Life After Death Different Cultures Life After

Life After Death Different Cultures LIFE AFTER DEATH What Lies Beyond Death Islam Islam was founded in 622 A.D by Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) in the Holy city of Makkah. It developed in the Middle East in the 7th century and according to Islamic Encyclopedia, Islam is one of the major and widely spread religions of the world (Campo, 2009). The Holy Book of Muslims, "Quran" states that this life is a trial, and this world is a place where humans prepare themselves for the next and eternal life.

According to the doctrine of Islam, death is the end of a physical life. After this life, a new period of rest begins in which the soul remains in the kind of sleep. Muslims also believe that in this position of rest, the righteous people are able to see visions of God while the wicked see the vision of hell. This position continues until the day of resurrection comes which will be the beginning of a never-ending life.

The day of resurrection will also be the Day of Judgment; God will create all human beings once again and will judge and reward them accordingly. Everyone will be compensated on this day according to his good or evil deeds. God will do justice on this Day of Judgment; He will show His mercy on all those who bear pain in this world and waited for the eternal life. God will reward heaven to them as they believed in oneness of God and followed the teachings of Prophet Muhammad.

In contrast, those who did not follow God's commands, abused His bounties and did not remember Him in this world, will be thrown into hell. Many Muslims also have a faith that that those sent to hell will also come back to heaven after the period of purification of their sins that they did in this temporary world. Buddhism Buddhism is also one of the major and widely spread religions of the world.

It was founded in late 6th century by Siddhartha Gautama, "the Lord Buddha." Most of the Buddhists have a belief that a person is born several times and he remembers his previous life incidents in his present life. This is a concept known as 'reincarnation' in which it is assumed that the existence of humans in this world is not only temporary but also cyclic.

Lord Buddha accepted the basic Hindu tenet of reincarnation and karma and gave the lesson that the aim of the religious life is to break the death and rebirth cycle. According to this belief, every person goes through the process of birth and rebirth until the time comes when he brakes this cycle and reaches in the state of Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of liberation; in which a person sets free from sufferings.

According to teachings of Buddha, humans should try to set themselves free from the desires of the world and reach the state of Nirvana, which means liberation. The deeds of their present life will have an effect on their future births; therefore, people should make their heart and soul free from desires and makes efforts to achieve the state of Nirvana. Lord Buddha declared that the human desire for wanting things in this world keep the humans bound with the death and rebirth process.

He further stated that only the good deeds of the people could make their coming lives peaceful; sins and bad deeds greatly affect and ruin the future incarnations (Taylor and Offner, 1975). The present life of a person is the result of his earlier incarnations; therefore, Buddhists have a goal to purify their heart and do good deeds in present lives. Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion; based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the revealer of God and saver of humanity in Christianity.

Christians firmly believe in the life after death but the actual life of nature is not defined in Christianity. However, Christians have faith that their spiritual experiences of this life help in knowing how will be their eternal life. According to most of the Christian's faith, the Jesus Christ was the savior of humanity (Meyer, 1997). He died and was again given life in order to bring the salvation from sin, due to which he is ascended into heaven.

One day he will return, with the aim of judging the deeds of his followers; and will grant a never-ending life to his people. There are different Christian beliefs orthodox; Protestants, Catholics and other Christians. However, all of these firmly believe on the core concept of life after death. According to their faith, those who behave well in this world will be given place in heaven while those who are wicked will suffer from hell fire for eternity.

The Catholic Christians also believe that there is afterlife state called "purgatory" which is between heaven and hell. Purgatory is a temporary place for the punishment of those who died without confessing their sins. The spirit of these people will stay in this state before finally going to heaven. The Catholic ideology also states that if sinners confess their sins in front of Catholic priests; they are forgiven forever. However, Protestants and other Christians do not believe in the state of purgatory state or concept of confessing sins.

Sikhism Sikhism, founded in the 15th century is the fifth largest religion of the world. Sikhism started in the northern India but today a large population of Sikhs is living in different regions of the world. Sikhs have a faith that people merge back with this universe after death; in the same way as the drops of rain merge back in to the ocean. Unlike, Islam and other religions, Sikhism does not believe in the concept of heaven and hell.

Sikhs have a different faith; they believe that heaven can be experienced in this life if people remain close to God. In the same way, the pain caused by ego can be suffered like hell on this earth.