rly states that those who reject God and the after life will suffer for eternity. "Which we have reserved as punishment for the evil-doers? It is a tree that grows at the bottom of Hell. Its spathes are like the prickly pear. They will eat and fill their bellies with it, washing it down with boiling water. Then to hell they will surely be returned." (37:63-67) The Qur'an also states that this worldly life is a preparation for the eternal life after death. Those who deny the Day of Judgement become slaves of their passions and desires. It repeatedly states what happens to believers, and unbelievers when they die. "Until, when death -5- comes unto one of them, he says, ‘My lord send me back, that In may do right in that which In have left behind! But nay! It is but a word he speaks; and behind them is a barrier until the say when they are raised. And when the Trumpet is blown there will be no kinship among them that day, nor will they ask of one another. Then those whose scales are heavy, they are successful. An those whose scales are light are those who lose their souls, in hell abiding, the fire burns their faces and they are glum therein." (23:99-104) The scales that this passage refers to is the scales of moral conduct on earth. If one does good deeds on earth, the weight of those deeds are heavier on the Day of Judgement. Evil deeds constitutes less wieght on the scale of judgement. In essence, life on earth is a test for all humans. The more good deeds one accumulates, the better the chances are of eternal bliss in the afterlife. The explanation that the Qur'an gives about the necessity of life after death is what the moral consciousness of man demands. If there is no life after death, the very belief in God becomes irrelevant, or even if one believes in God, that would be an unjust and indifferent God: having once created man and not concerned with his fate. This is not so in Islam. We know through the Qur'an that God is Just...
