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Islamic Belief in the Afterlife
By
Daniel C. Peterson and William J. Hamblin
Unlike
animals, humans know that they must die. And they are frequently
fascinated if not terrified by that fact. Every culture around
the world features customs, legends, doctrines, and suppositions
regarding this greatest of human mysteries. Among Muslims,
a wealth of popular traditions supplements the fairly sparse
data supplied by the Qur’an.
Izra’il is the angel of death in Islamic folklore. (A
similar character appears in Jewish accounts.) He keeps a
roll on which the names of all humankind are inscribed. The
names of the blessed are surrounded by bright light, while
darkness encircles those of the damned. Izra’il does not know
individual death dates in advance. When a person’s death approaches,
a leaf falls from the tree below God’s throne. Every individual
has a leaf, with his or her name written on it. Izra’il reads
the name from the leaf, and, within forty days, separates that
person’s soul from his or her body. Righteous souls leave
their bodies easily. Those of the wicked are torn out, painfully.
Two
angels named Munkar and Nakir question the dead in their tombs,
who are made to sit upright and testify concerning Muhammad. The
faithful acknowledge him as God’s prophet, and are consequently
left alone until the day of resurrection. The unrighteous,
by contrast, have no satisfactory answer. So the two angels
beat them harshly for a certain period -- perhaps until resurrection
day. (They take Fridays off.)
The
wicked beg to return to earth to accomplish the good that they
had left undone during their lives. But they cannot, for,
says the Qur’an, a barrier blocks their way. Many commentators
take this as a literal physical barrier between hell and paradise,
or between this life and the next.
Resurrection
and judgment are central themes in the Qur’an. Both occur
at “the Hour” on “the Day of Reckoning.” Muslim scripture
and tradition contain many passages describing the signs of
the last days, which include various natural disorders such
as earthquakes, dramatic heavenly phenomena, and the coming
of the Antichrist. Jesus or the Mahdi, “the Rightly Guided
One,” will descend - in some accounts Jesus is the Mahdi
- and kill the Antichrist.
At
the first blast of a great trumpet, all things will die. Then,
after an interval, a second blast will recall them to life
and bring them to the place of gathering. Two events are prominently
mentioned in connection with this place—first, lengthy “standing” in
the presence of God, and, second (and not surprisingly), “the
sweat.”
The
lord of the trumpet, the archangel Israfil (whose name probably
derives from the Hebrew “seraphim”), is one of four archangels
in Islamic lists, with Jibril (Gabriel), Mikha’il (Michael),
and Izra’il. He is of vast size. His feet are said to be
under the “seventh earth,” while his head reaches to the pillars
of the divine throne. He has four wings—one in the east, one
in the west, one with which he covers his body, and a fourth
with which he protects himself against the fearsome glory of
God. Israfil always holds the trumpet near his mouth, so as
to be ready, when God gives the order, to sound the blast that
will arouse humankind from the grave. Three times each day
and three times every night he looks down into hell and is
convulsed by grief. His tears of sadness for the future fate
of the damned nearly flood the earth. Some traditions say,
on the other hand, that he himself will be roused from slumber
at the resurrection, the first to rise on that day. He will
stand on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and give the signal
that will resurrect the dead.
God
will next interrogate each soul directly, examining the heavenly
books. In doubtful cases, deeds will be weighed. Israfil will
read out God’s decrees. Finally, each soul must attempt to
enter paradise via a bridge over hell. For the righteous,
that bridge will be broad. For the unrighteous, however, it
will be as narrow as the edge of a sword, and they will plummet
into the abyss below. (A similar idea may lie behind Helaman
3:29-30.) The final destination of each human soul is either “the
fire” or “the garden” of Paradise.
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