Judgement Day in Islam

Many verses of the Quran, especially the earlier ones, are dominated by the idea of the nearing of the Day of Resurrection.[28][29] In Islam the "signs" of the coming of Judgement Day are described as "major"[30] and "minor".[31] The Al-Masih ad-Dajjal will appear, deceiving the foolish and killing Muslims until killed by either the Mahdi or Jesus.[32][33] Following him, two dangerous, evil tribes of subhumans with vast numbers called Yajooj and Majooj will be released from where they have been imprisoned inside a mountain since Roman times.[21] And according to some narratives, a murderous tyrant called the Sufyani will spread corruption and mischief,[34] killing women, children and descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. To save believers from these horrors, the Mahdi will appear and Isa bin Maryam (Jesus) will descend from heaven to assist him.

Following these portents, the Earth will be destroyed. (In Surah Al Haqqah)

When the trumpet is blown with a single blast
and the earth and the mountains are lifted up and crushed with a single blow,
then, on that day, the terror shall come to pass,
and heaven shall be split, for upon that day it shall be very frail. ... "

(Q.69:13–16)[Note 4][35]

Verses from another Surah (At-Takwir) describes

When the sun shall be darkened
When the stars shall be thrown down
When the seas shall be set boiling
When the souls shall be coupled, ...
When the scrolls shall be unrolled
When heavens shall be stripped off,
When Hell shall be set blazing,
When Paradise shall be brought nigh
Then shall a soul know what it has produced.

(Q.81:1,2,6,7,10-14)[Note 5][35]

A second trumpet blast will signal a "final cataclysm" (fanāʼ), the extinction of all living creatures – even the angel of death himself must die, – save God.[35] God will then ask three times, "'To whom belongs the Kingdom this day?' No one answers Him so He answers Himself, saying, 'To God who is one alone, victorious!'"[36] Numerous Qur'ānic mentions that every soul will taste death during "the hour" are thought to manifest tawḥīd while resurrecting life demonstrates "His justice and mercy".[37] The time between annihilation of all life and its resurrection is both "beyond all human time constructs" and generally estimated by many commentators to be forty years.[37]

Resurrection

The Afterlife will commence with a trumpet blast, (different sources give different numbers of trumpet blasts)[Note 6]), signaling the "Day of the Arising", according to the classical Islamic scholar and theologian al-Ghazali.[39]

The sounding of the trumpet is mentioned at least two times in the Qur'ān, but "the Qur'an itself does not make explicit the chronology involved with the blowing(s) of the horn"[38] and "it has been for the followers of the Prophet to determine for themselves the exact sequence of events after that."[35]

Know that Isrāfīl is the master of the horn [al-qarn]. God created the preserved tablet [al-lawḥ al-maḥfuz] of white pearl. Its length is seven times the distance between the heaven and the earth and it is connected to the Throne. All that exists until the day of resurrection is written on it. Isrāfīl has four wings—one in the East, one in the West, one covering his legs and one shielding his head and face in fear of God. His head is inclined toward the Throne .... No angel is nearer to the throne than Isrāfīl. Seven veils are between him and the Throne, each veil five hundred years distance from the next ...[40]

This will wake the dead from their graves. Bodies will be resurrected and reunited with their spirits to form "whole, cognizant, and responsible persons".[3] The first to arise will be the members of the Muslim community, according to "an often-quoted saying" of Muhammad, but will be "subdivided into categories" based on their sins while on earth. (the classification of the resurrected into groups comes from "certain narratives" about Judgement Day that "suggest" the grouping, and are based on "a number of scattered verses in the Qur'an indicating the woeful condition" of resurrected sinners)[41]

In the time between resurrection and judgement will be an agonizing wait (Q.21:103, Q.37:20) at the place of assembly [al-malḥshar], or the time of standing before God [al-mawqūf], giving sinners "ample opportunity to contemplate the imminent recompense for his past faults" (just as sinners suffer in the grave before Resurrection Day).[42] The resurrected will gather for "The Perspiration"[43][44] — a time when all created beings, including men, angels, jinn, devils and animals will sweat, unshaded from the sun, awaiting their fate.[45] Sinners and nonbelievers will suffer and sweat longer on this day, which some say will last for "50,000 years" (based on Q.70:4) and others only one thousand (based on Q.32:4).[42]

The final judgment (Reckoning, ḥisāb) where God judges each soul for their lives lived on earth,[46] will be "carried out with absolute justice" accepting no excuses, and examine every act and intention—no matter how small,[47] but "through the prerogative of God's merciful will".[3]

The Quran describes each person as having a book chronicling the deeds of their life, good and bad, and that is used in the final judgement of that person (Q.9:19–31).[48] Commentators reports "affirm" that each day, "one or two angels" begin a new page, inscribing deeds, and that upon completion, the pages are assembled "in some fashion ... into a full scroll or record" (Q.17:13). On Judgement Day it is presented to each resurrected person individually, to their right hand if they are going to Jannah, and left if they are to be sent to "the burning fire" (Q.9:19–31).[48]

Another version of how the resurrected are judged ("particular elements that make up the occasion of the reckoning" in the Quran are not ordered or grouped and are called "modalities of judgment")[49] involves several references in the Quran to amīzān (balance), which some commentators believe refers to a way of balancing the weight of an individuals good deeds and bad on Judgement day, to see which is heavier. The Kitāb aḥwāl al-qiyāma states:

The mizān will be set up on the day of resurrection with the length of each of its shafts the distance between the East and the West. The scale of the mizān will be like the strata of the earth in length and breadth. One of the two scales will be on the right of the Throne, and it is the scale of good deeds, and the other on the left of the Throne, and it is the scale of wrong deeds. The scales will be piled up like mountains, weighted with good and evil deeds. That day will last for 50,000 years.[50]

It is believed those whose good deeds outweigh their bad will be assigned to Jannah (heaven), and those whose bad deeds outweigh the good, Jahannam (hell).[51][52] (While there is no Original Sin in Islam, the Quran does mention the many inherent flaws in the personalities of human beings – weakness, greed, stinginess, pride, etc.) [53] (Q.100:6–7);

• Even though humankind has been given authority in the earth and provided with every means for life's fulfillment, thanks are not rendered (Q.7:10);
• As well as being ungrateful, he is also impatient, fretful, and stingy (Q.70:19–21);
• greedy (Q.74:15);
• violent in his pursuit of wealth (Q.100:8);
• Full of pride and self-conceit, he forgets that his position and all things afforded to him are by the grace of God and in rebelling against God thinks of himself as self-sufficient (Q.96:6–7).[54]

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What the common order is of Judgement day at this point is unclear based on hadith as they disagree on the way God reveals to "the various categories of individuals what their fate is to be".[48]

The saved and the damned now being clearly distinguished, the souls will traverse over hellfire[55] via the bridge of sirat. This story is based on verses in the Quran (Q.36:66, Q.37:23–24), both of which "are rather indefinite". Only Q.37:23–24 mentioning hell in the form of al-jahīm.[56]

˹They will be told,˺ “This is the Day of ˹Final˺ Decision which you used to deny.”
˹Allah will say to the angels,˺ “Gather ˹all˺ the wrongdoers along with their peers, and whatever they used to worship
instead of Allah, then lead them ˹all˺ to the path of Hell [ṣirāṭ al-jahīm].
And detain them, for they must be questioned.”
˹Then they will be asked,˺ “What is the matter with you that you can no longer help each other?”

Q.37:21–25[57]

ṣirāṭ al-jahīm "was adopted into Islamic tradition to signify the span over jahannam, the top layer of the Fire".[56] [Note 7]

For sinners, the bridge will be thinner than hair and sharper than the sharpest sword, impossible to walk on without falling below to arrive at their fiery destination,[59] while the righteous will proceed across the bridge to paradise (Jannah).

Not everyone consigned to hell will remain there. Somewhat like the Catholic concept of purgatory, sinful Muslim will stay in hell until purified of their sins. According to the scholar Al-Subki (and others), "God will take out of the Fire everyone who has said the testimony" (i.e. the shāhada testimony made by all Muslims, "There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is his prophet") "and none will remain save the kafirun. "[60]

The possibility of intercession on behalf of sinners (shafaʿa) on Judgement Day to save them from hellfire, is a "major theme" in the eschatological expectations of the Muslim community and in stories told about the events of Judgement Day.[61]

While Quran "is both generally and clearly negative" in regard to the possibility of intercession on behalf of sinners (shafaʿa) on the last day" to save them from hellfire, [Note 8] (the idea being every individual must take responsibility for their own deeds and acts of faith). In the 20+ occurrences of shafa'a in the Quran none mention the Islamic Prophet Muhammad or the office of prophethood. However this principle was "modified in the ensuing understanding of the community, and the Prophet Muḥammad was invested with the function of intervening on behalf of the Muslims on the day of judgment".[63] Verse Q.43:86 authorizes "true witnesses" to grant intercession, and in this category "has been found for the inclusion" of Muhammad "as an intercessor for the Muslim community.[62]

"One of the most popular and often-cited" stories about Muḥammad as intercessor ("validating" his ability to intercede) revolves around sinners turning to him after being turned down for intercession by all the other prophets. In al-Durra by al-Ghazali, this happens "between the two soundings of the trumpet".[64]

Another story found in Kitāb aḥwāl al-qiyāma relates

[The Prophet Muḥammad] will come with the prophets and will bring out from the Fire all who used to say "There is no God but God and Muḥammad is the Messenger of God. ... " He will then bring them out all together, charred from the Fire having eaten at them. Then he will hurry with them to a river near the gate of the Garden, called [the river of] life. There they will bathe and emerge from it as beardless youths, with kohled eyes and faces like the moon.[65]

The "events" of "the judgment process" are concluded with the arrival of resurrected at their final "abode of recompense": either paradise for the saved or hell for the damned.[62] The Quran describes habitation within the abodes in "exquisite detail",[4] while "a wealth of picturesque specifics" (their shapes, structures, etc.) are elaborated on by hadith and other Islamic literature. Much of Islamic cosmology comes from "earlier world views" (the circles of damnation, seven layers of heaven above the earth, fires of purgation below of Mesopotamian and/or Jewish belief) with Quranic verses interpreted to harmonize with these.[66]

While critics have charged that the concept of afterlife in Islam is "very materialistic", the afterlife punishment of hell and pleasure of heaven are all not only physical, but psychic and spiritual.[67] Their characteristics having matching features or direct parallels with each other. The pleasure and delights of Jannah described in the Quran, are matched by the excruciating pain and horror of Jahannam,[68][69] Both are commonly believed to have seven levels, in both cases, the higher the level, the more desirable[70]^: 131—in Jannah the higher the prestige and pleasure, in Jahannam the less the suffering.[71] Both feature prominent trees - the Zaqqum tree of hell opposite the lote tree of paradise. The common belief among Muslims holds that both abodes coexists with the temporal world,[72] (rather than being created after Judgement Day).

Paradise

Paradise, Jannah (Arabic: جَنّة, romanized: janna, or "the garden"),[73] is the final abode of the righteous.[74] Jannah is described with physical pleasures such as gardens, rivders, fountains; lovely houris that no man has touched before, wine that does not make drunk, and "divine pleasure".[67] Their reward of pleasure will vary according to the righteousness of the person.[75][76]

Hellfire

Punishment and suffering in hell in mainstream Islam varies according to the sins of the condemned person.[75][76] It is commonly believed by Muslims that confinement to hell is temporary for Muslims but not for others,[77][78][Note 9]

Hell is described physically in different ways by different sources of Islamic literature. It is enormous in size,[80][81][82] and located below heaven.[83] Different sources give different descriptions of its structure. There are seven levels[71] but it is also said to be a huge pit over which the bridge of As-Sirāt crosses;[84] to have mountains, rivers, valleys and "even oceans" filled with disgusting fluids;[85] and also to be able to walk (controlled by reins),[86] and ask questions,[87] much like a sentient being.

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