target.
Could you suggest some useful reading material that, while providing better intellectual conviction, can supercede the existing philosophy (be it Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism, etc.) about the existence of man?
One should study the Quran and the books of Hadith (teachings of Prophet Muhammad) to understand Islam. Apart from the Quran and books of Hadith, many books have been written to introduce and explain Islam. One among these is a book written by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. It is titled Islam Rediscovered.