Teachings of Islam on life
The Islamic teachings about life, health, death, and life after death are found in many Hadiths and verses from the Quran. Muslims believe that power over life and death ultimately belongs to Allah. Life is a loan and gift entrusted to people until death occurs. Islam regards life highly and considers it as sacred and must be highly respected by all human beings as a token from Allah. According to Islam, health, as well as leisure, are blessings that people fail to appreciate, and health-promoting actions regarding treatment, eating well, stress management, and personal hygiene are mentioned several times in the Hadiths and Quranic verses (Assad et al. 65). Birth along with life, death along with barzakh, and resurrection along with reckoning are the main states that human beings pass through according to the Islamic point of view. Dead people are waiting to transition to the afterlife which could be in hell or paradise upon God’s judgment. Islam teaches that life is God-given gift that is sacred and ought to be highly valued, health is a blessing that one ought to strive to maintain, death is transition period to the afterlife, and that life after death is greatly enjoyable for believers in heaven and immense suffering for nonbelievers in hell.
Teachings of Islam on life
Life is highly valued by mankind and ending it at will is unacceptable. Laws controlling human behavior from religious scriptures of early ages conform with this principle and breaking it is regarded as an abomination and calls for punishments. Nowadays, the law protects life by illegalizing acts like murder as well as suicide and establishes that it’s only through proper law process that ending of life is accepted. Islam, likewise, regards the upholding of life among its most sanctified teachings and it’s mentioned severally in the Holly Qur’an and the prophet’s hadith as belonging to Allah, and He only can take it away at will (Muhammad et al. 24). Terminating of life is considered a great sin in Islam and particular punitive actions are allocated for breaking such statutes.
The power of Allah over life, man and his destiny, as expressed in the Holy Qur’an and the hadith of the prophet are vivid proofs on the Islamic perspective towards the sanctity of man’s life. Islam regards life highly and considers it as sacred and must be highly respected by all human beings as a token from Allah. People must protect and maintain life in complete acceptance that the final will and authority to offer life and take it lies only in Allah’s hands. Islam prohibits the imposition of injuries and deliberate killing of individuals where these as well as suicide are great sins avenged heavily in this life and life after death.
Protecting life, one’s freedom of faith, intellect, honor and purity, and property are the aims, referred to as maqasid al-shari`ah, that Islam tries to reach through the implementation of its legal judgments (Muhammad et al. 31). This creates the foundation of Muslim judges in producing the lawful ruling for universal or particular circumstances and is taken as standards for Muslim judges to come up with the right and suitable decisions, making sure that Islamic laws are not contradicted. Under these laws, safeguarding life is included in the class of the essentials (daruriyyat) which are considered as unrestricted necessities to the existence and spiritual wellness of people, to the level that their failure would trigger disorder and destruction of the natural order in our life. Thus, both personal and public concerns are maintained and the society preserved from the oppression of anarchy and lawlessness. Islam’s respect for life is a general concept on the account that there is no discrimination between the importance of the life of two people. Though everyone is treated with equal sacredness, Islam determines particular situations when the ending of life is allowed. These conditions are vividly expressed in Surah al-Isra’, verse 33, where Allah emphasizes that, unless the cause is just, life should not be ended (Muhammad et al. 32). While taking such a cause, Allah forbids crossing the defined limits and this ensures that social and personal rights are respected rather than opposing the teachings of life’s sanctity.
Ending of life during punishment given by a legal judgment as a result of committing a grievous act like murder, preaching mischief, as well as corruption in Islam is only determined and dealt out by a legitimate law court. In the same sense, it is prohibited for any person to decide and attempt to perform the act of punishing for wrongdoings of the sort and terminate the offender’s life.
Teachings of Islam on Heath
Islam does not only stress on the significance of health but also encourages actions that promote people’s health (Assad et al. 65). Such health-promoting actions are mentioned several times in the Hadiths and Quranic verses. The Prophet (peace be upon him), according to Hadith, stated that health, as well as leisure, are blessings that people fail to appreciate (Assad et al. 65). The Hadith also states that all existing diseases and conditions, except old age, have medicine which followers should take (Assad et al. 65). Quran (5:6) emphasizes personal hygiene and requires Muslims to observe the Salat by washing their feet, head, arm, and face when they wake up. Stress management is also advised in Hadith where the Prophet (PBUH) states that Allah shall exalt those who suppress anger. Healthy eating is also encouraged in the Quran (7:31) and (20: 81) both of which require Muslims to drink and eat healthily while avoiding excess. The role of the physician is also recognized in the Quran (5: 32) which states that those who save lives have saved humanity. All these Hadiths and verses from the Quran present the Islamic view of health.
Islam believes that sickness and pain are Allah’s trial that tests the faith of Muslims (Muhammad et al. 43). There is a great reward for those who bear these difficulties with patience. Therefore, Muslims are requested to have patience and persist as they go through pain. However, Muslims are still allowed to look for ways to reduce their suffering and the Holy Quran states that evil actions that bring about suffering are driven away by good deeds which could mean acts of care from doctors (Muhammad et al. 43). When sick, Muslims are allowed to seek treatment while patiently persevering the illness.
One of the essentials and best actions in Islam, in relation to the sanctity of life, is saving a life, and doctors are thus encouraged to do everything possible to saves lives by preventing premature death (Muhammad et al. 44). But treatment should not be sought at all costs, meaning that when treatment has proven to be impossible and death cannot be avoided, it is no longer mandatory (Muhammad et al. 45). Islam does not accept going after impossible treatments so as to keep away death since it recognizes that human beings sometimes have their limits. Although Muslims are allowed to seek treatment in order to preserve life, it is only Allah who has the power to extend or end a person’s life.
Islam holds that people have a basic right to hydration and nutrition including patients who should not be denied this right even at the end of life (Muhammad et al. 46). Islam does not allow quickening death through denial of such basic necessities. When a patient is suffering from an incurable disease such as excessive brain damage, doctors are allowed to withdraw medications but must continue giving the patient food and water until natural death occurs. Maqasid al shari’ah and other primary sources strictly prohibit all forms of active euthanasia or assisted suicide whether it is involuntary or voluntary. Article 61 of the Islamic Code of Medical Ethics states that healthcare workers should not be involved in actively ending the life of a patient regardless of the circumstances unless allowed by the law and shari’a (Muhammad et al. 43). Muslim scholars do not, however, agree on passive euthanasia or assisted suicide.
Teachings of Islam on death and life after death
Birth along with life, death along with barzakh, and resurrection along with reckoning are the main states that human beings pass through according to the Islamic point of view (Elaskary 2). When a person dies, he or she is between death and resurrection, which is a transitional period referred to as barzakh. Once a dead person is laid in the grave, two angels question them about their Messenger or Prophet and religion. The Hadith and Quran state that believers give the correct responses and the non-believers do not (Elaskary 2). An eternal destiny either in hell or paradise awaits the dead person as he or she inches close to destiny through death. Time exists only for the living in this world but the dead leave the time zone. Islamic belief about death, judgment, and eventual fate of humankind and the soul is taught in many hadiths and the Quran, with almost one-third of the Quran concentrating particularly on the afterlife (Elaskary 2). The final day in the Al-Qamr sura is foretold in Quran as coming soon but it will be major and minor signs will have to take place in accordance with the Hadiths and verses in the Quran The major signs will include the destruction of al-Ka’ba in Meca, the sun rising from West rather than East, three solar eclipses occurring, Gog and Magog (Ya’joj and Ma’juj), and the appearance of the Anti-Christ, the Beast (Elaskary 2). Minor signs include adultery, crime, sudden death, the spread of disease, the prevalence of unruly rulers, the constructions of skyscrapers, and immorality (Elaskary 2).
Following the fulfillment of these signs, archangel Israfıl will blow the first trumpet and then the second one. According to the Quran, people will rise from the dead after the second trumpet is blown and each will answer for their actions, whether bad or good (39; 68). On this serious day, the earth will be flattened, the skies will be folded, souls will be returned to bodies, and floods, smoke, and thunder will be present. God will weigh the actions of every person on this Day of Reckoning. It is the day that the well-behaved in their lifetimes will endure less pain while sinners and wrongdoers will suffer the most. All people will have their scores settled where the transgressors will take up the evil deeds of those they offended and their good deeds will be transferred to their victims (Elaskary 3).
During the Day of Judgment, all people will be running to Messengers/Prophets and requesting them to intercede for forgiveness from God. A determination will then be made to disperse people either to hell or heaven. There will be three groups of people including, AhlAraf (those who will inhabit a place between heaven and hell), the non-believers, and believers (Q 7: 44–46). Non-believers will be dispersed to hell, believers who have sinned will pass through hell temporarily for punishment before being allowed into heaven, and the pious men and women, messengers, and prophets will be taken to paradise (Elaskary 3). Those who did not have the opportunity to know or capacity to comprehend the one true God will not go to hell. Muslims, therefore, believe that life in this world is just a temporary stage, after which they will die, be resurrected, and face judgment before God, with the outcome being either hell or paradise. Those in hell will suffer the severest punishment while those in paradise will enjoy unthinkable blessings.
In conclusion, Muslims consider life to a Gods-gift that all should respect, that marinating once health is important, that dead people are waiting to be resurrected into the next world, and that the afterlife is a blessing for believers and a punishment for non-believers. Apart from safeguarding religion, the second priority in the lives of people ought to be protecting and maintaining the sanctity of life. The Prophet (peace be upon him), according to Hadith, stated that health, as well as leisure, are blessings that people of fail to appreciate while the Quran requires Muslims to drink and eat healthy while avoiding excess. Death is a transition period that takes a person closer to his final in the afterlife, which is either hell or paradise. Non-believers will be dispersed to hell, believers who have sinned will pass through hell temporarily for punishment before being allowed into heaven, and the pious men and women, messengers, and prophets will be taken to paradise. Those in hell will suffer the severest punishment while those in paradise will enjoy unthinkable blessings.