The Resurrection and the Afterlife: A Quranic Perspective by Said Nursi
"The resurrection and the afterlife are not only possible but also necessary and certain. They are required by God's wisdom, justice, mercy, and power."
The text is a quote from a book called The Flashes, written by Said Nursi, a Turkish Muslim scholar and thinker. The book is a collection of his writings on various topics of faith and spirituality, such as the existence of God, the purpose of life, the signs of the end times, and the resurrection of the dead. The book is part of a larger work called Risale-i Nur (The Epistles of Light), which consists of 130 treatises and has been translated into many languages.
The quote expresses the author’s belief that the resurrection and the afterlife are not only possible but also necessary and certain. He argues that they are required by God’s wisdom, justice, mercy, and power. By wisdom, he means that God created everything with a purpose and a plan, and that nothing is in vain or futile. By justice, he means that God will reward the good and punish the evil, and that this life is not enough to fulfill that. By mercy, he means that God is compassionate and forgiving, and that he will not leave his servants in despair or suffering. By power, he means that God is able to do anything he wills, and that nothing can prevent him from fulfilling his promises.
كَیۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَكُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَ ٰتࣰا فَأَحۡیَـٰكُمۡۖ ثُمَّ یُمِیتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ یُحۡیِیكُمۡ ثُمَّ إِلَیۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ
What has made you disbelieve in Allah? Whereas you were dead and He gave you life; then He will give you death, then bring you to life again, and then it is to Him you will return!
هُوَ ٱلَّذِی خَلَقَ لَكُم مَّا فِی ٱلۡأَرۡضِ جَمِیعࣰا ثُمَّ ٱسۡتَوَىٰۤ إِلَى ٱلسَّمَاۤءِ فَسَوَّىٰهُنَّ سَبۡعَ سَمَـٰوَ ٰتࣲۚ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَیۡءٍ عَلِیمࣱ
It is He Who created for you all that is in the earth; then He inclined towards the heaven, therefore fashioning it as proper seven heavens; and He knows everything.
The All-Wise Maker has made this world a place of examination, a field of trial. He has given man an ability to rise to the highest of the high and to sink to the lowest of the low. God’s justice requires that He should give to His servants what they deserve. And since this world is transient and imperfect, it cannot contain the infinite rewards and punishments that His justice entails. God’s mercy encompasses everything. He does not want His servants to suffer eternal torment. He wants them to attain eternal bliss. He does not want them to be deprived of His bounties. He wants them to benefit from His gifts.
God’s power is absolute and infinite. He can create whatever He wishes, however He wishes, whenever He wishes. Nothing can resist His will or hinder His decree.