Short answer
Many lives, on the plain words of the Guru Granth Sahib, which Sikhs honour as their living Guru. It speaks of 8.4 million kinds of life. Guru Arjan tells the listener that he has been a worm, an elephant and a bird in earlier births. The same book calls the human birth the chance to meet the Lord. It also says each person's good and bad deeds will be read out before the Judge. Islam agrees that deeds are recorded and read out, and says the Judge is God Himself. It also agrees that this life is the chance, and teaches that it is the only one. The one who did the deed is the one recompensed for it (17:13-14). Investigate sets out both teachings and answers each reply.
Full explanation
What the Guru Granth Sahib says of many births
The Guru Granth Sahib is cited here by Ang, a page of its standard 1,430-page edition. Guru Nanak (Sikhs say Guru Nanak Dev Ji) writes at Ang 433 of a servant of God (﷾). This servant wandered through 84 lakh, or 8.4 million, existences. Macauliffe, whose 1909 translation is quoted, adds that in the East this number of species is believed to be passed through in transmigration. Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, names the forms at Ang 176: worm, moth, elephant, fish, deer, bird, serpent, horse and ox. In the same hymn he says this human body was formed after a long period. Another hymn on that Ang speaks of the self-willed (manmukh), who follow their own will rather than the Guru's. They wander through many births on account of what was written for them from the beginning (dhur kirat). As one sows, so one eats. At Ang 1075 Guru Arjan says God (﷾) gave mankind the glory among all 84 lakh species. He adds that whoever misses this chance suffers the pain of coming and going. This page states these lines as the Gurus' teaching.
“Thy slave, who wandered in the eighty-four lakhs of existences, beggeth and prayeth for divine knowledge.”
“In how many births wert thou a worm or a moth! In how many births an elephant, a fish, or a deer! In how many births a bird or a serpent! In how many births wert thou yoked as a horse or an ox! Meet the Lord of the world—this is the time to meet Him. After a long period this human body hath been formed for thee.”
“They wander through many births on account of their destiny writ from the beginning. As man soweth, so shall he eat.”
In a hymn in Raga Maru, Guru Arjan says that out of all 84 lakh species God gave mankind the glory. He says that the person who misses this step suffers the pain of coming and going.
How Sikhs say the cycle ends
Sikhs hold that the cycle ends by God's (﷾) grace (nadar, the Lord's glance of favour). The Japji is Guru Nanak's hymn that opens the Granth and is said each morning. At Ang 2 it says that by His favour we reach the gate of salvation. Macauliffe prints two readings of the first half of that verse. In his text, the Kind One gives a robe of honour. In his note he gives the other reading: by our former acts we acquire this human body. The note also states the doctrine as he understood it. The acts of former births are adjusted when the soul reaches a human body. The acts done in that body go with the soul to what follows. On either reading, the gate of liberation opens by God's (﷾) favour. Sikhs honour the Guru Granth Sahib as their living Guru, and this is how they understand the end of the journey.
“The Kind One will give us a robe of honour, and by His favour we shall reach the gate of salvation.”
The Judge, the record and the rare chance
The same book treats this life as weighty. The closing salok (a short verse) of the Japji, at Ang 8, says that merits and demerits are read out before the Judge. It says that men are near to God (﷾) or far from Him according to their acts. Macauliffe notes that this salok is generally believed to be Guru Angad's. In the Rahiras, the evening prayer, Guru Arjan speaks to the listener (Ang 12). Now that he has the human body, it is time to meet God (﷾). The Bhagat Kabir is a saint whose hymns are in the Guru Granth Sahib. He is not a Guru. He says that human birth is difficult to obtain and does not come again and again (Ang 1366). Sikhs read these lines together. The human birth is the rare chance among many births.
“Merits and demerits shall be read out in the presence of the Judge. According to men's acts, some shall be near, and others distant from God.”
“Since thou hast now obtained a human body O man, It is time for thee to meet God; All else that thou doest is of no avail”
“Kabir, it is difficult to obtain human birth; it cometh not again and again; As the ripe fruit of the forest, when it falleth to the ground returneth not to the parent-branch.”
Islam keeps the record and the chance
The Qur'an teaches a record too. In Islam the Judge is God Himself, Master of the Day of Judgment (1:4). On the Day of Judgment each person is given a scroll and told to read his own record. Every atom's weight of good and of evil will be seen. The Prophet (ﷺ) told Ibn Umar to be in this world like a stranger or a traveller. Ibn Umar added that one should take from life for death. So the record and the sense that this life is the chance are shared ground. The difference is the number of lives.
“Every man's fate We have fastened on his own neck: On the Day of Judgment We shall bring out for him a scroll, which he will see spread open. (It will be said to him:) "Read thine (own) record: Sufficient is thy soul this day to make out an account against thee."”
“Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it.”
“Master of the Day of Judgment.”
Ibn Umar reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) took hold of his shoulder and said: be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveller. Ibn Umar used to add his own advice: do not expect the morning when evening comes, and take from your health for your sickness and from your life for your death.
Islam says this life is the only one
The Qur'an counts the lives of a person. God (﷾) gives life, then death, then raises him for the Day of Judgment, and to Him he returns (2:28; 45:26). It says the full recompense is paid only on that Day (3:185), and it names no later body. When death comes to a man who neglected the good, he asks to be sent back and is told, "By no means!" A barrier stands before the dead until the Day they are raised up (23:99-100).
“How can ye reject the faith in Allah?- seeing that ye were without life, and He gave you life; then will He cause you to die, and will again bring you to life; and again to Him will ye return.”
“Say: "It is Allah Who gives you life, then gives you death; then He will gather you together for the Day of Judgment about which there is no doubt": But most men do not understand.”
“Every soul shall have a taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained the object (of Life): For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception.”
“(In Falsehood will they be) Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: "O my Lord! send me back (to life),- "In order that I may work righteousness in the things I neglected." - "By no means! It is but a word he says."- Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up.”
Why the one who did the deed must be the one recompensed
A recompense is just when it falls on the one who did the deed, and he is shown what he did. Any reader can test an account of the hereafter by this standard. The Guru Granth Sahib also speaks of the record read before the Judge (Ang 8). But on the rebirth account the recompense is then lived out in a new birth. The person remembers neither the deed nor the reading. In the Qur'an the recompense falls in the Hereafter on the same person, who has just read his own record (17:13-14). On that Day his own hands and feet bear witness to what he did (36:65). No soul bears the burden of another (6:164; 53:38-39), and not one is treated with injustice (18:49). This page criticises a teaching, not any person. No one is to blame for the circumstances of his birth.
“Every man's fate We have fastened on his own neck: On the Day of Judgment We shall bring out for him a scroll, which he will see spread open. (It will be said to him:) "Read thine (own) record: Sufficient is thy soul this day to make out an account against thee."”
“And the Book (of Deeds) will be placed (before you); and thou wilt see the sinful in great terror because of what is (recorded) therein; they will say, "Ah! woe to us! what a Book is this! It leaves out nothing small or great, but takes account thereof!" They will find all that they did, placed before them: And not one will thy Lord treat with injustice.”
“Say: "Shall I seek for (my) Cherisher other than Allah, when He is the Cherisher of all things (that exist)? Every soul draws the meed of its acts on none but itself: no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. Your goal in the end is towards Allah: He will tell you the truth of the things wherein ye disputed."”
“Namely, that no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another; That man can have nothing but what he strives for;”
“That Day shall We set a seal on their mouths. But their hands will speak to us, and their feet bear witness, to all that they did.”
“Merits and demerits shall be read out in the presence of the Judge. According to men's acts, some shall be near, and others distant from God.”
“They wander through many births on account of their destiny writ from the beginning. As man soweth, so shall he eat.”
Unequal births: a trial, not a verdict
If there is one life, why are lives so unequal? The Qur'an says death and life were created to try which of us is best in deed (67:2). Every soul is tested by evil and by good (21:35). No soul is given a burden greater than it can bear (2:286), and no one is punished until a messenger has reached him (17:15). The Prophet (ﷺ) said every child is born upon the fitra, the natural disposition God (﷾) gave mankind (Bukhari 1385). So nothing from a life before is laid on him. A hard start in life is a trial that God (﷾) sees and repays, never a sentence for an earlier life. The page on karma and justice sets out the rest.
“He Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed: and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving;-”
“Every soul shall have a taste of death: and We test you by evil and by good by way of trial. to Us must ye return.”
“On no soul doth Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Pray:) "Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; Help us against those who stand against faith."”
“Who receiveth guidance, receiveth it for his own benefit: who goeth astray doth so to his own loss: No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another: nor would We visit with Our Wrath until We had sent a messenger (to give warning).”
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said every child is born upon the fitra, the true faith, and it is his parents who make him a Jew, a Christian or a Magian, just as an animal gives birth to a whole young one: do you see any of them born mutilated?
Mercy inside the one life
A Sikh reader may say that a merciful God (﷾) gives many chances. Islam answers that its mercy is in how the one life is counted. Good is multiplied ten times (6:160), and Muslim 131 adds up to seven hundred times or more, while evil is written as its like only. A bad deed intended but not done is written as a good deed (Muslim 131). God (﷾) tells those who have wronged themselves not to despair of His mercy. He forgives all sins to those who turn to Him (39:53-54). The page "Is it fair that Hell lasts for ever?" answers the rest.
“He that doeth good shall have ten times as much to his credit: He that doeth evil shall only be recompensed according to his evil: no wrong shall be done unto (any of) them.”
The Prophet (ﷺ) said that Allah has recorded good and bad deeds. Whoever intends a good deed and does not do it has one full good deed written for him; if he does it, ten to seven hundred good deeds or more are written. Whoever intends a bad deed and does not do it has one full good deed written for him; if he does it, one bad deed is written. Another chain of the same hadith adds that Allah may even wipe it out.
“Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
“"Turn ye to our Lord (in repentance) and bow to His (Will), before the Penalty comes on you: after that ye shall not be helped.”
Islam's invitation
Islam asks a Sikh reader to weigh two accounts of one question. In the first, the soul travels through many births, and grace ends the journey. In the second, there is one life and then the Day, when each person reads his own record before God (﷾), the Judge. Read the Qur'an in a translation you trust, and ask whether it is from God (﷾). Ask too whether Muhammad (ﷺ), who brought it, is the last messenger God (﷾) sent (33:40). The page "Did God speak through the Sikh Gurus?" sets out how to test that. If the Qur'an is from God (﷾), its Judge, its record and its one life are what every person will meet.
“Say: "It is Allah Who gives you life, then gives you death; then He will gather you together for the Day of Judgment about which there is no doubt": But most men do not understand.”
“Every man's fate We have fastened on his own neck: On the Day of Judgment We shall bring out for him a scroll, which he will see spread open. (It will be said to him:) "Read thine (own) record: Sufficient is thy soul this day to make out an account against thee."”
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things.”
Line by line
Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 176 — Raga Gauri, Guru Arjan
“In how many births wert thou a worm or a moth! In how many births an elephant, a fish, or a deer! In how many births a bird or a serpent! In how many births wert thou yoked as a horse or an ox! Meet the Lord of the world—this is the time to meet Him. After a long period this human body hath been formed for thee.”
Cited for
The births in these hymns are a figure for the states of the mind in this life. They are not literal births.
The response
Islam does not decide for Sikhs how to read their Gurus. Macauliffe's 1909 translation renders the lines as births, and Ang 176 says the human body was formed after a long period. If a Sikh reads them as the states of the mind, the Granth is not teaching many lives. The difference between the two faiths on this question then narrows. If they are births, the question of justice on this page applies.
Where it lands — On the plain reading the Granth teaches many births, and the page weighs that. On the other reading, the question left is what follows the one life, and the Qur'an answers it.
Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 2 — Jap, Guru Nanak (Japji, pauri 4)
“The Kind One will give us a robe of honour, and by His favour we shall reach the gate of salvation.”
Cited for
Grace ends the cycle. No one is trapped, and God's favour opens the gate of liberation.
The response
Grant that the gate opens by favour. In Islam too, mercy and not deeds alone saves. God (﷾) forgives all sins to those who turn to Him (39:53-54), and good is multiplied while evil is written as its like (6:160). The difference is not whether grace saves, but whether a life must be lived again.
Where it lands — Both teachings put salvation in God's (﷾) mercy. The Qur'an places that mercy inside one life, and says no one returns to it.
Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1075 — Raga Maru, Guru Arjan
In a hymn in Raga Maru, Guru Arjan says that out of all 84 lakh species God gave mankind the glory. He says that the person who misses this step suffers the pain of coming and going.
Cited for
A merciful God gives many chances. One life to decide everything is too harsh.
The response
Islam answers from how the one life is counted. A good deed intended but not done is written as a good deed. A bad deed intended but not done is also written as a good deed (Muslim 131). No one is punished before a messenger has reached him (17:15), or given more than he can bear (2:286). The page "Is it fair that Hell lasts for ever?" answers the rest.
Where it lands — Mercy in Islam is in the counting of the one life. Good is multiplied, evil is written once, and no one is held to what he could not do.
Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 176 — Raga Gauri, Guru Arjan (the hymn before it)
“They wander through many births on account of their destiny writ from the beginning. As man soweth, so shall he eat.”
Cited for
The soul is the same Light in every body, so it is the same person who is recompensed even when the body forgets. Justice needs no memory.
The response
The Qur'an describes the recompense differently. The person is shown his own record and told to read it, and his own soul is enough to make out the account (17:13-14). Ang 8 also speaks of the record read before the Judge. But on the rebirth account the recompense is then lived out in a new birth. The person remembers neither the deed nor the reading. In the Qur'an it falls on the same person, record in hand.
Where it lands — In the Qur'an the one recompensed has his own record in his hands. On the rebirth account the recompense is lived out by one who cannot remember what earned it.
Qur'an 42:30 — Surat al-Shura (Consultation), verse 30
“Whatever misfortune happens to you, is because on the things your hands have wrought, and for many (of them) He grants forgiveness.”
Cited for
The Qur'an too says misfortune comes from your own deeds (42:30), and you are not told which.
The response
In Islam the hardship falls on the same person, in the life he remembers, and 42:30 adds that for many deeds He grants forgiveness. Hardship in this world is a trial, and for the believer a cleansing (Bukhari 5641). It is not the final account. The final account is on the Day, when each reads his own record. A newborn is born upon the fitra (Bukhari 1385), so no earlier deed is laid on him.
Where it lands — Worldly hardship is a trial within one remembered life. The reckoning comes with the record in hand.
Qur'an 67:2 — Surat al-Mulk (The Sovereignty), verse 2
“He Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed: and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving;-”
Cited for
If there is only one life, why are births so unequal? Rebirth explains it, and one life does not.
The response
The Qur'an does not read a hard start in life as a sentence for an earlier life. It calls life a trial for everyone (21:35). Each is judged by what he was given, since no soul bears more than it can bear (2:286). Every child is born upon the fitra (Bukhari 1385). So Islam lays nothing from an earlier life on him.
Where it lands — Unequal lives are a trial that God (﷾) sees and repays. Islam does not explain them by an earlier life, and it holds no one to what he was never given.
Qur'an 2:28 — Surat al-Baqara (The Cow), verse 28
“How can ye reject the faith in Allah?- seeing that ye were without life, and He gave you life; then will He cause you to die, and will again bring you to life; and again to Him will ye return.”
Cited for
The Qur'an has more than one life too. It says "life, death, life", and its unbelievers say "twice hast Thou given us Life".
The response
The Qur'an counts the lives, and the count ends. You were without life and He gave you life. He causes you to die and brings you to life again, and to Him you return. That is this life and the resurrection (2:28; 45:26). Ibn Kathir reports Ibn Mas'ud's explanation that 40:11 is like 2:28, and he rejects readings that count three lives. The dying man who asks to be sent back is refused.
Where it lands — The two lives in the Qur'an are this life and the resurrection. Neither is a return to this world in another body.
Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1366 — Salok Kabir, the Bhagat Kabir
“Kabir, it is difficult to obtain human birth; it cometh not again and again; As the ripe fruit of the forest, when it falleth to the ground returneth not to the parent-branch.”
Cited for
Both books call this life the chance. So there is no real difference between them on this.
The response
Both do call it the chance. Behind it the picture differs. In the Granth the chance is a rare one among many births, and whoever misses it suffers coming and going again (Ang 1075). In the Qur'an it is the one chance, and the plea to return is refused (23:99-100). That makes this life weightier, not lighter.
Where it lands — The chance is shared ground. Islam says it is the only one, so its weight falls on this life.
Qur'an 17:15 — Surat al-Isra (The Night Journey), verse 15
“Who receiveth guidance, receiveth it for his own benefit: who goeth astray doth so to his own loss: No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another: nor would We visit with Our Wrath until We had sent a messenger (to give warning).”
Cited for
On one life, everyone born into another faith is lost through no fault of his own.
The response
No one is punished before a messenger has reached him (17:15). Allah (﷾) is never unjust in the least degree (4:40), and no soul is given more than it can bear (2:286). Each is judged by what reached him, not by his birth. Once the message has reached a person, what he does with it is what he will be asked about. That is why this page sets it before you. The page "What happens to people who never heard of Islam or of Jesus?" sets this out.
Where it lands — No one is lost for what never reached him. Once it has reached him, his answer to it counts.
Perspectives
Sikh: many births, and grace ends them
Sikhs hold that the soul passes through many births, shaped by its deeds, until God's grace opens the gate of liberation. The human body is the rare chance to meet the Lord.
Guru Nanak and Guru Arjan speak of 84 lakh (8.4 million) existences, and Guru Arjan names the forms. So the soul passes through many births.
Rebuttal
Grant that the lines say this. Which account is true turns on which book is from God (﷾). The Qur'an, which asks to be tested (4:82; 2:23), teaches one life, then the Day (2:28; 45:26).
Guru Arjan says the self-willed wander through many births on account of what was written for them (dhur kirat). As one sows, so one eats. Rebirth is therefore just.
Rebuttal
Grant that the Granth ties birth to deeds. Final justice needs the doer to see the deed. In the Qur'an each soul reads its own record (17:13-14), and none bears another's burden (6:164).
The human birth is the rare chance to meet the Lord (Ang 12, 176, 1075, 1366). So the soul has had many births before it.
Rebuttal
A rare chance needs no earlier births. The Qur'an says each person was without life until God (﷾) gave him life (2:28). It says this life was made to test who is best in deed (67:2).
By God's favour the soul reaches the gate of liberation (Ang 2), so the cycle ends by grace.
Rebuttal
Islam also teaches that mercy saves. God (﷾) forgives all sins to those who turn to Him (39:53-54), and He multiplies good while writing evil as its like (6:160). The difference is whether any life must be lived again.
The Islamic perspective
Islam teaches one life, then death, then the Day of Judgment, when each person reads his own record before God (﷾), the Judge. It agrees that this life is the chance, and says it is the only one.
The Qur'an says each person will be given a scroll and told to read his own record. Every atom's weight of good and of evil will be seen.
The Qur'an counts a person's lives. God (﷾) gives life, then death, then raises him for the Day of Judgment, and to Him he returns.
The Qur'an says the full recompense is paid only on the Day of Judgment (3:185). It names no later body.
The Qur'an refuses the dying man's plea to be sent back. It sets a barrier before the dead until the Day they are raised.
No soul bears another's burden, and each draws the reward of its own acts. So the one judged is the one who did the deed.
Hardship in this life is a trial, not a hidden sentence. No soul is given more than it can bear, and no one is punished before a message reaches him.
God (﷾) forgives all sins to those who turn to Him, and He multiplies good. So mercy works inside the one life.
The Prophet (ﷺ) told his companion to live in this world as a traveller. He told him to take from his life for his death.