How Does Islamic Religion Explain Human Death? Term Paper

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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.

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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….....

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