FIRST REMINDER. Yaumul Ahad, 9th day of Zul-Qa'âdah (Sunday, 22nd July). HOW DO WE MUSLIMS VIEW DEATH? Today is Sunday so let's use our free time to read through and let's avoid complaints of the length as it takes under 3 minutes to read and benefit greatly at your own free time. I use hours to prepare most of these reminders so to complain for just using few minutes to read is not fair isn't it?😊. BismilLahir Rahmaanir Raheem. We Muslims believe that the present life is a trial in preparation for the next realm of existence. When a Muslim dies, he or she is washed and wrapped in a clean, white cloth (usually by a family member) and buried after a special prayer termed Salaatul Janaaza, preferably the same day. We Muslims consider this a final service that we can do for our relatives and an opportunity to remember that our own existence here on earth is brief or temporary. All the Prophets of ALLAH(God) called their people to worship ALLAH and to believe in life after death. They laid so much emphasis on the belief in life after death that even a slight doubt in it meant denying God and made all other beliefs meaningless. The very fact that all the Prophets of God have dealt with this metaphysical question of life after death so confidently and so uniformly, the gap between their ages in some cases, being thousands of years, goes to prove that the source of their knowledge of life after death as proclaimed by them all, was the same, i.e. Divine revelation. We also know that these Prophets of God were greatly opposed by their people, mainly on the issue of life after death, as their people thought it impossible. But in spite of opposition, the Prophets won many sincere followers. The question arises: what made those followers forsake the established beliefs, traditions and customs of their forefathers, notwithstanding the risk of being totally alienated from their own community? The simple answer is: they made use of their faculties of mind and heart and realized the truth. Did they realize the truth through perceptual consciousness? They couldn’t, as perceptual experience of life after death is impossible. God has given man besides perceptual consciousness, rational, aesthetic and moral consciousness too. It is this consciousness that guides man regarding realities that cannot be verified through sensory data. That is why all the Prophets of God while calling people to believe in God and life after death, appeal to the aesthetic, moral and rational consciousness of man. For example, when the idolaters of Makkah denied even the possibility of life after death, the Quran exposed the weakness of their stand by advancing very logical and rational arguments in support of it: And he (i.e. man) presents for Us an example (i.e. attempting to establish the finality of death) and forgets his [own] creation. He says, “Who will give life to bones while they are disintegrated?” Say, “He will give them life who produced them the first time; and He is, of all creation, Knowing.” [It is] He who made for you from the green tree, fire, and then from it you ignite. Is not He who created the heavens and the earth Able to create the likes of them? Yes, [it is so]; and He is the Knowing Creator. (Quran, 36:78-81) On another occasion, the Quran very clearly says that the disbelievers have no sound basis for their denial of life after death. It is based on pure conjecture: And they say, “There is not but our worldly life; we die and live (i.e. some people die and others live, replacing them) and nothing destroys us except time.” And they have of that no knowledge; they are only assuming. And when Our verses are recited to them as clear evidences, their argument is only that they say, “Bring [back] our forefathers, if you should be truthful.” Say, “God causes you to live, then causes you to die; then He will assemble you for the Day of Resurrection, about which there is no doubt,” but most of the people do not know. (Quran, 45:24-26). Allahu Akbar. To be continued in shaa Allah. May ALLAH keep guiding us and protect our faith from any satanic influences. Aameen.