The Abrahmic religions preach of a life after death. In these religions the life of this world is merely transient and temporary, while it is the life of the next world that is permanent and eternal. Therefore, the followers of these religions live in this world making preparations for the world Hereafter.
The narrative of the life in the hereafter is different in these three major Abrahmic religions. Islam gives the concept of the afterlife that will be based upon the Judgment day where the wrongdoers will get hell as a punishment, whereas those who have done good in this life and lived the life in accordance with the law of Islam will get paradise as a reward, where they will live eternally.
Muslims can learn Quran to understand the way Quran addresses the issues and concerns related to life after death. The lines below discuss some verses of Quran that address the idea of life after death in Islam.
In Quran, Allah Almighty says:
“What! Did you think that We had created you without purpose, and that you would not be brought back to Us? Exalted be Allah, the True King….” (23:115-116)
The message is clear from this ayah and it is that a Muslim is not to doubt the fact that Allah Almighty has created every human being in this world with a purpose, and when that purpose gets fulfilled, everyone of us will be called back to Allah, where we will have to answer how we did with fulfilling our purpose. Thus, the life does not end with death, rather it marks the beginning of an eternal and far greater life.
Pertaining to those who are skeptic of this worldly life, Allah says in Quran:
“They say, ‘There is nothing but our present life; we die, and we live, and nothing but time destroys us.’ Of that they have no knowledge; they merely conjecture. And when Our revelations are recited to them, their only argument is that they say, ‘Bring us our father, if you speak truly.’” (45:24-25)
What this ayah of Quran highlights is the Islamic notion of believing in the life hereafter. It is a fact that since now neither science nor philosophy has been able to prove the existence of life after death, this is why a Muslim has to believe in it without demanding any proof. When a Muslim accepts the Supremeness of Allah, then there should be no doubt in the fact that He will give life to the dead bones once again and raise them on the day of Judgment. Another thing that this ayah makes clear is that the existence of life after death is not something that is to be mocked about by asking of trivial proof like bringing back someone close to you, rather a Muslim has to believe that the life after death is as undeniable as is the existence of Allah.
At another place in Quran, Allah Almighty says:
“Until, when death comes unto one of them, he says, ‘My Lord, send me back, that I may do right in that which I have left behind!’ But nay! It is but a word that he speaks; and behind them is a barrier until the day when they are raised. And when the Trumpet is blown there will be no kinship among them that day, nor will they ask of another. Then those whose scales are heavy, they are successful. And those whose scales are light are those who lose their soul, in hell abiding, the fire burns their faces and they are glum therein.”(23:99-104)
This ayah describes the end of worldly life as we know it and the immediate thing that will happen afterwards. The end of this life will begin with the blowing of Trumpet. Once the Trumpet is blown, it will stand as a signal for the start of Judgment procedure and what happens afterwards is the weighing of the deeds of a person. The ones who have deeds heavy than their sins are the ones who are successful and will go on to the heaven and the ones who are on the contrary will go to hell. It is the latter, who will then beg to Allah to send them back to world so that they could do good deeds, but by then it will be too late for them and they will have nothing but the eternal life of damnation.
In addition to the life after death that each and everyone of us will have, there is an exception as well. It is of the people who die in the name of Allah. Such Muslims are called ‘Martyrs’ and as per Islamic doctrines the martyrs don’t die once their worldly body ceases to breathe, rather they are the ones who keep on living even before the Judgment day forever. Regarding them, Allah says in Quran:
“Think not of those, who are martyred in the way of Allah, as dead. No, they are living with their Lord and provided with food.” (3:169)
The belief in the life of martyrs soon after death is another example that ascertains the belief of a Muslim that with the end of this life the life does not end, rather, we go into the next life and start living it. Therefore, a Muslim is never to grow skeptic of the life that comes after death, rather one needs to prepare for it and spend the hours and minutes of this life in performing good deeds so that when the Day of Judgment comes, the scale stays heavier on the good deeds and consequently Jannah is awarded to the Muslim.
The problem of what happens after the tomb is one of the absolute problems that has been haunting mankind since its existence. In this regard, perhaps the most satisfying answer is provided by Islam where it tells people that life does not end, rather a new life begins and that is the life that is in the environment which man is destined to live in, however, to achieve that a person has to do good with this life and spend it in the right way.