Answer
Asalamu Alaikum Zara,
Thank you for contacting About Islam with your question. Please find the second and final part of the answer to your question below. Find the first part at the link here.
As for your next question:
- Is being a practicing Muslim contrary to feeling happy and enjoying life?
Islam is not a mere set of taboos on do’s and don’ts. Nor are rules of morality straight jackets and barriers from lawful and wholesome enjoyment of life.
In the Quran and hadith, we find numerous references to the functionality and beauty of the creation of Allah that are created for our benefit and enjoyment.
Picnics, sports, and other hobbies are encouraged so long as there is no violation of Islam’s moral code. Islam does not mean “no fun”, unless we mean by “fun”, I do whatever I “feel like” doing without any restraint or guiding rules.
Likewise, if indeed, I believe in Allah, defer to His infinite wisdom and above all, reciprocate His love with my obedience, then I should be ready to make reasonable sacrifices.
Some such sacrifices include resisting the tendency to do everything that “I feel like” doing, even if Allah tells me that it is forbidden.
Sacrifice may also require me to resist the temptation to disobey Allah and refuse to abide by His guidance because “I do not feel like” doing it, such as prayers and other mandatory duties.
As to your remarks about hijab, I must be honest and forthright with you and say clearly that it is mandatory on every adult female Muslim. In fact, Muslim men also have dress rules for modesty as well.
However, understanding Islam, strengthening one’s faith, abstaining from major sins and practicing the most important pillars of Islam take precedence over hijab. It is the decision to commit oneself to Allah and re-connect with Him that help overcome some of the barriers to do good.
Such barriers may be psychological, social—like peer pressure, and other difficulties. Let us put first things first and by the grace of Allah, other goodness will follow.
- What is the nature of the Afterlife?
For a true Muslim, belief in the Afterlife is inseparable from the belief in Allah. Both relate to believing in the unseen.
We believe in Allah, not only on the bases of scientific and logical reasoning, but also in response to the deep yearning in the human soul to connect with what is beyond it and beyond the universe at large.
As humans, we do not even fully understand all aspects of our physical and tangible world in spite of all the scientific and logical tools in our hands.
Yet, the physical world is not all that exists. There is certainly an intangible and indiscernible spiritual world that we feel but cannot reduce to such conventional tools of discovery.
The only way of acquiring some glimpse of it is through authentic revealed information that come from Allah.
The full reality of what is going to happen in the Afterlife is beyond our perception and earthly nature. Yet, Allah willed to communicate to us a glimpse of the consequences of our moral choices while on our limited and finite earthly journey.
The only means of revelatory communication is through terms and images that we can relate to, even though the full reality of such a future existence is impossible to fully communicate.
It is with this background that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) taught that Allah prepared for His faithful servants in Paradise what no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, and no thought ever occurred to a human mind. Read, if you will, the Quranic verse that says:
{No soul knows what joy is kept hidden in store for them as a reward of what they have done.} (As-Sajdah 32:17).
With this in mind, it is impossible that there would be any toil, suffering, deprivation, grief, or boredom in Paradise. All such earthly concepts are totally irrelevant to the assured blissful joy and ever renewed delights and surprises in Paradise.
As to the punishment of those who reject faith in Allah and deliberately disobey Him, we must remember the following:
- There are always consequences for any decision we make; positive or negative.
- Allah is Just. This implies that the doer of good and the doer of wrong cannot be equated. A student who did virtually nothing in a course should not be getting an “A” like others who legitimately earned that mark.
- If brutal people who commit genocide and crimes against humanity will not be held responsible in the Afterlife for their crimes and brutality, or even mere thanklessness and rejection of belief in Allah, then there will be no moral restraints from committing evil. Likewise, if there is no ultimate reward for virtue, goodness and kindness, then the motivation for goodness may be weakened, to say the least.
- Allah does not enjoy punishing people in the fire. As Allah says in the Quran:
{Why should Allah make you suffer torment if you are thankful and believe in Him? Allah always rewards gratitude and He knows everything.} (An-Nisaa’ 4:147)
May Allah help us all be grateful to Him and shower His mercy upon us all and help us understand, exemplify, and convey His beautiful message that brings joy to our hearts in this temporary earthly life and more importantly in the eternal life to come.
It is in this eternity that the line will be drawn between the believers, the skeptics, the cynical, and the outright rejecters of truth. May Allah not only save us in the day where there is no authority but His, but also guide humanity to His straight path.
I hope this answer helps. Please keep in touch.
Walaikum Asalam.
Please continue feeding your curiosity, and find more info in the following links:
Is There Criteria for True Faith?
How Do We Know Islam Is the Truth?