RELIGION AND THE LIFE HEREAFTER

The belief in a life after death, which so many persons have found no particular difficulty in accepting as an article of religious faith, not only may be true but is perhaps capable of empirical proof. and sciences and scientific disciplines in matter. These are delicate substances, quite other than matter, which account for creativity in the fields of the arts and the sciences. Matter cannot have a creative faculty. This is an attribute of the soul. After proving the existence of soul as something separate, the second stage is to prove its survival, that is, its capacity to survive after the death of the body.” As a corollary to this he adds: ‘Though Avicenna has presented lengthy arguments about the existence of the soul, these are nothing but word games—or tautology—just like other Greek philosophic thoughts. If an atheist bent on denying its existence says, “What you have said is just a kind of repetition of your claim. It has nothing to do with the argument but is a reiteration of your initial statement; and may be matter itself is responsible for its kaleidoscopic manifestations after combining in a particular way. The working of a machine and the music of a musical instrument are similar things, but without having any kind of spirit.” There is no logic by which he can be reduced to silence. That is why Imam Ghazali did not produce any logical argument about the soul.’ Shibli Nomani ends the discussion at this point. And of a work dating back to 1901, we could hardly expect more. Modern research, however, has opened up new vistas of events and realities, so that we can now assert to a certain extent that the permanent existence of the soul, independent of the body, or the survival of the soul after the death of the body is no more a thing which involves blind faith; rather it has become a reality which can be empirically proved. Science has discovered that the body is composed of innumerable tiny cells. These cells disintegrate each moment, but our diet makes up for those destroyed cells and they are replaced with new ones. The body is thus like a building which is composed of billions of bricks but which is in the process of replacing its bricks at every moment. Now, if the soul is a phenomenon of the body, then with the disintegration or changing of the cells of the body, the soul should simultaneously undergo the same transformation, just as a whole machine is affected when one part of it is broken, or as the breaking of a single string affects the tone of a musical instrument. But such is not the case with the soul. This shows that the soul is independent of the body and has its own existence. This is why a scientist has said, “Personality