. An Atheistic Religion
. An Oppressive, Enslaving Religion
. A Pagan Religion
. Belief in Karma
. Reincarnation According to Islam
. Buddhism's Misguided Belief About the Afterlife
. The Reality Awaiting Us in the Hereafter
. Buddhism's Idea of the Life of This World

The Reality Awaiting Us in the Hereafter

The only source where we can learn the facts about life in this world and belief in the afterlife is the Qur'an, sent down as a guide for human beings and the teachings (Sunnah) of the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace).

God says in the Qur'an that life in this world is a temporary testing period for everyone, and that the afterlife is our eternal homeland. Everyone will have a reward in Paradise or Hell for all the deeds he has done over the lifetime he has spent in this world. God reveals this truth in these words (Qur'an, 6: 32):

The life of this world is nothing but a game and a diversion. The hereafter is better for those who do their duty. So will you not use your intellect?

Someone who submits to God, conforming his life to the true guide He has sent down and to the teachings of the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace), believes with all his heart that on the Last Day, he will account for all for his deeds-and will receive the reward in eternal Paradise or endless Hell. God has revealed this to humanity in the books He has sent down and the prophets He has chosen. But Buddhism is a man-made doctrine, built through hearsay on the foundation of a philosophy propounded by one single man.

Using human reasoning to change what has come from God is a serious error. Those who get their heads full of half-baked ideas about the Buddhist way and, in their desire to imitate their favorite pop musicians or film stars, start to follow Buddhism as a fad, should consider this and free themselves from their mistake.

In the Qur'an, God reveals the state of those who say there in no afterlife:

As for those who denied Our Signs and the encounter of the hereafter, their actions will come to nothing. Will they be repaid except for what they did? (Qur'an, 7: 147)

But as for those who did not believe and denied Our Signs and meeting in the hereafter, they will be summoned to the punishment (Qur'an, 30: 16).

The "repayment" and "punishment" mentioned in these verses will begin at the moment of death. Those who realize what an error they had been living during their earthly lives will feel unrepentable sorrow:

If only you could see when they are standing before the Fire and saying, "Oh! If only we could be sent back again, we would not deny the Signs of our Lord and we would be among the believers." (Qur'an, 6: 27)

If only you could see the evildoers hanging their heads in shame before their Lord: "Our Lord, we have seen and we have heard, so send us back again and we will act rightly. Truly we now have certainty." (Qur'an, 32: 12)

However much they may beg and ask for forgiveness, they will begin an afterlife full of agony from which there is no escape, much less a return. Their repentance will not be accepted, and never will their desire to return to the world be fulfilled. Though warned many times, the godless who did not believe-and bowed themselves before statues of stone and wood that they associated with God; who espoused vain philosophies only as a show to attract the interest of others; who did not fear God as they should have-will enter unending humiliation from the moment they meet the Angel of Death. Their souls will be taken with blows to their back and sides, they will be grabbed by the forelock and be thrown into Hell; this will be the beginning of their afterlife.

God will not allow them to speak, and their voices will be no louder than a whisper. (Qur'an, 20: 108) Hell will be the final place for all those godless people who exalted themselves before God, did not believe in the resurrection or the afterlife, were rebellious despite the warnings and did not lead a moral life. The people of Hell, "shackled together in chains" (Qur'an, 25: 13), will be jammed into "a sealed vault of Fire" (Qur'an, 90: 20) and live in the murk of thick black smoke. They will hear the fire gasping harshly as it seethes and find people moaning in it. Their endless pain will never be relieved, despite their entreaties, causing them indescribable anxiety.

Physically, the denizens of Hell will have a terrible appearance. They will be bound with shackles and chains, and their eyes will be downcast, darkened by debasement. A scorching wind will burn their skin, which will be continually replaced to burn yet again, as God describes in verse 4: 56, "Every time their skins are burned off, We will replace them with new skins." They will be beaten with cudgels made of iron and bound in "a chain which is seventy cubits long" (Qur'an, 69: 32). Their foreheads, sides and backs will be branded with the fire. Boiling water will be poured over their heads, and they will be wearing shirts of tar.

The Qur'an also tells about the terrible food and drink reserved for those in Hell. God announces in verse 69: 36 that they will have "no food except exuding pus" to eat-which people in this world can hardly stand. In the Hell they have entered for forgetting God and pursuing their own passions in this life, they will be made to drink boiling water mixed with pus. And because nothing will pass through their torn throats, they will not be able to swallow. In Hell, God will also make the sinners eat bitter thorny bush and zaqqum (the infernal tree):

The Tree of az-Zaqqum is the food of the wicked, seething in the belly like molten brass, as boiling water bubbles and seethes. (Qur'an, 44: 43-45)

As for those who believe in God and turn to Him, they will not be condemned to this state, but will pass through an easy accounting. Because they did not follow vain philosophies and, in order to please God and fearing the torments of Hell, lived according to the Qur'an, they will receive their eternal reward and be welcomed in Paradise, free from fear, sorrow and sadness. On that day, God says, the faces of believers will be radiant. As God says in the Qur'an (39: 71-73):

The unbelievers will be driven to Hell in companies and when they arrive there and its gates are opened its custodians will say to them, "Did Messengers from yourselves not come to you, reciting your Lord's Signs to you and warning you about meeting [Him] on this Day of yours?" They will say, "Indeed they did!" But the sentence about torment will [already] have fallen due upon the deniers of the truth. They will be told, "Enter the gates of Hell and stay there timelessly, for ever. How evil is the abode of the arrogant!" And those who heeded their Lord will be driven to the Garden in companies, and when they arrive there, finding its gates open, its custodians will say to them, "Peace be upon you! You have done well so enter it timelessly, for ever."

Everyone should take seriously God's constant warnings that the day of reckoning approaches, that "the Hour is coming without any doubt" (Qur'an, 22: 7). In another verse, God says:

Mankind's Reckoning has drawn very close to them, yet they heedlessly turn away. No fresh reminder comes to them from their Lord without their listening to it as if it was a game. (Qur'an, 21: 1-2) On that day, the good will receive a perfect recompense for their deeds, while anyone who committed evil will wish that there were a long span of time between himself and that day. Each individual will go alone into God's presence, where he will be judged with complete fairness:

We will set up the Just Balance on the Day of Rising and no self will be wronged in any way. Even if it is no more than the weight of a grain of mustard-seed, We will bring it forth. We are sufficient as a Reckoner. (Qur'an, 21: 47)

All man-made philosophies are deceptions that alienate people from a belief in the existence of God and from His service. Buddhism's superficial understanding of morality is completely contrary to human natural pattern in many aspects. To an extent, it lets people avoid the torments of conscience that comes from having no religion and so, functions as a false source of spirituality. Believers in Buddhism console themselves with the idea that they have attained spiritual mastery by inflicting pain on themselves and denying the needs of the body. But there's one basic truth of which they take no notice: that people must realize that they are servants of God. A good deed is of any value only if it is done to consciously serve God and win His pleasure. Bridling the wishes and desires of our hearts carries great value, but only if done to win God's pleasure, and to the extent that He desires. Of those who exert this kind of effort with no view to winning His pleasure, God says that "their actions have come to nothing in the world and the hereafter." (Qur'an, 2: 217)

Buddhism's Idea of the Life of This World

Those who accept the idea of karma believe that their cycle of rebirths will never end-that they live again after every death, until they attain nirvana. And so, they assume that before them lie countless possibilities. Therefore, if someone decides to commit sin, he may think he will be able to atone for it in a later incarnation, even if his very next life is worse than his present one. An understanding founded on such an erroneous foundation cannot restrain a person from committing evil.

Attachment to this world is most people's major weakness. They believe in a perverse idea like reincarnation chiefly because they want never to give up earthly temptations. Therefore, only if someone has an accurate conception of the real nature of this worldly life can he radically alter his behavior so as to live morally.

Anyone aware of the real nature of the life of this world knows that he has been created to serve the Lord, his Protector and Helper, Who has created both him and the universe. Also, he knows that God will hold him responsible for all his thoughts, words and deeds, and that he must give an accounting to God after his death. The Lord reveals the reason for the creation of the life of this world in the Qur'an (67: 2): "He Who created death and life to test which of you is best in action. He is the Almighty, the Ever-Forgiving."

As this verse states, God has created human beings and placed them in this one life temporarily, as a test. Here, He tries us with the things that happen to us, and causes our lives to continue in order to separate believers from the unbelievers, to purify them of their sins, and to guide them to the moral values that lead to Paradise. In other words, this world is only a place of training, where we can win God's pleasure.

In the Qur'an, verse 2: 21, God reveals that He has created human beings to serve Him: "Mankind! Worship your Lord, Who created you and those before you, so that you may do your duty."

God has clearly indicated the limits that human beings may not transgress, and the kinds of behavior that will win His approval and the kinds that will not. On the basis of their behavior in the world, people will receive reward or punishment in the eternal life to come. This means that every moment we live brings us closer to either Hell or Paradise. God reminds His servants of this reality and warns them against that day in many verses of the Qur'an, including this one (59:18):

You who believe! Heed God and let each self look to what it has sent forward for Tomorrow. Heed God. God is aware of what you do.

Believers who fear God's punishment, serve only Him, obey His commands absolutely, avoid evil and act in ways that will win our Lord's pleasure. To be attached to God with strong bonds of love, fearing Him and heeding His commands and being determined to serve Him-that is the only way to gain moral superiority that a person should commit to. He would never compromise that goal, even if it conflicts with his interests. He may have a few fine moral qualities otherwise, but these will be restricted, short-lived or depend on some condition.

Buddhism also recommends good deeds, of course, but they may have no value in the sight of God. What value lies in a person's doing some good to those around him, if he is ungrateful to God, denying the existence of the One Who created him from nothing? In order for his deeds to have any value, they must be done with faith in God-with a view to gaining His approval, in awe of His glory, obedience, and with awareness of His power. For this reason, believers' superior moral character does not rest on romanticism. Their worship is continual and uninterrupted, as God has commanded in the Qur'an:

God augments those who are guided by giving them greater guidance. In your Lord's sight, right actions that are lasting are better both in reward and end result (Qur'an, 19: 76).

Everything in the heavens and earth belongs to Him, and the religion belongs to Him, firmly and for ever. So why do you fear anyone other than God? (Qur'an, 16: 52)

Wealth and sons are the embellishment of the life of this world. But, in your Lord's sight, right actions that are lasting bring a better reward and are a better basis for hope. (Qur'an, 18: 46)

People must be wary of growing attached to transient and deceptive baubles in this life, because life in this world is very short. Wealth, beauty and worldly possessions are worthless in the afterlife. The buried body will decay; time will destroy material possessions. Everyone will be brought into the presence of God to give an account. Moreover, if you ask a thirty-year-old what he has experienced up to this point, he'll say that his life has passed by very quickly. He may live another thirty or fifty years in the same way, before his life will come to an end.

In several verses, God draws our attention to the fact that the span of life in this world is short; He informs us that in the afterlife, people will openly confess this:

On the day We gather them together-when it will seem if they had tarried no more than an hour of a single day… (Qur'an, 10: 45)

On the Day the Last Hour arrives, the evildoers will swear they have not even tarried for an hour. That is the extent to which they are deceived. (Qur'an, 30: 55)

It will be very unwise for a person to be deceived by the transient attractions of this short earthly life and to pay no regard to the afterlife. The day when people will have their account to God is a reality. In the Qur'an (10: 7-8), God commands:

As for those who do not expect to meet Us and are content with the life of this world and at rest in it, and those who are heedless of Our Signs, their shelter will be the Fire because of what they earned.

But to those who are not fooled by the life of this world and choose the endless life of the world to come, God announces good news:

If anyone desires to cultivate the hereafter, We will increase him in his cultivation. If anyone desires to cultivate this world, We will give him some of it but he will have no share in the hereafter. (Qur'an, 42: 20)

Do not direct your eyes longingly to what We have given certain of them to enjoy, the flower of the life of this world, so that We can test them by it. Your Lord's provision is better and longer lasting. (Qur'an, 20: 131)

Buddhist literature proposes meditation as the best way to attain a sense of well-being and avoid daily anxieties. But this is a great deception. Those who meditate to push concerns out of their minds come face to face with the same worries when their meditation ends. Trying to forget worries may afford temporary relief, but does not remove them; temporary tranquilization of the brain is of no use. The only way to true well-being and happiness is submit to the fate that the One and Only and True God has decreed. The believer who knows that no single leaf falls apart from the will of God, knows too that everything that happens to him is a test. Throughout his lifetime, a person is tested by everything he experiences and by every deed he does. And in the life to come, he will receive the most just reward for them.

Today, mystical movements such as meditation and yoga are very popular in the West. But the true path to inner peace, happiness and a good conscience is not found in such transient tranquilizations of the brain; it comes from believing in God, submitting to Him with a faithful heart, and leading one's life in a way that will please Him.

Around Buddhist temples, you can see hundreds of prayer flags attached to ropes. According to this superstition, prayers written on these flags are more likely to be fulfilled if carried by the wind. Like other Buddhist ideas, this too is a myth. Denying the existence of God, Buddhists are at a loss to explain to whom they are praying or why. In the Qur'an, God reminds us that only prayers addressed to our Lord, the One and Only God, will be accepted. The call of truth is made to Him alone. Those they call upon apart from Him do not respond to them at all.” (Qur’an 13:14) “ If My servants ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the call of the caller when he calls on Me.” (Qur’an 2:186)

In some quarters, Buddhism is seen as a path of high morality, mutual support and self-sacrifice. But the fact that people are living in destitution in Buddhist countries like Nepal, Tibet and Cambodia shows clearly that this mutual support and self-sacrifice is not a reality. Nepal is one country where Buddhism is strongest, but the Nepalese people are very poor. In the region of Mustang on the slopes of the Himalayas, people live in dingy houses made of mud.