Charity Jariyah and Immortal Soul

Charity Jariyah and Immortal Soul

"When a human being dies, his deeds are cut off, except for three things: charity, beneficial knowledge, and a pious child who prays for him."

What is meant by "uninterrupted practice after death" that the Prophet mentioned in the above hadith? The traditional interpretation of the unbrokenness of a charity means that the reward of a person who has done the above things before he dies will continue. Like an entrepreneur who has created a sophisticated business system, when the business system or mechanism is completed, there is no need for further effort on the part of that person; it is only a matter of monitoring and harvesting the ever-growing yields produced by the continuous system.

Such an interpretation is, of course, theologically valid. However, this interpretation is only able to convince one or two sides of the Muslim community. In a time when skepticism became a stick with which humans walked, this interpretation was not enough to stem the tide of such blind skepticism. There must be an alternative interpretation that is acceptable to reason; in other words, a more rational and logical interpretation.

If what is referred to by the phrase "uninterrupted after death" is the coming of merit after death, a skeptic will strike back with the argument "such things cannot be clarified". Arguments like this have some merit, for, if the standard of truth they are asking for is the ability of a premise to be empirically clarified, the merits of a person, let alone someone who has died, are far from being provable.

Of course, this is a theologically accepted premise because the ontological axiom of Islam is, that they accept the fact that there are two realms; material and immaterial. Even though something cannot be clarified empirically-materially, if it does not contradict the scriptures and the holy words of the Prophet, it is valid.

That is why we need to provide an interpretation that is able to match the arguments of the fighters of skepticism. First, it is evident that in this material world, there is something immaterial. Call it pain; a skeptic will cry out in pain if his face is hit hard, if we ask him where the pain lies, he can't answer with certainty. If he is still able to refute by referring to behavioristic psychology, then we can present a more concrete argument; the basis of science is mathematical concepts, there is quantum physics, arithmetic, which has been proven true.

If every experiment is guided by basic formulas and mathematical axioms like this, then inevitably he must believe in the existence of an abstract and immaterial entity like the existence of this formula.

Once we have convinced the skeptics that there are immaterial things in the world, we can move on to the next premise; Humans have an immaterial side, namely the soul. This is certainly a premise that is believed to be true even in the most basic theological teachings, say, elementary theology. Can by postulating the existence of a soul, we can provide an alternative interpretation of the words of the Prophet above?

In Islamic theological teachings, humans consist of soul and body, and when the human body has disappeared, the soul continues to live its life in the hereafter. This is his metaphysical interpretation. Meanwhile, socially, we generally believe that there is a side of humans that cannot be related to their physical reality. We believe there is a human nature, and we believe that the physical condition of man is not necessarily related to this trait; for example, it is not true that a person with a certain character is necessarily caused by a certain weight. Human nature is an element of a human being that is separate from his body.

Another element of a human being is a name, a human being is a living being with memories, fantasies, and thoughts. That is why the name can live on continuously after one's death; he lives because he is remembered by others.

You must have said something like, "I remember his name, but I don't remember his face, "I remember his face, but I don't remember his name", "He has a scary face, but his son is good", "Si Arfan is a smart boy, it must be because his father is smart". These few sentences are proof that man has two separate elements which are equally real in their own degree. The name of the human and the human body are two different things, the characteristics of the human body are separate from human nature, the name of someone who may have died (Father Budi for example) will be passed on by his son, his character will be remembered.

With this idea in our heads, it will be easier for us to interpret the meaning of the above hadith. Another alternative interpretation of the hadith, of course, is that socially, these actions, namely charity, pious children and useful knowledge, will continue their sociological function. Just as a mosque will continue to be attended to even after its builder dies, a science that continues to be useful, such as Newton's gravitation, even though he is gone, a pious son may continue his father's social endeavors.

The interpretation that we propose here is a philosophical interpretation that has an empirical basis in real life. The soul is an immaterial spiritual entity of humans that continues to live even though the body is gone. In general, we can replace the term soul with a name. A person's alms Jariyah will continue to liven up his name; Cartesian Coordinate theory causes us to keep on remembering Descartes' name, Masjid at-Tiin reminds us of Mrs. Tien Suharto, Yenni Wahid causes us to remember Abdurrahman Wahid. The names of these people are kept alive by the three paths, even though their physical existence is gone.

We think this kind of interpretation is more rational and logical, if what we are facing are skeptics who do not want to accept theological arguments. Alms Jariah causes immortality of the soul by making the services that a person performs in his lifetime remain in the memory of subsequent generations. The name of a hero lives on in those who value heroism, yes, a tiger dies leaving stripes, an elephant dies leaving an ivory.