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Reward, Punishment and Judgment
We share our world with countless contemporaries with whom we interact, yet essentially we face our destiny alone. Our actions may have an immediate effect, but often we do not see the fruits of our work within our own lifespan. In the scheme of creation we are not judged by our results, but by our intentions. We have no choice in the situations we are faced with, we do not determine our time
and place of birth, nor the majority of events which we witness through our lifetime, and we have no say in the time and place of our death. But during each situation we encounter we are given the choice of our own reaction and contribution. Upon return to Allah, having left the material world behind, we are judged on the basis of the motivation of these actions of ours. Where we acted in order to serve Allah and benefit our surroundings, we will be rewarded with Allah’s pleasure and acceptance, and where we rebelled against Him and harmed our surroundings, we will be punished with His anger and rejection.
The
descriptions of paradise and hell in the Qur’an are vivid,
using a language which we can understand based on our own
experiences. Ultimately, however, no amount of imagination of
ours will enable us to pre-empt the rewards and punishments of
the hereafter. What matters is the knowledge that our life
after death is eternal and the state in which we enter it – as
a trusting believer or as a rebelling disbeliever – will last
forever. We will not be given a second chance. Our afterlife
depends on our conduct in this world and whether we aim to get
closer to Allah or loose sight of His presence.
[Next: Time and Space / History, present and future
]
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