Short answer
Islam teaches that death is not the end of the account. First comes the barzakh, a barrier between this life and the Day of Resurrection (the Day when all are raised). In the grave each person is questioned by two angels. Each is shown the place that waits for them, in Paradise or in the Fire (Hell). So reward and punishment begin at once. Then, on the Day of Judgement, God (﷾) judges every human being from Adam onward. No one is wronged by even an atom's weight. Paradise lasts for ever, and no one in it is ever asked to leave. Hell lasts for ever for those who die rejecting faith. Believers who enter it for their sins are brought out by God's (﷾) mercy.
Full explanation
The barzakh: the wait between death and resurrection
The Qur'an describes the dying man who begs to be sent back to put right what he neglected. The answer is no, and behind him is a barzakh (a barrier) until the Day they are raised. Yusuf Ali translates the word as "Partition".
“(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.”
The grave: questioned, and shown one's place
The Prophet (ﷺ) said that two angels come to the dead person in the grave and ask what he used to say about Muhammad (ﷺ). The believer answers truly and is shown his place in Paradise. The one who only repeated what others said cannot answer, and his punishment begins. Every dead person is shown his final place morning and evening until the Resurrection.
Anas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: when a person is laid in the grave and his companions leave, he hears their footsteps. Two angels sit him up and ask what he used to say about Muhammad. The believer testifies that he is the servant and Messenger of Allah, and is shown the place in Hell he has been spared and his place in Paradise. The disbeliever or hypocrite says he does not know, that he only repeated what people said, and he is punished.
Ibn Umar reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: when one of you dies, he is shown his place morning and evening, in Paradise if he is of its people and in the Fire if he is of its people, and he is told that this is his place until Allah raises him on the Day of Resurrection.
The Day of Judgement
On that Day God (﷾) sets up scales of justice. Nothing is lost, not the weight of a mustard seed or of an atom, good or evil. No one may plead for another except with God's (﷾) permission.
“We shall set up scales of justice for the Day of Judgment, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least, and if there be (no more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it (to account): and enough are We to take account.”
“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.”
“On that Day shall no intercession avail except for those for whom permission has been granted by (Allah) Most Gracious and whose word is acceptable to Him.”
Paradise lasts for ever; so does Hell for those who die rejecting faith
The Qur'an says those in Paradise will never be asked to leave. It says those who die rejecting faith will dwell in Hell for ever. It also promises that whoever does good and has faith, man or woman, will enter Paradise without the least injustice.
“There no sense of fatigue shall touch them, nor shall they (ever) be asked to leave.”
“If any do deeds of righteousness,- be they male or female - and have faith, they will enter Heaven, and not the least injustice will be done to them.”
“Those who reject Faith and do wrong,- Allah will not forgive them nor guide them to any way- Except the way of Hell, to dwell therein for ever. And this to Allah is easy.”
“Verily Allah has cursed the Unbelievers and prepared for them a Blazing Fire,- To dwell therein for ever: no protector will they find, nor helper.”
“"Unless I proclaim what I receive from Allah and His Messages: for any that disobey Allah and His Messenger,- for them is Hell: they shall dwell therein for ever."”
Mercy for the believer who sinned
God (﷾) forgives any sin He wills except worshipping others beside Him. The Prophet (ﷺ) spoke of whoever declared there is no god but Allah (﷾). If he has even an atom's weight of good in his heart, he will be taken out of Hell.
“Allah forgiveth not that partners should be set up with Him; but He forgiveth anything else, to whom He pleaseth; to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin Most heinous indeed.”
“Allah forgiveth not (The sin of) joining other gods with Him; but He forgiveth whom He pleaseth other sins than this: one who joins other gods with Allah, Hath strayed far, far away (from the right).”
Anas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: whoever says there is no god but Allah and has in his heart good the weight of a barley grain will be taken out of Hell; so too whoever has the weight of a wheat grain, and whoever has the weight of an atom.
What Christians believe happens
The New Testament says people die once, and then they are judged. It also speaks of everlasting punishment and eternal life. Most Christians believe each person is judged as soon as they die, with a final Judgement Day when Christ returns. Catholics also believe some souls go through Purgatory, a time of cleansing before Heaven. Protestants do not.
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
Teaches that those who die in God's grace and friendship but are still imperfectly purified are assured of salvation, but undergo purification after death so as to reach the holiness needed for heaven. The Church calls this final purification Purgatory, and says it is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.
| Stage | Islam | Christianity |
|---|---|---|
| Straight after death | The soul enters the barzakh, a barrier until the Day of Resurrection. No one is sent back. | People die once and then face judgement. Most Christians believe it comes at once. |
| Until the Last Day | Two angels question the dead in the grave. Each is shown his place in Paradise or the Fire, so reward or punishment begins at once. | Catholics hold that some souls pass through Purgatory, a temporary purification. Protestants do not. |
| The Day of Judgement | God (﷾) judges every human being from Adam onward. Nothing is lost, not even an atom's weight. | A final Judgement Day comes at Christ's return. |
| Paradise | It lasts for ever, and no one in it is ever asked to leave. | Eternal life for the righteous. |
| Hell | It lasts for ever for those who die rejecting faith, and God (﷾) punishes no one until a messenger has come to them. Believers who enter it for their sins are brought out by God's (﷾) mercy. | Everlasting punishment. |
Perspectives
Mainstream Christian
After death comes judgement. The good go to eternal life and the wicked to everlasting punishment. There is a final judgement when Christ returns. Catholics add Purgatory, a time of cleansing that does not last for ever.
Hebrews teaches that people die once and after that face judgement.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that judgement follows death and that a final Day will come. Islam adds what the Prophet (ﷺ) taught of the grave. Two angels question the dead person, who is then shown his final place morning and evening until the Resurrection.
Jesus speaks of everlasting punishment for some and eternal life for the righteous.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that the good have eternal life, and that Hell lasts for ever for those who die rejecting faith. Islam adds that believers who go to Hell for their sins are brought out by God's (﷾) mercy.
The Catholic Church teaches Purgatory, a time of cleansing after death. It is for those who die in God's grace but not yet fully clean of sin.
Rebuttal
Islam teaches no Purgatory, a separate place where saved souls are cleansed. Whether a believer's sins are forgiven or punished is for God (﷾) alone to decide. He forgives any sin He wills, except worshipping others beside Him. And no one may plead for another except with His permission.
Sikh: many births, until grace frees the soul
Sikh teaching holds that people who follow their own will wander through many births, reaping what they sowed. Being born human is the rare chance to meet God. By His favour, the soul reaches the gate of salvation.
The self-willed wander through many births; as one sows, so one eats.
Rebuttal
The Qur'an answers whether a person comes back. When death comes, the cry "send me back" is refused, and a barrier stands behind the dead until the Day they are raised. Each person has one life, and then the reckoning.
Life in a human body is the time to meet God. By His favour, the soul reaches the gate of salvation.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that this life is the time to turn to God (﷾), and that salvation comes by His favour. It adds that this life is the only such time. God (﷾) created death and life to test who is best in deed.
Jain: the circle of births, until the soul frees itself
Jainism teaches that the soul is bound by eight kinds of karma, and goes round and round in the circle of births. Right knowledge, faith, conduct and hard self-denial set it free. A soul that is set free never comes back.
Bound by karma, the soul goes round the circle of births. Right knowledge, faith, conduct and hard self-denial finally set it free.
Rebuttal
No one remembers a past birth. So no one can know what they are paying for, or put it right. The Qur'an says each person dies once. A barrier stands behind them until the Day of Resurrection. Then every deed is weighed, down to the weight of an atom.
Shinto: the ancestors stay near the family
Shinto says little about what comes after death. Most Japanese funerals are Buddhist. Many families honour the spirits of their ancestors at a small shrine in the home.
The spirits of the ancestors stay near the family and are honoured at a household shrine.
Rebuttal
The Qur'an says a barrier stands behind the dead until the Day they are raised, and no one is sent back. What reaches them from the living is not offerings made to them, but prayer for them. The Prophet (ﷺ) said a person's deeds end at death except for three things. One of them is a good child who prays for him.
Daoist: death is one more change
Zhuangzi taught that death is one more change in the flow of things, like the turn of the seasons. So it should be met without grief. The Tao Te Ching speaks of one who dies and yet does not perish.
Death is a change from one stage to another, like spring, summer, autumn and winter. So there is no reason to weep.
Rebuttal
Death is a change, but not into the round of nature. The Qur'an says every soul shall taste death, and only on the Day of Judgment is each person paid in full. A season comes back; a person is raised once, to give account.
One who dies and yet does not perish has true long life.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that there is a life death does not end, and the Qur'an tells us what it is. The One who made a person the first time will give life to the bones again. And whoever is saved from the Fire and let into the Garden has reached the goal of life.
Confucian: attend to this life first
Asked about death, Confucius answered that if you do not yet know life, you cannot know death. Many Confucians focus on this life. They hold that a person lives on in their goodness, deeds and words, and in the family's memory.
While you do not know life, how can you know about death?
Rebuttal
Confucius was honest that he did not know, and that leaves the question open. The Qur'an answers it. Every soul will taste death, and only on the Day of Judgment will each be paid in full.
What does not perish is virtue, merit and words.
Rebuttal
A good name lasts a while among the living, but the person does not live on in it. The Qur'an says the One who made a person the first time will give life to the bones again. So it is the person who is raised, not just a memory.
Chinese tradition: the dead need what the living send
In Chinese popular religion, the spirits of the ancestors live on in a world below. Families burn paper money and paper clothes for them, above all in the seventh month, to provide for them.
The spirits of the ancestors live on, and what the family burns for them provides for them.
Rebuttal
Islam teaches that what is burned for the dead does not reach them. The Qur'an says a barrier stands behind them until the Day they are raised. What does reach them is prayer. The Prophet (ﷺ) said a person's deeds end at death except for three things. One of them is a good child who prays for him.
Nothing after death (atheism)
Many people without a religion hold that death is the end. Bertrand Russell argued that thought depends on the brain, so a person's thinking cannot survive the death that destroys it. He wrote that he believed he would rot when he died.
Russell argued that thinking depends on how the brain is built. So, he said, we cannot suppose that it survives the death of the body.
Rebuttal
Russell himself called this only an argument of probability. That the mind works through the brain in this life does not show that nothing can follow it. The One who made a person from nothing the first time can make him again. The Qur'an answers the man who asks who can give life to dry bones: "He will give them life Who created them for the first time!"
Rebirth until release (Hindu)
Hindu teaching holds that the soul does not die with the body. By its deeds it is born again and again, in new bodies, until it is set free (moksha). The Gita compares this to a man taking off old clothes and putting on new ones.
The Gita says the self in the body throws off old bodies and goes into new ones. It is like a man putting on new clothes.
Rebuttal
Grant that the Gita teaches it. But it turns the hymns' "deathless, undecaying world" into a stay that ends "when (their) merit is exhausted". That changes the hymns' hope; it does not show they taught rebirth. The Qur'an answers whether rebirth is true: the dead are not sent back (23:99-100).
Rebirth until nirvana (Buddhist)
The Buddha taught that craving leads to future lives, so beings are reborn again and again. When craving ends, rebirth ends: that is nirvana. Asked where a freed one goes after death, he said that none of "reborn", "not reborn", "both" or "neither" applies.
The first sermon names craving as "the craving that leads to future lives".
Rebuttal
The Qur'an answers whether a person comes back: when death comes, the cry "send me back" is refused (23:99-100). Each person has one life, and then the account.
The Buddha would not say whether a freed one is reborn, not reborn, both or neither after death.
Rebuttal
Granted, and nirvana is not nothingness. But the reader is left with no named destination. The Qur'an names one: the soul is told to come back to its Lord.
The Islamic perspective
After death the soul waits in the barzakh, where reward or punishment already begins. On the Day of Judgement God (﷾) judges all people with perfect justice. Paradise is eternal, Hell is eternal for those who die in disbelief, and believers who entered Hell for their sins are brought out. The Prophet (ﷺ) described the questioning in the grave.
The Qur'an teaches that after death there is a barrier, the barzakh, until the Day of Resurrection. No one is sent back.
The Prophet (ﷺ) taught that the dead are questioned in the grave. Then they are shown their final place, morning and evening, until the Resurrection.
On the Day of Judgement every deed is weighed, down to an atom's weight, and no soul is wronged.
Those in Paradise will never be made to leave. Those who die rejecting faith stay in Hell for ever.
God (﷾) forgives any sin He wills, except worshipping others beside Him. And believers who enter Hell for their sins are taken out of it.