Violent /Painful Deaths
Question:
Salaam Brother,
I accept that all of us have a brief spell on the Duniya and that "each soul shall taste death". But what I find hard to come to terms with is why some people die an apparently peaceful/ quick death and others slow lingering painful deaths eg the little child child suffering from malnutrition in Africa with haunted eyes surrounded by flies and his Mother watching helplessly; the young 18 year old Syrian student found in a river in Damascus with torture marks, bullet wounds and a broken neck; the 16 year old girl who was raped, disemboweled and left to die in a field, the 48 year old father of 4 whose dead body was found in the boot of his car after being missing for a day etc etc ( all these examples from recent newspaper articles) This saddens me greatly as it depicts humanity in it's most depraved form but also begs the question: did these souls suffer while being tortured or is it just our perception that they did? May Allah SWT have Mercy on their souls.
Jazakallah Khair
Answer:
Salam,
The first sentence in your question could be the answer to your inquiry if you had continued it to the end. I do this for you:
"I accept that all of us have a brief spell on the Duniya and that each soul shall taste death, and then live forever in the hereafter.
The underlined parts in the above statement are very important. We often underestimate the 'forever' element of the hereafter and the 'brief spell' element in this world. For those who know maths, this may make even better sense, a finite value in comparison to an infinite value is almost equal to zero!
If we were supposed to live in this world and then die, full stop, then your question was a difficult one. This is not the case. This world is nothing but a place for being challenged for the human beings. The real place to be is the hereafter. This not only makes the world insignificant, it also makes its contents and our physical situation in it insignificant. Imagine you are flying to a very good destination to stay there forever. In the waiting lounge you feel that your seat is not comfortable or that there is a bad smell coming. You may get uncomfortable or even upset but as soon as you step your foot on the new destination you will forget about all that.
We read in the Qur'an:
وَ ما هذِهِ الْحَياةُ الدُّنْيا إِلاَّ لَهْوٌ وَ لَعِبٌ وَ إِنَّ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوانُ لَوْ كانُوا يَعْلَمُون
"And what is this life of the world but an amusement and a play And as for the next abode, that most surely is the real life if they knew" (29:64)
I do not mean to dismiss the painful experiences you mentioned. As a fellow human being I too feel sadness and I do get upset when hearing news as these and can only pray and hope that no one goes through such experiences. However the point I am trying to make is that no matter how significant these pains are perceived by us, in the scheme of creation they are very insignificant.
The above is to understand and appreciate that what we see as an extra ordinary thing in our life, in the scheme of creation may not count to anything significant.
There are only a few further points I would like to share with you:
- God has created this world. Included in his creation are the processes and cause and effect elements where things happen due to natural causes.
- The world being a place of challenge for the human being, these painful experiences often also serve as means for challenging (testing) people. What is the reaction of the person who goes through these painful challenges, what is the reaction of those who see it and can help the person or his/her close ones or can do something to prevent others going through the same experience? Who were responsible for such painful deaths? What are the reactions of those who see this and are reminded about how short life is?
- There are some narrations that suggest that the person who experience painful life (and remain reasonably patient during it) will get a huge reward in the hereafter to the extent that others will envy him and wish they were in that painful situation. I do appreciate this may not be fully relevant to the examples that you mentioned (that are about painful death rather than painful life) however there still may be some overlaps in some cases.
Please let me know if you would like any further clarification.
-------------
Related Topics:
- Is God Sadist?
- Atheist Because a Child Dies Starving
-------------
April 2013
Salaam Brother,
I accept that all of us have a brief spell on the Duniya and that "each soul shall taste death". But what I find hard to come to terms with is why some people die an apparently peaceful/ quick death and others slow lingering painful deaths eg the little child child suffering from malnutrition in Africa with haunted eyes surrounded by flies and his Mother watching helplessly; the young 18 year old Syrian student found in a river in Damascus with torture marks, bullet wounds and a broken neck; the 16 year old girl who was raped, disemboweled and left to die in a field, the 48 year old father of 4 whose dead body was found in the boot of his car after being missing for a day etc etc ( all these examples from recent newspaper articles) This saddens me greatly as it depicts humanity in it's most depraved form but also begs the question: did these souls suffer while being tortured or is it just our perception that they did? May Allah SWT have Mercy on their souls.
Jazakallah Khair
Answer:
Salam,
The first sentence in your question could be the answer to your inquiry if you had continued it to the end. I do this for you:
"I accept that all of us have a brief spell on the Duniya and that each soul shall taste death, and then live forever in the hereafter.
The underlined parts in the above statement are very important. We often underestimate the 'forever' element of the hereafter and the 'brief spell' element in this world. For those who know maths, this may make even better sense, a finite value in comparison to an infinite value is almost equal to zero!
If we were supposed to live in this world and then die, full stop, then your question was a difficult one. This is not the case. This world is nothing but a place for being challenged for the human beings. The real place to be is the hereafter. This not only makes the world insignificant, it also makes its contents and our physical situation in it insignificant. Imagine you are flying to a very good destination to stay there forever. In the waiting lounge you feel that your seat is not comfortable or that there is a bad smell coming. You may get uncomfortable or even upset but as soon as you step your foot on the new destination you will forget about all that.
We read in the Qur'an:
وَ ما هذِهِ الْحَياةُ الدُّنْيا إِلاَّ لَهْوٌ وَ لَعِبٌ وَ إِنَّ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوانُ لَوْ كانُوا يَعْلَمُون
"And what is this life of the world but an amusement and a play And as for the next abode, that most surely is the real life if they knew" (29:64)
I do not mean to dismiss the painful experiences you mentioned. As a fellow human being I too feel sadness and I do get upset when hearing news as these and can only pray and hope that no one goes through such experiences. However the point I am trying to make is that no matter how significant these pains are perceived by us, in the scheme of creation they are very insignificant.
The above is to understand and appreciate that what we see as an extra ordinary thing in our life, in the scheme of creation may not count to anything significant.
There are only a few further points I would like to share with you:
- God has created this world. Included in his creation are the processes and cause and effect elements where things happen due to natural causes.
- The world being a place of challenge for the human being, these painful experiences often also serve as means for challenging (testing) people. What is the reaction of the person who goes through these painful challenges, what is the reaction of those who see it and can help the person or his/her close ones or can do something to prevent others going through the same experience? Who were responsible for such painful deaths? What are the reactions of those who see this and are reminded about how short life is?
- There are some narrations that suggest that the person who experience painful life (and remain reasonably patient during it) will get a huge reward in the hereafter to the extent that others will envy him and wish they were in that painful situation. I do appreciate this may not be fully relevant to the examples that you mentioned (that are about painful death rather than painful life) however there still may be some overlaps in some cases.
Please let me know if you would like any further clarification.
-------------
Related Topics:
- Is God Sadist?
- Atheist Because a Child Dies Starving
-------------
April 2013
