The End of the World and the Afterlife – Eschatology

1. The End of the World and the Afterlife – Eschatology

2. Heaven • “Gardens under which rivers flows” • Highest level: Firdaws (Paradise) • Immortality… no more death • “Your greeting will be ‘Peace’” • Heavenly delights • Fruits, milk, honey, wine that does not intoxicate • Heavenly beauties • To be taken literally? • Forgiveness • Presence of God?

3. Hellfire • Burning fire… • Darkness… • Despair… • Immortality… (yikes) • What you did…

4. Inversion of all things… When the sky is cleft asunder, And when the stars are scattered, And when the seas burst forth And when the graves are overturned – Every human being will comprehend what he has sent ahead and what he has held back [in this world]. O man! What has lured thee away from thy Lord?, who created thee and formed thee in just proportions, in that form that thy Lord has willed? Nay, but indeed you disbelieve in the religion! And indeed there are over your ever watchful forces, noble, recording, aware of what you do! Behold, truly the virtuous will be in bliss, whereas, behold, the wicked will be in a blazing fire, which they shall enter on the Day of Judgment, unable to evade. And what could make thee conceive of what Judgment Day will be? And once again: what could make thee conceive of what Judgment Day will be? A Day when no human being will be of the least avail to another human being: for on that day, all sovereignty is God’s alone. (82)

5. The Folding Up When the sun is shrouded in darkness, And when the stars lose their light, And when the mountains are made to vanish, And when the she-camels, big with young, about to give birth, are left untended, And when all beasts are gathered together, And when the seas boil over, And when souls are coupled. And when the girl-child that was buried alive is made to ask, For what crime she was slain? And when the scrolls are unrolled, And when the heaven is laid bare, And when the blazing fire is kindled. And when paradise is brought into view [on that Day] every soul will come to know what it has prepared… (81:1-14)

6. but when? “They ask thee about the hour when will be its appointed time? Say, ‘the knowledge thereof is with my Lord, none but He can reveal when it will be. Heavy will be its burden in the heavens and the earth. Only all of a sudden will it come to you.” (7:187)

7. Alone & Together “Leave Me and him that I created alone…” “And so, the piercing call is heard on a Day when everyone will flee from his brother, and from his mother and father, and from his spouse and his children, on that Day to every one of them will his own state be of sufficient concern. Some faces will on that Day be bright with happiness, laughing and rejoicing in glad tidings. And some faces will on that Day with dust be covered, with darkness overspread: these, these will be the ones who denied the truth and were immersed in iniquity.” (80-33-40) “Hence, bear in mind the Day on which We shall cause the mountains to disappear and thou shalt behold the earth bare and void: for on that Day We shall resurrect the dead and gather them all together, leaving out none of them. And they will be lined up before thy Lord – ‘Now indeed you have come to Us even as we created you in the first instance, though you used to claim that We would never appoint a time of meeting!” (18:47-8)

8. Records of Deeds • “And the record will be laid open; and thou wilt behold the guilty filled with dread at what they see therein; and they will exclaim, ‘Woe unto us! What a record is this! It leaves out nothing great or small, but takes everything into account! For they will find all that they ever wrought facing them, and thy Lord does not wrong anyone.” (18:49)

9. Records and Deeds “When the earth quakes with her last might quaking, And when the earth yields up her burdens, And man cries out ‘What has happened to her?!’ On that day she will recount all her tidings, as thy Lord will have inspired her to do. On that day will all men come forward, cut off from one another, to be shown their deeds. And he who shall have done an atom’s weight of good shall behold it. And he who shall have done an atom’s weight of evil shall behold it.” (99)

10. The Calamity Oh the calamity! How awesome the sudden calamity! And what could make thee conceive of what the sudden calamity will be? On the day when men will be like moths swarming in confusion, and the mountains will be like tufts of wool… And then he whose weight is heavy in the balance shall find himself in a happy state; Whereas he whose weight is light in the balance shall be engulfed in an abyss And what could make you conceive of what the abyss will be? A fire hotly burning! (101)

11. The Overshadowing Event (Ghashiya) “Has there come unto thee the tiding of the Overshadowing event? Some faces on that Day will be downcast, toiling, worn out, about to enter the glowing fire, given drink from a boiling spring. No food for them save the bitterness of dry thorns, which gives no strength and neither stills hunger. And some faces will on that Day shine with bliss, well pleased with their striving, in a garden sublime, wherein there is no empty talk. Countless springs will flow, and there will be thrones raised high, goblets placed ready, cushions ranged, and carpets spread out.” 88:1-16)

12. Multiple Levels? • ‘The Foremost (al-sabiqun)… they are “drawn close”… “a good many from olden times, but few from later times” (56:10-13) • ‘The Companions of the Right Hand’… with their renewed spouses… “a good number from ancient and later times” • ‘The Companions of the Left Hand’