Chapter 6 / Islam on Heaven and Hell Summary

Just about every religion in the world teaches that there will be some sort of reward or punishment for our actions in the human world

Religion teaches about an afterlife so that we can feel the immediacy of the importance of our beliefs and actions in everything that we do

This life is like a dream, the afterlife is the true reality

Life in the grave lasts only until The Judgement Day. There are no dead souls that can rise from the grave and walk the earth as ghosts.

The only time a soul can get out of the grave is only after God has signaled for the universe to end in the Last Day

Through the test of life, we must try to get from our Animal Self to our Accusing Self and then hopefully passing to become a Restful Soul at peace

The Qur'an says that "We must police our own behavior if we are to have safe societies"

Qur'an is clear about the need for just retribution for those who did wrong and a repay for those who were wronged. These will all be fixed on Judgement Day

There is no given date for the Judgement Day

One day in the future Allah will initiate the end of the world. On this day an angel named Israfil will sound a note on a massive trumpet, and the shock wave will shake the entire universe. The earth will then begin to break apart violently. Then the earth will shut down just as immediatley as it started.

All beings that are alive at the time of Judgement will die, including the jinns and angels

The next stop is Judgement. All angels will be brought to life once more. Israfil will sound another note on his horn. All humans and jinns will then appear standing on one huge level plain. Everyone is naked and is without any symbol of status or power. This is called the Resurrection.

Muhammad said that the Day of Judgement will last 50,000 years because of how many people are there. Every human being who ever lived will be there

No excuses will be accepted by Allah on the Day of Judgement

When it is our turn to be judged, two angels will escort us; one in the front and one in the back. Our lifes record will be given to us in our right hand if we were a good person, and our left in we were bad.

After this, our entire record will be read in our presence. We can not blame Shaytan for he will disown all saying that he gave a suggestion but didn't force us to do anything.

Then our good and bad deeds will be placed on a scale and weighed. Our record of prayer will be weighed first, (if this is proven to be weak, all of our good deeds will be thrown away

Whatever the outcome, we will be persuaded to believe that this is what we deserve. Allah can also forgive extra sins simply because he wants to

Finally our descision is given: Innocent or guilty

From the Plain of Judgment we move to the brink of the pit of Hell. The intense heat will be felt and feared by all. The angels will throw the worst sinners into the flames

Those left after this process will have to take a tough journey over a bridge called the Sirat, this bridge spans the pit of hell and leads to paradise on the other side

Good people will fly over the bridge to the other side automatically. Good people with a few sins will be cut and bruised a bit by the razor sharp edges of the bridge to remind them that there are consequences (but they will make it over as well)

Sinful people will try to make it over but will trip and fall into the pit

Those people who are not good but not bad will find themselves in an elevated spot called the Heights. Those in this level will eventually make it to Paradise.

Jannah (Heaven) is a place where we are rewarded for listening to our fitrah.

At Paradise, there is a huge wall with eight gates. Each gate is named after one of the major religious rituals. We are sorted into the one that we were best at.

Heaven has seven layers but no one layer is better than the others

Paradise is forever, and nobody ever has to leave. We get to see Allah there.

Hell is temporary for some people, but permanent for others

Hell is a place created by God to purify

Hell has seven layers as well but the lower you get, the worse. Allah does not like to punish but only punishes those who have rejected him and commited evil actions. God however, is never unjust