What is the Islamic afterlife?

[edit] The Islamic view of salvation

The belief in Islam means that salvation is attained through good deeds that make God look at someone with a pleasing eye. The other name for God is Allah. It is through good deeds to Allah that someone gets to live in Paradise, the Islamic name for heaven, forever in the after life. Record keeping of someone's deeds are believed to begin at puberty and from that point on anything that person does is recorded and used on the Day of Judgment to determine how they will spend eternity in the Islamic afterlife.

[edit] What happens to the human body after death?

The soul continues to live after death, but has not technically entered the after life. Instead, souls remain in the grave waiting for the Resurrection. While they wait, they are given an idea of what may happen to them after they are raised. Those who wait peacefully can expect a pleasant afterlife, while those who suffer in the grave can not. The Resurrection is used by Allah to somewhat recreate the dead body though the Islamic afterlife holds a belief in a transformed physical existence. The day of Resurrection will also mark a Day of Judgment when everyone is raised and judged according to what they have done throughout their lives up to this point. Other names used by Islam to describe this day include the Day of Separation and the Encompassing Day.

[edit] Islam's Heaven

The after life, according to Islamic belief, believes in Paradise which is different from the generally agreed upon idea of what heaven is or will be. For those who achieve Paradise, there are spiritual pleasures and physical pleasures that await them and that they will enjoy for eternity. The only way to make it to Paradise is to avoid falling into hell off of a narrow bridge everyone must walk over in the Islamic afterlife. The only way to not fall off the bridge is to have the good deeds you've done outweigh the bad ones. Two exceptions for those going to paradise directly after death, instead of waiting in the grave, are those who fight and die for Allah and those who show genuine repentance to Allah. In the Islamic faith, there are seven levels of Paradise a person of Islam can go after they die.

[edit] Islam Hell

Hell is where people who fall off the bridge, due to the weight of their bad deeds, will experience eternal physical and spiritual torment and pain. There are some exceptions to who will have the opportunity to cross the bridge though. It is a belief that anyone who is an enemy of Islam will go immediately to hell when they die instead of spending anytime in the grave. There are seven levels of hell for those who are destined to not enter paradise after death. Another word used for hell in Islam is Jahannam. Not all people of the Islamic faith will go to Paradise and instead will end up in hell, but there is an exception for Allah to bring people up out of hell leading some of Islam to believe that hell will one day be empty because of Allah's mercy and love and forgiveness.