“People simply know the outward aspect of the worldly life but are utterly heedless of the Hereafter. Do they not reflect on themselves?”
(Al Qur’ān – 30:7-8)
There are myriad evidences which confirm the imminence of the Hereafter. If the unbelievers disregard these signs, they themselves are to blame. It is their own fault if they fix their gaze on the outward appearances of worldly life and become oblivious to what lies behind it and which is bound to overtake them. Such negligence is strange in view of the repeated warnings they received at God’s behest.
Reflecting on one’s own self in itself is persuasive proof of the imminence of the Hereafter. Were the unbelievers only to reflect on themselves, they would have found convincing proofs that the Next Life will follow the present one. Man is distinguished from all other creatures by the following three features: (i) Innumerable objects on earth and its environs have been yoked to man’s service and man has been vested with a wide range of abilities so that he can make use of these. (ii) Man has been granted freedom to choose his course in life. He is free to believe or to disbelieve, to do good or evil. But once he makes the choice, he is enabled, by the nature of things, to pursue his choice. (iii) Man has been inherently endowed with moral consciousness.
These innate traits indicate that at some point in time man should be called to account; that he should be asked how he used the abilities granted to him.