there is a paradox in thinking there is something called ‘akhira’ that is good/better? than what is already here and it is this: if the akhira is good in relation to a present reality that is is therefore not good (bad is too strong a word i guess) and that one should be ready/willing to abandon, then how am i sure this akhira is any good at all? what do i know about the akhira, what good have seen here that would make me sure that its good ‘over there’ or it will be good ‘then’…when i leave this (bad) world? In other words, in this view of a “good and lasting akhira”, one’s acceptance of death and loss of this world is tied to seeing this world (and everything beautiful and beloved in it) as something worth losing and not worth loving and not worth wanting to have and to keep.
And if I want to say that the akhira is good and lasting but it is good and lasting in someway connected to the good that is already here and that it is desirable precisely because one wants the goods that one experiences and loves here, to last forever, then i would need to be deeply sad about losing this world (whatever is beloved in it) so that i could desire to have it forever, in a lasting dispensation.
The paradox is: do i feel happy about leaving this bloddy/ugly place called world/life here for ‘the good akhira’ somewhere else, an akhira about which i know nothing based on anything i experience or know OR do i feel sad about leaving this beautiful place called the world/life precisely because it is so beautiful/wonderful and yearn for this kind of beauty that i have known and experienced, out of deep sadness about an unbearable feeling of loss and helplessness?
The answer, it seems to me from my experience, is that i will feel both happy and sad, perhaps not at the exact same time but quite close to each other, almost one after the other and the ‘cyclically’ – the happiness and sadness i note above come to me as a pair and I need to choose to let my mind/reason follow the order of creation. By ‘order of creation’ I mean this: I first find myself drawn to life and beauty and company/love and health and all things ‘good’ and love them and i detest their opposites. As i begin to notice the absence or loss (actual or anticipated) of what is beloved to me, my joy and peace is disturbed. I am sad because I love what is beautiful and i do not accept its loss. My soul protests the loss of what is beautiful. At this stage, the ‘loss’ is real. It is not the place for me to qualify this loss as ‘temporary’ or ‘not real’. That is not helpful and not true for me because my experience bears witness to something else i.e. total loss. And it is terrifying and disappointing and painful and sorrowful. I then find myself looking for an escape from this predicament and my efforts range from trying to become numb (ignoring the loss as much as i can and however i can) to denying there is anything beautiful or really valuable in the world/life at all. If and when these efforts prove futile, as they do if i reflect and am ready to accept the pain/loss i am facing, i should turn to whoever made me and put me in this terrible situation. if this one speaks in the Quran, he says that the good/beauty in this world that i experience and everything in this world is glorifying Him and are his signs, that i should see Him through these signs. If i listen, and it is a choice i need to make, i will see that life is a sign that shows He is ever-living and has power over life and death. I will see that the beauties i love are His. I will see that my love of beauty is His will for me to never be separated from what is beautiful. I will see that my deep sorrow about loss is a sign that it is His will that I have what i love (life, health, company) forever!.
And so, I will feel loss and sadness. And it is futile to deny or ignore this. Rather, this sadness and sense of loss can become my most valuable friend and messenger, carrying news about the “unseen” lasting realm and I can start to listen to my maker revealing his will to me and with it, ease..but this is the ease and readiness to depart from this world that is given to me only if I make the choice to receive his messager and his signs..if I refuse to see my sorrows and loves as signs, there is no respite for me.
The Quran as Revelation 