Islam The Voice of Human Nature
4. THE HEREAFTER
~ 86 ~
Prophet said – with justice – ‘Summer heat is a
small part of the heat of Hell!’
These two sides of human deeds have been
beautifully described through allegories and
symbols in the
hadith
of the
mi’raj
(The Prophets’
Journey to the Heavens). When the Prophet reached
Sidrah al-Muntaha
(the lote tree at the end of the
Seventh Heaven), he saw four rivers: two flowing
inward and two flowing outward. It was explained
to him by the Angel Gabriel that the two inward-
flowing were rivers of Paradise, and the outward-
flowing were the Nile and the Euphrates.
By analogy, the present world and the Hereafter are
two sides of the same event. The worldly side is
trivial and temporary, while the Hereafter side is
substantive and permanent. It is to the latter side
that we must face up after death. Here one has
complete freedom to live out one’s worldly
existence as one wills; in the life-to-come, one will
have no choice about the future course of one’s life.
One will either be raised to eternal glory, or cast
down into the pit of everlasting Hell.
