The concept of Akhirah or the hereafter has dumbfounded people since the beginning of life.
However, it’s clear in Islamic eschatology. that death is not the end and the life we live now is just a temporary transaction to another life where people will live in bliss or agony forever.
In this article, you’ll dig into the meaning of Akhirah in Islam and the events associated with it with evidence in the Quran and sunna.
not just a belief but a deep-seated certainty for Muslims
Akhirah (الآخرة) is an Arabic term that refers to the afterlife. Muslims believe that after they die, they’ll be resurrected on the Day of Judgment, and their bodies will return to their normal state to be judged upon the number of deeds. The good people will be rewarded with Paradise (Jannah in Arabic), and the bad will be thrown Jahannam )
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There is no one definitive way to pronounce Akhirah. While the most common pronunciation is ah-kee-rah”, other ways to say it includes “ah-kir-rah” and “ah-kee-ra”.
There are many verses in Quran that talk about the akhirah.. In fact, there are many names for this word such as the day of judgment. yaum al qiyamah (which is mentioned in the Quran 70 times), and the day of the hour.
Below are some of that ayat about it.
On the Day the Hour will arrive, the wicked will be dumbstruck. (Rum, 12)
They ask you concerning the Hour, when will its coming be? Say: 'The knowledge of it is with my Lord alone: none but He will disclose it at its time. (Al A'raf, 187)
According to Islam, there is a big difference between the.”akhirat and Dunya.
Dunya is transitory, temporary, and full of trials, tribulations, and suffering period that ends with death, which in its essence, is the process of separating body from soul. The body decays, while the soul rises to the sky to continue living in the hereafter.
On the other side, The akhirah is a Hereafter, eternal life, immortal, therein people will live in either an everlasting blessing or agonistic torment
Barzakh means life after death. It is a realm where the soul resides after leaving the physical body. In Islam, it is believed that the soul will be judged and will either go to Paradise or Hell.
Most of the descriptions of this life were quoted from the hadith of the Prophet Mohammed, while In Quran, there are no verses that detail the nature of such life, except the fact that whenever someone dies, he knows his destiny, as this verse shows.
.So, if the deceased is one of those brought near ˹to Us˺, then ˹such a person will have˺ serenity, fragrance,1 and a Garden of Bliss. And if the deceased is one of the people of the right, then ˹they will be told,˺ “Greetings to you from the people of the right.” But if such a person is one of the misguided deniers, then their accommodation will be boiling water ˹to drink˺ and burning in Hellfire. ( surah al al-waqiah, 88: 94).
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Scholars have agreed that the events of the akhirah begin with the Resurrection, then the judgment, then the balance, then the Path.
All creatures living in this life are in non-stop motion, and they remain in this state until God – the Highest – commands an angel to blow into the trumpet so every creature fell dead out of a sudden, magnified shock.
"And the Trumpet is blown; then whoever is in the heavens and whoever is in the earth will (get) stunned, excepting whom Allah decides (to exempt). Thereafter it will be blown another time; then, only then will they be upright, looking on" Az zamur, 68.
There are types of creatures that are not affected by the shock, and the scholars differed about their nature.
Ibn Hazm said that they are the angels, and Muqatil said that they are Gabriel, Michael, Israfil, and the Angel of Death – peace be upon them.
Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal said that they are the everlasting youth and Hoor-al-Ein who live in heaven.
al-Qurtubi and other Muslim scholars hold that all creatures will be shocked except those Allah excluded since there is no explicit hadith regarding their types (And that’s the most reasonable opinion).
Resurrection is God Almighty’s revival of people out of their graves to be judged, as he said in the Quran
Only they who listen can respond to the call of the Truth; as for the dead, Allah will raise them, and then to Him, they will be returned. (Al An'aam, 36).
Nushur means that people will be dispersed after they come out of their graves and it will occur after Allah sends water, so bodies will grow out of the earth like plants.
‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin Al-‘As (May Allah be pleased with them) narrated the Messenger of Allah said:
” Allah will send, or will cause to send, rain which will be like dew and there will grow out of it (like wild growth) the bodies of the people. Then the second Trumpet will be blown and they will stand up and begin to look around. (Muslim)
People will be gathered on this day on a pure white land, and the description of such land was mentioned in many hadiths of the Prophet – may God’s prayers and peace be upon him -.
Sahl b. Sa’d reported that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said:
The people will be assembled on the Day of Resurrection on a white plain with a reddish tinge like the loaf of white bread with no marks set up for anyone. (Sahih Muslim)
And people stay in the land for one day, which equals fifty thousand years, and in it, the sun approaches people who’d be drowned in sweat according to their deeds. However, there are seven types of people who Allah will shade him with his throne, as shown in this hadith
A just ruler; a youth who grew up worshipping Allah; a man whose heart is attached to mosques; two persons who love and meet each other and depart from each other for the sake of Allah; a man whom an extremely beautiful woman seduces (for illicit relation), but he (rejects this offer by saying): ‘I fear Allah’; a man who gives in charity and conceals it (to such an extent) that the left-hand does not know what the right has given; and a person who remembers Allah in solitude and his eyes well up”. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
God Almighty brings together people; To inform them of the outcome of their deeds and their tongue, hands, feet, and skin will bear witness to what they have done.
The angels bring the books that recorded all one’s acts in life, and every person will receive and read his book
people who receive their book in their right hand will enter paradise and those who take it with their left hands have done many sins and bad deeds, this they’ll be thrown in the fire.
Allah said: We will set up the scales of justice on the Day of Judgment, so no soul will be wronged in the least. And ˹even˺ if a deed is the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as a ˹vigilant˺ Reckoner.
Mizan is one of the critical issues in Islam. All deeds will be weighed .. so whoever whose good deeds are more than his bad ones will win paradise and this whose bad deeds are more than good ones will be in hell, and this whose bad and good deeds are equal will be among al A’raf (stranded between paradise and fire, left to Allah’s mercy)
Reward and punishment is a divine principle that achieves justice…
If Justice doesn’t exist, there will be no meaning for life itself as These are the limits [set by] Allāh
and whoever obeys Allāh and His Messenger will be admitted by Him to gardens [in Paradise] under which rivers flow, abiding eternally therein; and that is the great attainment And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger and transgresses His limits – He will put him into the Fire to abide eternally therein, and he will have a humiliating punishment.” (Quran 4:14)
In many verses, paradise is portrayed as a place of perfection. It is often described as a beautiful garden, with perfect weather and plenty of food and water. There is also usually a sense of peace and harmony in paradise, and it is often seen as a place where people can be free from the worries and stress of the outside world.
On the other hand, Hellfire is described as A great fire whose depth is deep, its fire blazing in a way that is unimaginable to man, so deep that it goes beyond the limits of human imagination
the Almighty said. When they are tossed into it, they will hear its roaring as it boils over, (Al Mulk, 7).
The Quran describes the Day of Judgment as a time when all people will be held accountable for their deeds. In Islam, accountability is a central concept. Muslims believe that every person is responsible for his or her own actions, and will be held accountable by God on the Day of Judgment.
This belief motivates Muslims to lead good lives and do good deeds because the overall acts they did no matter whether it’s good or bad will determine their destiny.
Also, this concept of akhirah leads people not to harm others or wreak havoc on the earth because they know they’re responsible for every action and if there is no punishment, people will turn the world into a total mess because they know they are no one will judge them…
And some people could argue that consciousness can repel people from doing wrong deeds. However, that’s not true.. the self consists of bad and good parts and both are grappling all the time. Religion tempers this conflict. It drives people to follow the commands of Allah despite their ignorance about the wisdom that lies behind it.
The concept of Al Akhirah is embedded in the Islamic belief.. and it makes people In charge of their deeds because they know every little act they do is recorded in a book that they’ll read on the day of judgment.
No one of course knows when this day… only God knows and it’s not our responsibility to search about when this day is, but to prepare ourselves through doing good deeds and refraining from following satan’s whispers.
In this article, you’ve learned much information about Akhirah, its events, and verses about it. Hope we find this article helpful for you… if you find it so, let us know in the comments what you think. 🙂
