Akhirat:Belief in Afterlife in Islam
The word Ákhirah or Akhirat has a meaning of “the ultimate, the ending, finally”. It has opposite meaning of “before”. In Islamic literature, it is used to describe “after life, life after death and the other side”
The world here is the place for the living things and the Akhirat is the phase of afterlife. It is the ultimate home and residual place for all of mankind.
Allah(j.j) indicated in Holy Quran that this world has been created for temporal reasons. Finally, one day, everything in and about this world will be destroyed, the whole earth along with firmaments and mountains and grounds will be torn apart into pieces.
The day on which men shall be as scattered moths,
And the mountains shall be as loosened wool. (Al-Qaria:101/4-5)
All forms of life we know will cease to exist except for Allah(j.j)
All that is on earth will perish:
But will abide (for ever) the Face of thy Lord,- full of Majesty, Bounty and Honour. (Ar-Rahman 55/26-27)
Hence, after this moment, the eternal phase of “Akhirat”, afterlife will be initiated. It is a “fardh” to believe in Akhirat, therefore it is an obligatory act and mindset for every Muslim to believe in afterlife.
Muslims should also believe certain stages of Akhirat. These stages are such events that have been foretold both in Holy Quran and in hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad(saw)
1) Pre-stage of akhira, where “life in the grave” starts just after demise
2) Resurrection from the graves and gathering of all humans on doomsday
3) “Book of deeds” are opened for each individual and all humans are reminded of their life on earth.
4) Mezaan, the scales are cast to measure the weight and balance of both good and evil actions of each person.
5) Passing of the bridge of “Sirat” if the person is destined to enter Paradise.
6) The good arrives in Paradise
7) The bad is thrown to Hell
8) Meeting of certain Muslims with Prophet Muhammad(saw) along with the Pond of Kausar(Fount of Abundance)
9) Intercession of Prophet Muhammad(saw) for the Muslims.
There are myriad number of ayats in Holy Quran and hadith on the different subjects of detailed depiction of afterlife and its sub-topics which we hope to discuss in other articles.
One thing is for absolute certain that belief in afterlife is a fundamental aspect of Islamic belief.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login