By Talat Kazmi.
Death is understood as a part of our life. In ancient times, it was not as accepted. We searched for immortality, we ran after various myths and legends of a 'fountain of youth' and 'golden fleece' to give us everlasting life. Along with the fables of potions and objects to prevent death, came the assumptions of why we die.
Numerous philosophers and poets gave their explanations, the ancients believed death was a curse on humans whereas pagan gods were immune to this curse, those gods could also remove this curse through a human/god marriage or sacred rituals.
In the Bible, Paul gives a similar reason for death by claiming we die because of sin. Paul asserts that the first human sinned, therefore lost immortality, and subsequently causing all humans to be seemingly 'cursed' with death.
At first , Paul blames Adam by saying,
" Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." [Ro 5:12]" For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die..." [1 Co 15:21-22] " Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over them that had not sinned..." [Ro 5:14]
" For the wages of sin is death..." [Ro 6:23]
We fear and hate what we don't understand , hence Paul says,
" The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death " [1 Co 15:26]
Furthermore in the Bible, we encounter an equivalent to the 'fountain of youth' concept,
" Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life, and I will raise him up at the last day " [John 6:54]
This is repeated by Paul who gives his own summary that Jesus gives eternal life,
" The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus..." [Ro 6:23] "...Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath
brought life and immortality..." [2 Timothy 1:10]
Then Paul slips the accusation from Adam, over to Eve. Paul accuses all women of being responsible for the actions of Eve and says a woman can redeem herself through the pains of child "birth",
"...Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet woman will be saved through bearing children." [1 Timothy 2:14-15]
The Holy Quran does not give us episodes of 'original sin' and 'magic potions' . Instead the Holy Quran gives us facts from our Creator that death is a normal process and we live for a certain period and then return to God.
" Everyone is going to taste death, and We shall make a trial of you with evil and with good. And to Us you will be returned " [al-Quran 21:35]" Everyone shall taste death. And only on the Day of Resurrection shall you be paid your wages in full. And whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception " [al-Quran 3:185]" And We did not create them (the Messengers of God, with) bodies that ate not food, nor were they immortals " [al-Quran 21:8]
The Gospel leads some Christians to believe that Eve is the cause of all death on earth. Their interpretation is that all of God's creation was made perfect, immortal. Then when Eve sinned, she was no longer perfect, no longer immortal, consequently passing death through out the earth.
Archeological scientists give us evidence through the Fossil records clearing the felony accusations towards Eve. Fossils give us solid proof that death existed and occurred millions of years before the existence of humans. The oldest human fossil, the homo habilis skeleton has been dated to be 2 million years old, showing that humans are relatively the youngest life forms on earth.
The conclusive verification that death existed despite the activities of humans, is that fossil skeletons of monkeys were found 39 million years old, ancestors of rabbits 45 million years old, prehistoric dog and cat skeletons 64 million years old. All manifesting death millions of years before humans ever sinned. This concrete evidence again shows that death is not a transmitted curse, instead death is a natural biological process which first affected algae and bacteria over 3 Billion years ago.
" Everyone is going to taste death, and We shall make a trial of you with evil and with good. And to Us you will be returned." [al-Quran 21:35]
Again signifying that death is universal, and no soul is exempted.
" And a soul will not die but with the permission
of Allah the term is fixed... " [al-Quran 3:145] " Say (to hypocrites), Running away will not profit you if you
are running away from death or killing..." [Quran 33:16]
" We have ordained death among you and
We are not to be outrun" [al-Quran 56:60]
Death will catch all of us and it can not be conquered as Paul in the Bible conceives. The Quran says,
" Yet they have taken, besides Him, gods who created nothing but are themselves created, that have no control of hurt or good to themselves, nor can they control Death nor Life nor Resurrection " [al-Quran 25:3]
It is precisely stated in this verse that neither humans nor created idols, can have full control over death, dying is an unavoidable necrosis which those who assumed human gods could make you immortal, were wrong. The Quran debunks all fallacies of ancient flesh god parables who give us immortality through sacrifices or ritual drinks. Dying is an unavoidable occurrence similar to the sun setting.
" And it is He Who gives life and causes death, and (in) His (control) is the alternation of the night and the day, do you not then understand? "
[al-Quran 23:80]
The Divinity of this cycle is clear. If the Sun did not set, and the Night did not cover the land, then all of the earth would become barren, with a constant Sun 24 hours a day, the earth would wither away. Similarly, if humans did not die, the resources on this earth would have been depleted. We are surrounded by cycles, within and without our Universe, we also give birth, which maintains the existence of humans, so factually, both death and birth, maintains our presence here on earth.
Many cycles are referenced in the Holy Quran which generate and preserve life on our planet, if any of the numerous sequences, including death, were removed from the repeated phenomenons, the human race would fade away within a century, instead of lasting millenniums as we have been. If we observe our surroundings realistically, we need death, we can't live without it. Life and Death are a perfect pair like day and night.
Death in Islam is a transitional process, to die is nothing to remorse about,
" Think not of those who are killed in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they are alive, with their Lord, and they have provision " [al-Quran 3:169]
Here we see that death itself is not the punishment, the punishments from God are prior to death and in the manner of accountability, punishments and rewards are after death.
" And We did not create them (the Messengers of God, with) bodies
that ate not food, nor were they immortals " [al-Quran 21:8]" And We granted not to any man immortality before you ( O Muhammad p.b.u.h ): then if you die, would they live forever? " [al-Quran 21:34]
We see that Adam, is confirmed to be mortal, who was not exempted from death, so death was not passed down from Adam or Eve, nor did Adam cause himself to become mortal, being vulnerable to death is the way God created us.
Death is a stepping stone, not a pox spreading through humans, generation after generation. The Quran lifts you up and inspires you, the Quran teaches us that we are born Muslims (in submission to God), unlike other doctrines which teach you that we are born sinners, heathens, cursed, incomplete, imperfect, infectious, inadequate, and fall short.
While the Quran teaches you are a good person, you are born an agent of God, you can do the deeds that come with faith, and if not, God is Merciful, you are not passing a death curse on to your children, God loves you and your children. You are complete and you have the power to enter Heaven without any other human assistance, No one had to die in your place, God forgave Adam at the start, God is forgiving. God takes your personal physical limitations into account and is Cherishing.
The Holy Quran says," And this was the legacy that Abraham left to his sons, and so did Jacob, 'Oh my sons! Allah has chosen for you the (true) religion, then die not except in the Faith of Islam' (Submission to God --- Monotheism)." [2:132]
No comments:
Post a Comment