Hereafter-Oriented Thinking

Hereafter-Oriented Thinking In a general comment on human beings, the Quran (76:27) says: Those people [who are unmindful of God] aspire for immediate gains, and put behind them a Heavy Day. Man has been created as an eternal being. But his lifespan consists of two parts: the pre-death period, and the postdeath period. A common weakness of man is that he takes his pre-death period as the basis or framework of his thinking and is concerned about it alone. He does not think in the context of the post-death period of his life. This is the truth that is referred to in the above-cited Quranic verse. This is no ordinary matter. It is this issue that gives a person’s thinking the right or wrong direction. A person who thinks only in the framework of the problems and issues of the pre-death period of life develops in himself world-oriented thinking. His thinking will, in every sense, become non-realistic thinking—because he ignores the reality of the eternal life after death. And non-realistic thinking is another name for wrong thinking. In contrast to this, a person who thinks in the framework of the issues of life after death will develop in himself Hereafteroriented thinking. This sort of thinking is realistic thinking, because it is based on the reality of the eternal Hereafter. And realistic thinking is but another name for right thinking. A person’s progress or destruction depends entirely on