BLIND MAN

When one expires, in fact, one enters that world where the spatio-temporal restrictions do not exist any longer. Non-existence of restrictions is one thing and the non-existence of time and space is altogether another thing. One who after expiring is transferred to purgatory (Aaraf) experiences both the time and the space. Time and space both remain there in his mind. Just as in this worldly life one is constrained to live under a roof and it is necessary to consume food similarly in Aaraf also it is essential that one should have a house, supplies of food and someone to talk and converse with. Life hereafter is not very different than it is here. Man experiences the same feelings and sentiments, which he experiences in this world.

The only difference is that this body of flesh and bones mixes into earth to become dust and the soul after leaving this material body makes a new body for itself in Aaraf Just in this life as this body remains associated with various demands and needs in the same way these demands and needs are felt and fulfilled even in life after death. He feels hunger and thirst and to meet these demands he takes food and drinks water. He also lives through the moments of grief and enjoys the pleasures of delightful moments. At first sight there seems to be no difference between this worldly life and the life hereafter. The difference, in fact, is that of the speed of the conscious. The working of conscious, in life hear after, becomes so swift that the work ordinarily requiring months for its completion in this world is carried out in hours. This could be easily understood from the following example.

If one undertakes the journey from Karachi to London on foot one would require months to reach there but in an aero plane one can reach there only after a few hours. One who wants to cover the distance of months in hours in this world is required to use an airplane whereas in the world here after even for a journey of years one would not be requiring an airplane, the speed of his mind would serve as an airplane. All this is about that realm where every one of us has to go willingly or not but one has to go. There exists no exemption for anyone. One who is once born in this phenomenal (material) world has to go to that realm whether he likes it or not.

We are familiar with the phenomenon of dreaming. In Aaraf more or less the same situation prevails. This could be stated that the dreams of this phenomenal world become the life of wakefulness in Aaraf (hereafter). The veil drawn between the unseen and the manifested is lifted after death but the veil drawn between the disobedient mind; the conscious and the Paradise remains there and is not removed unless it is lifted in the life of this world. If one could not be salivated from the disobedient mind in this phenomenal world then the same would remain predominating even after death. The most prominent features of life governed by this mind are anxiety, anguish, distress, tension, uncertainty about future, confusion, fears and phobias whether it is the life in this world or the hereafter. If someone is worried, under the influence of this mind, in this world, then he would remain worried even after death in life to come.

According to the laws stated by Allah, the highest, for lifting the veil drawn between the obedient and disobedient minds; the conscious and unconscious minds, it is necessary that the actual abode of man; the paradise should be witnessed in this life. If man could not acquaint himself with the life of Paradise in this world then he would never be able to enter the gates of Paradise in life hereafter. This thing has been very clearly explained in the Holy Quran by telling us about two classes of people residing in two different regions, namely, Sijjiyin and Illiyin. "And what will explain to thee what Illiyin is? And what that will explain to thee what Sijjiyin is? This is a register fully inscribed. A register in which every action, every movement, every motion and every breath of your life is recorded." That is, it is such a book in which every movement and every aspect of one's life is inscribed like a film.

Every act performed in this worldly life is picturised. If man is heading towards the Paradise and he witnesses Paradise then this whole journey would be picturized as a film of journey on the straight path. But if someone goes astray then this every step is leading him towards Hell, or to say, film of such a person's life would be ending in Hell.

When one passes away, on completion of his tenure in this world, appointed by God according to his will and plan, in his life in hereafter he watches the film made on his life in this world. If his life is spent, in this world, in traveling on that path which carried him away from Paradise and led him towards Hell then the film which he would be watching there would keep on reminding him that he had been heading towards Hell. And, if he lived in this world according to the laws of God only for the sake of Allah then the film watched there would be showing him that he had been heading towards the Paradise and he is entitled to the blessings of Paradise.

LAW: - If the Paradise is not sighted in this world by someone then the life of Paradise would not be recorded in the film of his life.

This thing had been stated by the Holy Prophet in the following manner. "See the death before you are dead." Seeing the death before one is actually dead does not mean that one should stop eating to commit suicide, start living in jungle after abandoning the cities and towns, desist from wearing clothes and sever relations with ones children and parents. Seeing the death before one is actually dead means that one should become acquainted with the life after death in this life. When someone living in this life of material world manages to acquaint himself with the life of hereafter it is observed by him that Illiyin is the class of privileged people upon whom the favors of their Lord have been bestowed and they are the one who have been blessed with exaltation and Sijjiyin is that group of people who are deprived, distressed and convicted because of their wrongful deeds. It is the verdict of the Holy Quran that if one is blind in this life and cannot see owing to sightlessness then to would remain blind and sightless in hereafter. And, if one has managed to equip oneself in this world with the sight through which one can see the light that represents Allah then one would be able to behold God in life hereafter.

It is the proclamation of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that be cautious of the sagacity of the believer because he sees through the Light of Allah. This statement of the Holy Prophet is not a similitude. Seeing through the Light is no simile. All that is stated by the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is factual reality,a reality in which there cannot be any variation. One with the ability to see the light can behold the world of light and if the sight required to see the light is not made operative in this world before dying then one would remain blind in life in the hereafter.