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.
