Fish and Fisherman Story: Life After Death and Hereafter in Islam

(Bint-e-Muslim, pak)

Many people have been on this planet and many arrogant have gone under this earth. Those Kings, Pharaohs, Nimrods and many more... arrogantly claimed to be the God but they have died! Not just this, they could not even know when they would die! All of us might know our date-of-birth or place-of-birth, but who knows one's date-of-death or place-of-death! However, as long as we don't know when we will die, doors of repentance are open for us, Insha Allah.

A little fish considers her ocean to be the only universe; after all, how big is an ocean for a little fish! Once a big fish advised the little fish about fishermen outside the water but she could not be convinced to believe that there could be anything 'beyond' this under water world. The big fish gave descriptions of the fishermen and their tools (ship, baits, net, sinker... etc) and warned her to stay away from those things.

One day, the little fish came across something strange and suddenly remembered what the elder big fish had said about fishermen and their tools. The little fish moved ahead saying, "There is no such thing as fishermen" and started to eat the bait until the hook got stuck into her mouth. Sadly, she was dragged out of the water and this was it! She could now see the world beyond water and became certain about what the elder big fish had said before but unfortunately, she had no chance to return back.

Some of us we might consider that this world is the only world. Some fish cannot perceive life outside of water, however, there are also some fish who can see things outside the water, it might also happen that a small fish comes out of water for a short time then goes back without being hurt (thus witnessing things outside the water). There are Angels as well as Jinns outside our sights, we don't see them. Devils can be imagined as the fishermen with baits trying to lure us. We have been warned to stay away from evil, even if we like its bait.

Imagine that the Angel of death (Izrael) suddenly appears before us and demands our Soul/Spirit (it can happen any instant anyway), if we don't happily surrender ourselves, that Angel could painfully snatch our Soul from us. Then we will realize and become certain about that unseen world, quite like that fish in the above example. Our death is certain, but are we prepared to stand in front of our Lord?

Say: The angel of death who is given charge of you shall cause you to die, then to your Lord you shall be brought back. (Noble Qur'an, 32:11)

Imam Mohammad Bagher (as) said: There is no other sin higher than eagerness in living and staying in this world!

Imam Musa Kazem (as) said: The story of the world is as a snake that appears to be soft, but inwardly has a deadly poison.

Bint-e-Muslim
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