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Edited by mbhcsf at 23-7-2016 02:14 AM
Doubt Leads To Human Misery
Ditulis oleh Md. Asham B. Ahmad. Posted in The Star
Everybody knows that death is unavoidable and that evey single soul will ultimately taste it. Yet death is dreaded by many because they do not know what is going to happen ‘after’ that. What will happen after we all die? Will there be another life? What kind of life will it be? Will there be some kind of judgement? What does it take for a favourable judgement? What will happen after that?
In Islam the question of afterlife is an important question because it has to do with everybody’s happiness. Everybody wants to know what is going to happen to his soul after death, and this knowledge will have an important bearing upon his attitude and behaviour in present life. The knowledge about death and what comes afterwards is a matter of faith (iman), so every faithful Muslim by definition must believe in the life after death, resurrection, judgement, and the final abode, viz. heaven and hell.
Many people, however, have denied the afterlife, not because they know it does not exist but because they have doubts about it. They have doubted and rejected religion, because they deny the possibility that humans can ever attain knowledge and certainty in the matters of the ultimate truth. As long as there is doubt there will be rejection, and no commitment to a certain kind of moral or religious life. Doubt is a constant wavering between two positions. A person who is in doubt cannot make a decision, and even if he does he can’t be firm. There is a possibility that he might change his mind any time.
Certainty, on the other hand, is a state of mind where there is no more agitation because the truth has already been known and acknowledged. With certainty come constancy, stability, and meaning. We need to make sense of our existence and be certain of the ultimate purpose of our life. Only then can we choose what is best for our life and be happy. Doubt is antithetical to happiness because no one can really be happy when he is uncertain of his own fate. Those who claim to be happy despite that are simply not telling the truth. He is lying to his own self. This life is meaningless unless it is aligned to the ultimate purpose that can be known with certainty. Hence, the denial of knowledge and certainty is actually the root cause of human misery. How can a meaningless life be a valuable and happy life?
Now we must admit that happiness is desireable and possible only when there is the ultimate knowable meaning to all that exist. But the search for and the discovery of the ultimate meaning of life should be attainable within the life span of a human being for the search and discovery itself to be meaningful. It should not be a continuous and never ending endeavour, otherwise it is as good as saying that it is unattainable. Faith in Islam is based on knowledge, not on a false hope. Faith is iman, which translates as ‘peace’, ‘security’ and ‘tranquility’.. It is a state of the soul where there is knowledge and certainty, and it can only be realized when doubt is eliminated. One who is in doubt of his self and of his destiny cannot be said to have iman (in the sense of having peace, security, and tranquility), and without iman he can’t be happy in the true sense of the word.
The rejection of religious guidance and the espousal of secular humanism in its place is then the cause of human misery. Without divine guidance man will not be able to fathom the secret of existence and to make sense of it. Secular humanism, which espouses total reliance upon human reason alone, cannot replace religion because it is premised upon doubts regarding the nature of man, life, and existence. What a doubt would do is causing more doubts and hence more misery, whereas what every human being aspires deep down is certainty. That is what actually secular humanism has been doing to modern man today, yet what is being potrayed in the media is the opposite: religion is the cause of human misery, and secular humanism is the saviour. That, unfortunately, seems to be true, because somehow what is being emphasized in religion today is the law and rituals, while the knowledge, philosophical, and ethical aspects are being grossly neglected, hence the thrive of skepticism and extremism of all sorts. The discerning Muslims, therefore, have a very difficult challenge ahead: how to save mankind from the misery caused by skepticism and hopelessness on one hand, and extremism on the other.
http://www.ikim.gov.my/index.php ... ads-to-human-misery
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Post time 23-7-2016 02:12 AM
