Man is a being who, on the one hand, is directly related to nature, time and space and, on the other hand, is endowed with a spiritual component that rises above the physical world. The combination of the earthly and the spiritual in man constantly confronts him with thoughts, deeds, and phenomena, some of which are material and some of which are immaterial. Which of these form his true essence? Which of them should determine his life? In answering this question, many people fall into the mistake of depriving man of his spiritual component and turning him into a material being, striving in his life only for the earthly. Therefore, in order to prevent people from falling into error, Allah has sent prophets to them with heavenly scriptures. The Holy Quran explains to us what is the true essence of man, what is eternal and what is transitory. The ayats of the Qur’an show mankind the way through which people can know their true essence. Many characteristics of man are transient. These include, for example, race, nation, language, place of residence, social status, wealth, and…
These features alone cannot add to man’s humanity, nor do they play any role in determining his true essence, for they are not eternal. After all, how many times have we seen that over the course of a lifetime, and sometimes several times, a person changes his place of residence, or his social status and property status changes. A person can go to another country and forget his native language and nation for a long time. When a person dies, these characteristics will be forgotten. In the afterlife it will not matter as much whether a person lived in the west of the earth or in the east. His true nature will not be affected by whether he lived in this century or this millennium. After all, when a person leaves this world and goes on an eternal journey, he leaves space and time.
Thus, the only thing that matters in man’s true essence is that which is eternal, has always been and will always be with him. What will not be separated from him with death, will be with him in the intermediate world (barzah), and even in paradise or hell. The Holy Qur’an mentions three foundations that form the true essence of man, elevating him to the heights of spiritual perfection or bringing him down into darkness. These are beliefs, moral qualities, and deeds. The totality of these three foundations forms man’s relationship to the Creator. If these three foundations are derived from the teachings of the heavenly prophets, their totality will be called religion. If all three are true and undistorted, their sum total will be called true religion.
According to the true and only legitimate religion, which is Islam (as it says in the 19th ayat of surah “The Family of Imran”: “Verily, Allah’s religion is Islam”), only a man is worthy to be called a man who will possess these three foundations. Therefore, each person is hostage to his beliefs, moral qualities, and deeds, for they form his essence. The Qur’an considers that the true man is the one who has believed in the truth, adorned himself with excellent moral qualities, and, obeying the divine injunctions, performs all his duties. All this distinguishes him from other men, not only in the earthly life, but also in the afterlife.