بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Allah says in the Qur’an:
No! But you love the immediate,
[75:20-21]
And leave the Hereafter.
Allah mentions that we as human beings love to rush. We like to consume things instantly – we want all the good to be given to us right away while all the bad to removed immediately. He challenges this notion that has consumed many of our hearts.
If someone was to remind us that we must be concerned about our salvation, which is obviously a concern after we die, we immediately take over this idea with worldly matters. Jobs, finances, family issues, houses, personal issues – whatever we have right now is a higher priority than that which is coming after death.
The Qur’an gives us a bigger a picture – it shows us that nothing we do in this life is merely trivial or meaningless. Allah says:
Then did you think that We created you without purpose and that to Us you would not be returned?”
[23:115]
He links the idea that what we do in this life indeed has purpose along with the notion of returning back to Him. Meaning that our actions do not die with time. It reminds the human being that all actions are recorded and will have consequences in this life and especially repercussions in the next.
The benefits of this reminder from Allah is that it removes from us the idea that nobody saw what we did. Allah saw it; it has been recorded by the angels and we will have to answer for it. Therefore, it keeps us weary of our actions due to the fact that there will be an accountability for everything we do.
From this it further reminds us that as a result of our actions we must keep turning back to Allah for forgiveness since there are countless mistakes we make everyday; this in turn brings us closer to Him. So the notion of the afterlife drives us closer and closer to Allah, and getting closer to him is the core principle of Islam.
Whenever anything is talked about in the deen, the bottom line is always Allah the creator. Through all of this it teaches us that nothing we do in this life is trivial and thus our time is not pointless.
If we look at the bigger picture we will realise that this worldly life is the shortest stop in our lifespan as human beings. Our souls were created long before the Earth and they were created to be eternal. The dunya is merely a short amount of time between our creation before we were born into this world and the eternal life afterwards.
There are millions if not billions of people that have been in their graves for thousands and thousands of years, in the barzakh which is the life between death and judgement day. The few years they had in the dunya is nothing compared to that, let alone the life after the day of resurrection. That short period in the dunya has determined their eternal fate and will determine ours. Allah mentions before the previous ayah:
[ Allah ] will say, “How long did you remain on earth in number of years?”
They will say, “We remained a day or part of a day; ask those who enumerate.”
He will say, “You stayed not but a little – if only you had known.
[23:112-114]
Imagine our entire life will feel like merely a day or part of a day that went past.
We may sit comfortably in our homes and busy lives, thinking that the afterlife is a long way away. What does Allah say?
Indeed, they see it [as] distant,
But We see it [as] near.
[70:6-7]
This must give us a sense of urgency, to make the most of this life and to stay away from that which may keep us from eternal bliss. Strive and struggle, as eternity is a lot longer than the time we have been given in the dunya.
May Allah make us people of Jannah.
Allah knows best.