Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Gordon Darnell Newby, The Making 

of the Last Prophet: A Reconstruction of the Earliest Biog-

raphy of Muhammad (Columbia: University of South 

Carolina Press, 1989); Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Thal-

abi,  Arais al-majalis fi qisas al-anbiya, or “Lives of the 

Prophets.” Translated by William M. Brinner (Leiden: 

E.J. Brill, 2002).

death

Islamic discussions on death and the 

aFterliFe

are based on the teachings of the q

Uran

 and the 

hadith

. The Quran refers to death in 36 chapters 

and the J

Udgment

  d

ay

 in 29 chapters. Notwith-

standing the diversity of the contexts in which 

death is discussed, the themes of returning to 

God and taking responsibility for one’s actions 

are essential in these discussions. The Quran and 

hadith explain that a person has only one life and 

one chance to prepare him- or herself for the after-

life. Therefore, death is the terminus that gives 

purpose and meaning to the life of the individual 

who is on a journey back to God. The dead are 

resurrected on Judgment Day for an evaluation of 

how they lived their lives and whether they will 

go to heaven or hell.