THE SECOND AGE IS COMING

Prof. Hawking and other scientists have earlier also made such remarks. If the world we live in is reaching its end, then this is not great news. The greater news is that when this world comes to an end, another ideal world is going to come into existence. The Maker of the next world will not be a human being, but God the Creator Himself. In the world to come, only those persons will find entry who qualified themselves for it in the first world. People will be selected from entire human history and settled in the world hereafter, which in religious literature is called Paradise. Now, the time has come for every person to prepare himself and develop his personality so that he can be held a deserving candidate for Paradise. According to the creation plan of God, the present earth is like a nursery where human beings are meant to be tested. The person who gives proof of noble conduct and sublime character—which is appropriate for the society of Paradise—will be chosen to settle in the eternal world of the Hereafter. This eternal world is a person’s true abode. All evidence points to the fact that the age of the first world is nearing the end and the age of the second world will begin very soon. At this juncture, the Quran is calling all mankind in these words: “And vie with one another for your Lord’s forgiveness and for a Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, which has been prepared for the Godfearing.” (3: 133) The present world is a world of trial, and for a certain period God has kept the realities hidden in the realms of the unseen. On the Day of Judgement, this curtain would be torn asunder. Thereafter, the second phase of man’s life would start, when everybody would be judged according to their deeds in the present world. o All evidence points to the fact that the age of the present world is nearing the end and the age of the second world will begin very soon. Prayer Prayer is not simply a set of rituals; it is rather a way of acknowledging God's greatness.