“Windows To Spirituality”
Taoism And Death There is significant scholarly debate about the Taoist understanding of death. The process of death itself is described as shijie or “release from the corpse”, but what happens after is described variously as transformation, immortality or ascension to heaven. For example, the Yellow Emperor was said to have...
What Is Munkar And Nakir? Munkar and Nakir (منكر ونكير) (English translation: “The Denied and The Denier”) in Islamic eschatology, are angels who test the faith of the dead in their graves. Description These angels are described as having solid black eyes, having a shoulder span measured in miles, and...
Druze The Druze (درزي, darzī, durzī, דְּרוּזִי, drūzī, druzim) are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethno-religious group originating in Western Asia who self-identify as Al-Muwaḥḥidūn (lit., “The People of Monotheism”). Jethro of Midian is considered an ancestor of all people from the Mountain of Druze region, who revere him as their spiritual founder and chief prophet. It is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion based on the teachings of Hamza ibn-‘Ali ibn-Ahmad and the...
Karma In Buddhism Karma (karman, kamma) is a Sanskrit term that literally means “action” or “doing”. Karma in Buddhism refers to action driven by intention (cetanā) which leads to future consequences. Those intentions are considered to be the determining factor in the kind of rebirth in samsara, the cycle of rebirth....
Belief In The Afterlife In Non-Islamic Societies This article covers Belief In The Afterlife In Non-Islamic Societies. The universality of religious beliefs, including some kind of existence after death, is generally admitted by modern anthropologists. Some exceptions have been claimed to exist; but on closer scrutiny the provided evidence breaks...
The Quran and The Resurrection This article covers The Quran and The Resurrection. Quranic Arguments About The Resurrection Although scientific findings like the second law of thermodynamics show that existence is gradually disappearing, and even a collision of two planets could destroy the universe. If existence began with a big...
The Resurrection In Revealed Scriptures This article covers The Resurrection in Revealed Scriptures. The Qur’an, the last heavenly Scriptures, has four main themes: God’s Existence and Unity, the Resurrection and afterlife, Prophethood, and worship and justice. It emphasizes the Resurrection far more than all previous Scriptures. Despite the distortion it...
What Is Reincarnation? Reincarnation refers to the transmigration of souls, the doctrine that after death the soul moves on to inhabit another body, then die again and then another body, and so on. Belief in some form of this doctrine of endless cycles of birth, death and re-birth can be...
Creation And Resurrection Your Creation And Your Resurrection Are As But A Single Soul What does the verse: Your creation and your resurrection are as but a single soul (31:28) mean? Answer: That the Divine Power can create and resurrect humanity as easily as it creates and resurrects one person. For...
Benefits Of Belief In The Resurrection After belief in God, belief in the Resurrection has the primary place in securing a peaceful social order. Why should those who do not believe that they will be called to account strive to live an honest, upright life? But those of us who...
Rebirth In Buddhism Rebirth in Buddhism refers to its teaching that the actions of a person lead to a new existence after death, in endless cycles called saṃsāra. This cycle is considered to be dukkha, unsatisfactory and painful. The cycle stops only if liberation is achieved by insight and the extinguishing of desire. Rebirth is one of the foundational doctrines of...
Underworld The underworld is the world of the dead in various religious traditions, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. The concept of an underworld is found in almost every civilization, and “may be as old as humanity itself”. Common...
Reincarnation Reincarnation is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being starts a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. It is also called rebirth or transmigration, and is a part of the Saṃsāra doctrine of cyclic existence. It is...
A’raf (Araf) A’raf (الأعراف) is the Muslim separator realm or borderland between heaven and hell, inhabited by the people who are evenly balanced in their sins and virtues. This place may be described as a kind of beneficent purgatory with privation but without suffering. The word is literally translated as...
Ancient Mesopotamian Underworld The ancient Mesopotamian underworld, most often known in Sumerian as Kur, Irkalla, Kukku, Arali, or Kigal and in Akkadian as Erṣetu, although it had many names in both languages, was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground, where inhabitants were believed to continue “a shadowy version of life on earth”. The...
Afterlife In Ancient Religions This article covers Afterlife in Ancient Religions. The concept of resurrection is found in the writings of some ancient non-Abrahamic religions in the Middle East. A few extant Egyptian and Canaanite writings allude to dying and rising gods such as Osiris and Baal. Sir James Frazer...
Afterlife In Christianity This article covers Afterlife in Christianity. Mainstream Christianity professes belief in the Nicene Creed, and English versions of the Nicene Creed in current use include the phrase: “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come”. Christian eschatology is concerned...
Naraka In Jainism This article covers Naraka in Jainism. Naraka (नरक) is the realm of existence in Jain cosmology characterized by great suffering. Naraka is usually translated into English as “hell” or “purgatory“. However, Naraka differs from the hells of Abrahamic religions as souls are not sent to Naraka as...
Naraka In Buddhism This article covers Naraka in Buddhism. Naraka (नरक; निरय Niraya) is a term in Buddhist cosmology usually referred to in English as “hell” (or “hell realm”) or “purgatory“. The Narakas of Buddhism are closely related to diyu, the hell in Chinese mythology. A Naraka differs from the hell of Christianity...
What Is Gehenna? Gehenna is a small valley in Jerusalem. In the Hebrew Bible, Gehenna was initially where some of the kings of Judah sacrificed their children by fire. Thereafter, it was deemed to be cursed (Jer. 7:31, 19:2–6). In rabbinic literature Gehenna is a destination of the wicked. This is...
