Islamic concepts of life after death, reward and punishment, human decision, and divine judgment have always held a certain fascination for Western readers. Recent world events have served only to heighten those interests and to raise new questions about how Muslims understand the developments that are to signal the coming of the day of resurrection, whether martyrs have immediate access to paradise, who are the black‐eyed maidens waiting in paradise for the believers, and who will intercede for communities of Muslims, Christians, and Jews at the final judgment. The text looks at two distinct ... More

Islamic concepts of life after death, reward and punishment, human decision, and divine judgment have always held a certain fascination for Western readers. Recent world events have served only to heighten those interests and to raise new questions about how Muslims understand the developments that are to signal the coming of the day of resurrection, whether martyrs have immediate access to paradise, who are the black‐eyed maidens waiting in paradise for the believers, and who will intercede for communities of Muslims, Christians, and Jews at the final judgment. The text looks at two distinct periods of time in the ongoing story of life after death in Islam. First is the period between individual death and the coming of the day of resurrection, about which the Qur’an says little and the traditions a great deal. Second is the series of events that will take place at the time of judgment, which are detailed thoroughly by the Qur’an. Interpretations of the materials related to each of these periods are provided first from the writings of the classical exegetes and theologians, and then from those of contemporary Muslim thinkers and writers. The narratives are presented so as to give the reader an overview of the whole process from death to resurrection to final consignment in the abodes of reward or of punishment. The entire discussion is placed within the framework of the Islamic understanding of God's expectations of human belief and behavior, and human ethical responses to those expectations. Two appendices deal respectively with evidence of afterlife concerns in pre‐Islamic Arabia, and the special case of women and children in the afterlife.