How Does Islamic Religion Explain Human Death?

¶ … difficult to imagine a religion that was indifferent to death; after all, the aspects of life that all religions attempt to explain are truly only relevant with reference to death. Religions attempt to look at life from the largest of possible perspectives and describe those aspects of it that are not altogether apparent through everyday interaction. The fact that the human life is a finite existence requires that individuals make important decisions throughout their lives regarding what set of values they are going to apply to their actions. Faith, in this respect, plays a central role in the way many people perceive and understand death and the afterlife. In Islam, people believe that the time of each person's death is predetermined by God and cannot be avoided. Accordingly, death through the Muslim's lens must be understood as an aspect of the submission to the will of God; therefore, it must be accepted with dignity, grace, and trust.

To Muslims, as in most religions, death is associated with a reaffirmation of one's faith. Often, this reaffirmation comes prior to death. After death, the body is washed, shrouded and buried facing Mecca in an imitation of the posture of prayer -- this is symbolic of this reaffirmation process. The mourners recite verses from the Qur'an and form a procession to the cemetery as they chant the shahadah.

Muslims believe that the angels Nankir and Munkar examine the soul of the dead person in order to accurately determine whether, during their life, they truly believed in God, the Prophet, and the Qur'an. To believe in these, the individual must also have believed in the afterlife itself because it is so utterly important to Islam's interpretation of the universe. Although the senses alone can tell us nothing about death or the afterlife, Muslims believe that Allah provided through Muhammad and the Qur'an new levels of human consciousness that permit a glimpse into the world of the divine. Thus, faith is not only justified, but necessary for the salvation of the spirit. Essentially, it is reasoned that since new life can come from death -- Allah can bring rains upon dead soil -- that God is also capable of taking human death and transforming it into life.

If the angles judge that a person was a true believer in their life, then the soul is granted a comfortable and free existence during which it can await the end of the world. Otherwise, the soul is relegated to cramped, dirty, and painful places in which to await the end of the world. These places are known as "the grave." This organization is a consequence of Muslim's belief that this world is transitory; the world will eventually end, but only God knows when this event will occur.

However, on the day that it does occur, the fundamental laws of nature and existence will be shattered and the whole of the universe will be molded into a new form. Additionally, all human souls -- both living and dead -- will be called into the presence of God. This presence will be purely of light, and will bestow upon everyone an understanding of truth. Also, God will make the ultimate judgment upon the souls through a series of tests that will enable Him to weigh the good and bad actions of that person's life. Some of these tests will involve feats, like the crossing of a razor-thin bridge that stretches over hell. The purpose of this is that the righteous souls will have no trouble crossing, but the wicked will fall into the fire.

Muslim's conception of hell is generally a place of torment and punishment for the terrible deeds of a person's life. Although some Muslim scholars believe this punishment to be eternal, others strongly disagree. Largely, this is because many verses of the Qur'an so powerfully emphasize God's forgiving capacity that many people interpret them to mean that the eventual release of all souls from torment is the final aim of God. In this light, the punishment of hell is often seen to be limited by God's ultimate plan to bring every soul into paradise.

One hadith describes the story of the last soul in hell begging God to release him form the fires; God eventually concedes, but only under the condition that he not make any further requests. Following this, the soul sees the gates of paradise and subsequently begs God to allow him to reach the gates. Although God reminds him of their bargain, He eventually gives in to the soul's desires. This pattern follows through until God eventually allows the last soul into paradise. This is an important hadith because it conveys two significant nations about Muslim's understanding of God. First, it shows His limitless capability to forgive; to even to break his previous decisions in this function. And second, it implies that Allah's fundamental purpose is to eventually bring everyone into paradise -- that only time will be required to bring everyone to the true and righteous path.

This paradise, on the other hand, almost literally means garden, and is routinely referred to as the garden. It is also characterized by notions of joy, happiness, bliss, and everlasting life. Yet, all of these descriptions of it are regarded as necessarily simplistic. The most accurate understanding of paradise, to Muslims, is simply the unity with God. It follows that complete understanding of truth should be associated with singularity with God. As a result, mere humans on earth are simply unable to grasp the true meaning of what paradise is, just as we are unable to grasp what God is. Only this union with God can provide human souls with a complete picture of what God is, and what paradise truly consists of.

This theme of reward and punishment, which is dependant upon the individual's actions within this life, lays the foundation for a specific form of ethics and morality that dominates the lives of Muslims. To most Muslims, their religion is not merely a facet of their existence, but plays a major role in virtually everything they do. Consequently, western notions, like the separation of church and state, seem elementally misplaced within the Islamic world. Islam is central to the processes by which a Muslim makes any important decision; so, understanding the Qur'an and its implications for existence are essential for formulating any code of ethics.