Ancient Mesopotamian Religion Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 3500 BC and 400 AD, after which they largely gave way to Syriac Christianity. The religious development of Mesopotamia and Mesopotamian culture in general was not particularly influenced by the movements of...
Islamic Eschatology Islamic eschatology is the aspect of Islamic beliefs, predictions and narratives dealing with end times. It includes the end of the natural world, the dramatic events (“signs”) signifying its approach, and the afterlife where the dead are resurrected, to be judged by God for their conduct during their life on earth (ḥisbā), and sent to their eternal reward in either...
What Is Resurrection? Resurrection is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of ancient religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and resurrects. The resurrection of the dead is a standard eschatological belief in the Abrahamic religions. As a religious concept, it is used in two distinct respects:...
Prayer For The Dead There are many different prayer for the dead in different religions and traditions. Praying can bring relief and comfort at a very difficult time. Wherever there is a belief in the continued existence of human personality through and after death, religion naturally concerns itself with the...
Eschatology? Eschatology is a part of theology concerned with the final events of history or the ultimate destiny of humanity. This concept is commonly referred to as the “end of the world” or “end times“. The word arises from the Greek ἔσχατος eschatos meaning “last” and -logy meaning “the study of”, and first appeared in English around 1844. The Oxford...
What Is Afterlife? The afterlife (life after death) is the belief that the essential part of an individual’s identity or the stream of consciousness continues after the death of the physical body. According to various ideas about the afterlife, the essential aspect of the individual that lives on after death may...
What Is Hell? In religion and folklore, Hell is an afterlife location, sometimes a place of torment and punishment. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations while religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations. Typically these traditions locate hell in...
Magic And Religion Magical thinking in various forms is a cultural universal and an important aspect of religion. Magic is prevalent in all societies, regardless of whether they have organized religion or more general systems of animism or shamanism. Religion and magic became conceptually separated with the development of western monotheism, where the distinction arose between supernatural events...
God’s Creation Of People Rich And Poor This article covers the answer to the question: “What is The Wisdom Behind God’s Creation of People Rich and Poor?” God has bestowed upon some people material wealth and comfort, status and prestige, and upon others poverty, misery, and affliction. Does this mean that...
Life Requires Striving And Struggle If It Is To Be Successful Belief, with the will-power to struggle, is the first and foremost condition for success in life. Those who have prospered in heart with belief and developed in mind to produce pure and lofty thought, find in each second of...
Chaos And Belief This article covers the relationship between chaos and belief. Belief will once more defeat the forces of atheism, and no one will be able to extinguish the light which God has put in the hearts of people. The earth has so far witnessed many upheavals one after...
The Leading, Exalted Spirits Pure in mind, noble in character, healthy and active, deep- sighted and wise, full of humanitarian feelings towards the whole of mankind and love and compassion for their own people, the leading, exalted spirits are a small group of holy people who were leaders in history,...
Virtues Of Faith This article covers Virtues of Faith. Through the light of belief, man rises to the highest of the high and acquires a value worthy of Paradise. And through the darkness of unbelief, he descends to the lowest of the low and falls to a position fit for...
The Torah And Afterlife This article covers the relationship between The Torah And Afterlife. Statements from the Torah Regarding the Transient Nature of This World All our days pass away under Your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if...
The People Of Paradise Will Be Given A Place This article is about Paradise. The Messenger Muhammad said: ‘Some of the people of Paradise will be given a place as large as the world, and hundreds of thousands of palaces will be granted to them.’ What is the reason for...
Necessity Of Hell And Heaven This article is about necessity of Hell and Heaven. The confrontation, co-existence, and intermingling of good and evil, pleasure and pain, light and darkness, heat and cold, beauty and ugliness, and guidance and misguidance in the universe are there for an extremely important purpose and...
Is Reincarnation Compatible With Islam? This article covers Islam and reincarnation. Reincarnation (tanasukh) refers to the doctrine that after death the soul moves on to inhabit another body, then dies again and moves on to another body, until there is no longer any reason for it to do so. It...
General Arguments About The Resurrection This article covers General Arguments About The Resurrection. Universal Wisdom Requires the Resurrection God is absolutely free to do what He wills, and no one can call Him to account. Being All-Wise, He acts with absolute purposiveness and wisdom, and never does something that is...
The Place Of The Last Judgement Where will the Great Gathering and Last Judgement Take Place? The elevated instances of wisdom the All-Wise Creator displays in all things, and His even attaching vast instances of wisdom to a single insignificant thing, suggests to the point of being plain that the...
What Gifts Can We Send To The Spirit After Death? This article covers the answer to the question: “What Gifts Can We Send To The Spirit After Death?“ The spirit world, according to spiritualism, is the world or realm inhabited by spirits, both good or evil of various spiritual manifestations. Whereas religion regards...