What is the balance between world and hereafter?
Islam attaches high importance to moderation and balance. When giving weight to one side of an issue, it does not ignore the other side. Since Allah has created both sides and human beings need them both, it would not be right to ignore one side. It is necessary to be just and pay attention to each side as appropriate. When we look from this angle, this world is a very valuable gift as a capital to earn the Hereafter. One must use this gift to seek God’s good pleasure. The hereafter is the real goal and one must never forget this.
Just as the secular approach pays attention only to this world, the clerical approach that is concerned only about the hereafter does not satisfy human needs either. None of them should be sacrificed for the other; both of them have to be balanced correctly and ordered in an integrated fashion.
Spirit and body make up the two sides of Man. Even though the spirit is the essential material, the body is its carrier. Only when they are together can something be done. Therefore, it is not right to pay attention only to spirit and wear down the body. According to what our Prophet told us, one of the first things that human beings will be questioned about in the hereafter is how they used their health.[1]
Islam commanded us to be well-balanced even in the performance of worship such as praying, fasting, and remitting the poor due. It disapproved of intensive worship that over-exhausts one.[2]
[1] Tirmizî, Kıyamah, 1/2417.
[2] See Bukhârî, Savm 55, 56, 57, Tehejjud 7, Anbiyâ 37, Nikâh 1, 89; Muslim, Siyâm 181-193; Abû Dâwûd, Savm, 55/2428.
Source: Dr. Murat Kaya,The Final Divine Religion: ISLAM
