Having established the probability of the existence of God and the Hereafter, we are in a position to understand the Creation Plan of God.
Man is an eternal creature. However, God has divided his life-span into two parts. A very tiny part of it has been placed in this world, while all of the remainder has been placed in the Hereafter. The present world is the world of action, while the world of the Hereafter is the place for reaping the harvest of actions. The present world is imperfect, but the world of the Hereafter is perfect in every respect. The Hereafter is a limitless world where all things have been provided in their ideal state.
God has placed His heaven—full of all kinds of blessings—in that world of the Hereafter. Those who prove to be God-fearing and pious in this world will enter into that world to find the gates of heaven eternally open for them.
As a matter of principle, this perfect paradise could not be inhabited by ‘less then perfect’ creatures. So, God created this perfection-seeking creature called man. He, however, did not want to place men in paradise without selecting the perfect from among them. So, God in his infinite wisdom created this limited present world to put man on ‘trial’ so that He may ‘select’ the ones who were perfect to inhabit paradise. His intention being that man must spend a period of trial in this present, imperfect world and subsequent to this, according to his deeds, he will earn the right to inhabit the perfect and eternal world of the Hereafter, another name for which is Paradise.
This paradise will be brought into existence in the world after death. The stage before death is one of ‘preparation’ or ‘trial’, and the stage after death is that of ‘reward’ or ‘punishment’, commensurate with this preparation. God has therefore hidden paradise from our eyes due to the exigencies of man’s trial.
We can say that the Creator of the world has created this world, as one half of a pair — the present limited world, in which we pass our lives after birth, is the first half; and the next eternal world where we live after death is the other half. The Creator of man has thus created him as an eternal creature and has divided his life into two stages - the pre-death period or the limited life in this world and the post death period or the eternal life after death. The limited period before death is meant to be a test for man, while the eternal period after his death will be the period for his reward or punishment, based on his performance in the test in this life. This is the scheme of existence for this world as devised by its Creator. The real aim of creation is to select those who are fit to inhabit the world of Paradise. Evil people will not be selected to inhabit Paradise – those who are oblivious of God in this present world or who opt for the path of contumacy in regard to God’s matters are criminals in God’s eyes. All such people will be deprived of the blessings of the Hereafter.
God is invisible in this present world, and will appear in all His power and majesty only in the world of the Hereafter. Then all human beings will bow low before Him. But at that time, surrendering will be of no avail. Self-abnegation and acceptance of God is desired only while God is still invisible. Surrendering before God after seeing Him in the Hereafter will not benefit anyone.
Death is not the end of a person’s life. It is only the beginning of the next stage of life. Death is that interim stage when man leaves this temporary world of today for the eternal world of tomorrow. He goes out of the temporary accommodation of the world to enter the eternal resting place of the Hereafter. The coming of this stage in the Hereafter is the greatest certainty in one’s life. No one can save himself from this fate in the Hereafter.
God is getting a record made of all the actions of each and every individual in this world of trial through His Angels. On the Day of Judgement these records will be opened and based on them, God – our Creator – will decide whether we are fit to inhabit the eternal world of paradise.