An artist's representation of "Muhammed's Paradise". A Persian miniature from The History of Mohammed, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

The Islamic belief in the afterlife, called al-ākhira (Arabic: الآخرة‎‎, lit. 'aftertime, hereafter') and as stated in the Quran, is descriptive. Mankind (as well as the jinn) is destined for either the "garden/gardens" (janna/jannāt) for the righteous, or the "hellfire" (an-nār) for the wicked, respectively also referred to as "Paradise" (al-firdaws) and "Gehenna" or "Gehinnom" (jahannam).

​

The level of comfort in the immediate afterlife of the al-qabr or "the grave" (compare Jewish sheol), according to some commentators, depends wholly on their level of iʾmān or faith in God. In order for one to achieve proper and firm iʾmān one must have a righteous conduct, lest his level of faith dwindles and eventually withers away if one does not practice Islam long enough, and be led on the straight path (aṣ-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm) which is walked on by those who have been divinely graced and not have incurred divine wrath. In the Quran, God warns of grievous punishment to those who do not believe in the afterlife, and admonishes mankind that hellfire is prepared for the disbelievers.

​

Islam teaches that the purpose of Man's creation is entirely to worship God alone, which includes being kind to other humans as well as animals and plants, by not oppressing them. The Quran repeatedly reminds the reader that the worldly life (ḥayāt ad-dunyā) is nothing but a test and to determine each individual's ultimate abode, which is eternal and everlasting.

 

In the 20th century, discussions about the afterlife address the interconnection between human action and divine judgment, the need for moral rectitude, and the eternal consequences of human action in this life and world.

 

A central doctrine of Islamic faith is the Last Day (al-yawm al-ākhir), on which the world will come to an end and God will raise all mankind (as well as the jinn) from the dead and evaluate their worldly actions. The Last Day is also called the Encompassing Day (al-yawm al-muḥīṭ), more commonly known as the "Day of Resurrection" (yawm al-qiyāma), "Day of Judgment" (yawm ad-dīn) and "Day of Reckoning" (yawm al-ḥisāb) as well as both the "Day of Separation" (yawm al-faṣl) and "Day of Gathering" (yawm al-jamʿ), and is also referred to as as-Sāʿah meaning "the Hour" signaled by the blowing of the horn/trumpet.

 

An imagining of Idris (prophet) visiting Heaven and Hell from an illuminated manuscript version of Stories of the Prophets.

Until the Last Day, deceased souls remain in their graves awaiting the resurrection and judgment. However, they will begin to feel immediately a taste of their destiny to come. Those bound for hell will suffer in their graves, while those bound for heaven will be in peace until that time.

 

Jannah and Jahannam both have different levels. Jannah has eight gates and eight levels. The higher the level the better it is and the happier you are. Jahannam possess 7 deep terrible layers. The lower the layer the worse it is. Individuals will arrive at both everlasting places during Judgment Day, which commences after the Angel Israfil blows the trumpet the second time. Islam teaches the continued existence of the soul and a transformed physical existence after death. The resurrection that will take place on the Last Day is physical, and is explained by suggesting that God will re-create the decayed body (17:100: "Could they not see that God who created the heavens and the earth is able to create the like of them?").

 

On the Last Day, resurrected humans and jinn will be judged by God according to their deeds. One's eternal destination depends on balance of good to bad deeds in life. They are either granted admission to Paradise, where they will enjoy spiritual and physical pleasures forever, or condemned to Hell to suffer spiritual and physical torment for eternity. The day of judgment is described as passing over Hell on a narrow bridge (as thin as human hair and sharper than a razor) in order to enter Paradise. Those who fall, weighted by their bad deeds, will go to Hell.

 

In Islam, believers are those who believed in oneness of God and did not associate any partners with him or did not give the attributes of God to any other entity. It is an established belief that if a believer goes to hell for his sins being greater than his good deeds, he will not remain in hell forever. When punishment for his sins will be over, God will forgive him and grant him heaven.

 

Quran 4:48 says "Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin".

 

 

Ahmadiyya

Ahmadi believe that the afterlife is not material but of a spiritual nature. According to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of Ahmadiyya religion, the soul will give birth to another rarer entity and will resemble the life on this earth in the sense that this entity will bear a similar relationship to the soul as the soul bears relationship with the human existence on earth. On earth, if a person leads a righteous life and submits to the will of God, his or her tastes become attuned to enjoying spiritual pleasures as opposed to carnal desires. With this, an "embryonic soul" begins to take shape. Different tastes are said to be born which a person given to carnal passions finds no enjoyment. For example, sacrifice of one's own rights over that of others becomes enjoyable, or that forgiveness becomes second nature. In such a state a person finds contentment and peace at heart and at this stage, according to Ahmadiyya beliefs, it can be said that a soul within the soul has begun to take shape.

 

 

Sufi

The Sufi scholar Ibn 'Arabi defined Barzakh as the intermediate realm or "isthmus." It is between the world of corporeal bodies and the world of spirits, and is a means of contact between the two worlds. Without it, there would be no contact between the two and both would cease to exist. He described it as simple and luminous, like the world of spirits, but also able to take on many different forms just like the world of corporeal bodies can. In broader terms Barzakh, "is anything that separates two things". It has been called the dream world in which the dreamer is in both life and death.

​