Death and Islamic Understanding of Afterlife

After death each individual faces initial testing and preliminary judgment (except the martyr, one who dies "in the path of God," who goes straight to heaven [see Koran 2:154]). The Koran says relatively little regarding this time in the grave, called the barzakh (interval), but other genres give much, if not always consistent, detail. Most accounts treat the time in the grave as a foretaste of one's final fate on Judgment Day, and perhaps as a time of purgation of sins so that the deceased is purified and made fit for heaven. Though the exact order of events varies among the sources, the typical account begins with angels visiting the dead and drawing the soul out of the body. Abu alLayth al-Samarqandi (d. 983) describes the worthy soul coming forth "as easily as a drop from a waterskin," whereas for the soul of an unbeliever, "the angel drags it forth like the dragging of an iron spit through moist wool, tearing the veins and sinews" (Peters, pp. 403–404). The soul is borne up to the gates of heaven; the faithful soul is carried in perfumed shrouds and admitted into heaven to be greeted by the blessed inhabitants of the seven heavens, perhaps even by God himself, while the unbeliever, carried in rough and reeking rags, is turned away at the gate. Each soul is then returned to the body, whereupon angels interrogate it, asking who is its Lord, din ("religion"), and prophet. The faithful answer correctly, while unbelievers falter and misspeak. Next the dead may be visited by the person's deeds personified in the appropriately pleasant or foul form, while the grave is either cooled by a fragrant comforting breeze or blasted with tormenting smoke and fire. Some hold that these conditions endure until resurrection, others that the dead slip into a form of sleep so that the ages pass in an instant.