How can we understand the astounding nature of the afterlife? Will we have our own families? Will we live forever? What if we die as an old person? Will we still be able to enjoy hereafter to the maximum if we are old?
Answer
Due to our limited imagination and comprehension, it is hard to understand and grasp the extraordinary nature of the world of the hereafter. Life after death itself is a stupendous creation of our Master which our mind cannot encompass. We can only attempt to understand the remarkable nature of life after death with an example of the life of a child from conception until birth. Before coming to this earth and being born, a child spends 9 months of his life in his mother’s womb. No one can make that child understand the nature of the world outside of his first temporary abode. Obviously a child doesn’t have an idea of rainbow or colors, sunshine or light, perfumes or fragrances, variety of foods or tastes, humans or animals, vegetation or trees etc. The only thing relevant to him at this stage is that he is being constantly provided with food through his mother that nourishes him to grow big and strong. If one has to explain to him the limitlessness of opportunities he will get after birth, the easiest way would be that he will get better food and his growth will improve. Definitely there is a lot more than just food and growth for him after birth but for his limited understanding and comprehension, this is the simplest way to explain to him.
Exactly the same way humans can understand the concept of afterlife. The upcoming world of hereafter is totally different and inconceivable for us. That is the reason Allah SWT has explained to us according to our limited knowledge that in hereafter you will live forever and you will be given whatever you ask for. You will be given a beautiful residence and will be provided with an unlimited supply of extraordinary food etc. The reason Allah SWT has only given us a glimpse of what we will get in the hereafter is because we only have the capacity to understand this much for now. Allah SWT does say that we will have families in the hereafter and we will stay young forever. Even if someone dies at an old age, he will be given his youth back.
The actual thing to understand from the above explanation is that we should have strong trust and belief in our Master. We should know that if He SWT has given us so much in this world, He SWT for sure will give us in abundance in the hereafter as well.