Some time ago, I was involved in a talk about this thing: "afterlife" with one loved one of mine. I claimed as an agnostic to him; or that's what he 'concluded' about me from reading my blogposts.
Do agnostics believe afterlife?
Well, until 10 years ago, I still signed my posts in blog as "Nana, the secular". I finally decided to claim myself as an agnostic after 2012 for sure, with inexplicable reasons. :) Well, I realized long ago that I am in the process of searching. Therefore, I myself can't say that I will be an agnostic till the end of my life.
(haha, I believe it doesn't matter to you, does it?)
I can't avoid the fact that I was raised in a very rigid religious family. I got Islamic teachings not only from the school where I used to study, but more importantly was also from my very own parents. Therefore, if someone asks me what I have in mind whether I believe in the afterlife, I actually cannot stay away from the illustration of the condition of the afterlife I used to get from both my teachers and parents. But do I still believe in it? Of course not anymore.
My teachers used to say that only Muslims will go to heaven. Other people -- non Muslims -- will go to hell, no matter how good their deed is when they live in their life; because Islam is the only religion approved by the One and Only Almighty. Non Muslims will be punished to go to hell forever because they don't want to convert to Islam when they are alive.
(Therefore some -- I can't say many, moreover most of them -- Muslims then do anything bad they wanna do in their life (cheating, killing, corruption, etc) because eventually they will go to heaven. Of course there will be time for them to go to hell for those whose negative deed is bigger than their virtue, this is called that those Muslim people need to be 'cleansed' before entering heaven.)
"Do you believe so?" asked my loved one.
Well, during my life journey (thanks to facebook where I get a lot of different insight from many people I get to know there), especially in my senior age, I have met people from different walks of life. The insight I got from befriending with them gave me another idea.
In Islamic teaching, people know a philosophical term 'insan kamil'. Ibnu Arabi, one well-known sufi 'coined' this term as one perfect man, to refer to Prophet Muhammad. Insan kamil is the highest level of Muslim. Therefore, to be Insan kamil is what every Muslim covets to be.
Referring to that term, I have an idea that all people who have reached that level -- insan kamil -- will 'moksha' when they die. They will be liberated from any suffering, dukha and samsara; either they will enter 'nirvana' (heaven?) or they will just disappear. For those who do not reach that level yet, they will be reincarnated. And life will go on that way, for everyone.
This is what I think now when someone asks me about life after death. This is my level of my belief right now. And, I am still searching …
PT56 13.48 31.08.2023
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