Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | September 23, 2018
What a mass of information there is clogging the atmosphere nowadays. Everyone has some message to convey to others. But in all this confusion, there is no one seeking to convey the message of eternal life; there is no one anxious to break the news of salvation and damna¬tion in the world to come.
All people have to talk about are worldly matters; no one has time for matters pertaining to eternal life. This means that no one knows the meaning of eternal life. No one has that news to tell—for if they did they would never be able to keep it to themselves. Indeed, so critical is the importance of this matter that no other news would seem worth telling. They would make it their prime task in life to inform others of the dangers of hell-fire, and the joys of paradise.
If one knows there is going to be an earthquake in a few moments, or a volcano is about to erupt, then one can think of nothing else; one leaves all other matters aside and talks only of the dreadful fate about to descend.
Yet speakers make their speeches, and writers write their lines, but their words do not contain mention of man’s coming before the Lord to be judged. It appears that they do not even know of the coming of that fearful day.
People’s minds are occupied by matters—political, social and economic—of individual and national concern. They experience these things in the world about them; the effect of these matters is there to be felt. That is why they consider them important and worth talking about. But the greatest issue facing us is the Day of Judgment. One cannot actually see it, but no future event exceeds it in importance. It is the matter most worth talking about, the greatest news that anyone can hear.