“Then surely on the day of resurrection you shall be raised.”
Holy Qur’an (23:16)
“In Islam, the quest for one’s truth is called qiyam (rising). It means rising from one’s stable foundation and not leaning towards anything. For example, the first step in prayer is to rise and to stand firm, with the intention of witnessing God and attesting to the oneness of God.” [1]
“Do they not reflect in their own minds? Not but for just ends and for a term appointed, did Allah create the heavens and the earth, and all between them: yet are there truly many among men who deny their meeting with their Lord.”
Holy Qur’an (30:8)
Amir al-Mo’menin Ali (pbuh), the revered Lord of the Sufis has said: “I am astounded at people who do not know their own self and want to know God.”
Generally, people think that they know God. They assume that there is a God who created us and then left us to ourselves. When the Day of Judgment comes, we assume He will appear again to determine our fate and that He will then either send us to heaven or hell. The truth is that each person lives in the hell or heaven that he/she has created and will continue to do so after this life. People assume that they will be traveling somewhere after they die.
The Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said:
“Whichever way you live here, that’s how you will continue thereafter.”
If a person is disturbed and anxious in this life that’s how he will continue to be. This is the hell in which he will be, here and thereafter. The disquiet, the anger, the greed, the jealousy that people live with, that is their hell, and that is how they will continue after their earthly life.
The essential message of the Prophets, as stated in the words of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) is:
“Die before you die.”
This means die from the human self, lift the veil that covers the reality so that you may live in peace here and forever.
When a person rises upon the stable center of his being, he breaks free from the imaginary boundaries, and no longer is confined to the limitations of his physical self. This is similar to a drop of water that breaks free from its boundaries, and annihilates in the ocean, and there finds permanence and experiences the vastness of the ocean. This state in Sufism is called annihilation (fana) and permanence (bagha) in God. This is the reality of resurrection.[2]
References:
- Molana Salaheddin Ali Nader Angha, Sufism, The Reality of Religion (Riverside, CA: M.T.O. Publications®, 2002)
- Ibid