It is rare to encounter a non-Muslim who actually has an accurate sense of our view of death and the afterlife. Often one encounters a view that paints our vision of the afterlife as a somewhat cheap, seedy and tawdry hedonists' paradise. But such distortions, usually by rabid anti-Muslims, have their roots in the polemics and propoganda of the Crusades. Qur'anic descriptions of Paradise and of Hell are indeed sensual, but this has to be seen from within the total Islamic ethos which is profoundly holistic. There are verses in the Qur'an that qualify the more adjective-laden descriptions. In addition, the Muslim understanding of the afterlife has to be seen as the end of a historical process that begins before we are even born to this life. Most non-Muslims don't know that our vision of history has an element of pre-existence.

The Muslim understanding of the drama of life and death begins in the mists of a time before time when God created Adam, set him before creation and commanded all of creation to bow down in honor of this peak of God's creative imagination. (While we take Adam's existence literally, we do not think, like many of our Christian cousins, that the first scene of the drama took place on the earth as we know it, or even in space-time as we know it.) All comply with God's command but Iblis, a jinn, a creature with sentience and some free-will. "You created him of clay, but me of smokeless fire" said Iblis in what is perhaps the first example of species-centrism. Yet, even the angels were aghast at what God had wrought. "Will You place on earth one who will do evil and shed blood when we have for so long sung Your praises?" Enigmatically, God, the Transcendent Unity, replied: "I know what you know not." And then, the Divine Wrath turned to Iblis, "Begone!" Iblis though, begs for a reprieve until Judgement Day, which is granted by God, but compounding his rebellion, Iblis vows to tempt all people away from the straight path. Iblis and his followers among the jinn thus become the shaitans. The "satans". (Though we also use "Satan" as a name for Iblis.)

Iblis does successfully tempt Adam and Eve, but in Islamic belief they repent and are forgiven. There is no sense of original sin or collective guilt stemming from this event, nor is the woman blamed. It is almost a minor issue. The real excitement begins after this. The Qur'an tells us that every individual to ever be born was created in this mysterious time-before-time and made an agreement with God. With this Covenant sealed and witnessed God's command to all of humanity was: "Get thee down hence! The earth shall for a time be your dwelling place!" And the test began. Passing the test and maintaining one's agreement is to enter Paradise. To fail the test has consequences too terrible to fully reckon.

This agreement-- the Covenant-- is called the amanah, or the Divine Trust making humanity God's representatives. The definitive clause of this agreement is the familiar First Commandmant: "Thou shalt have no gods besides Me." Islamic practice includes an extremely strict, almost radical, monotheism. Islam is able to accept other monotheists, but cannot accept any type of polytheism or anthropomorphism as this would violate the very essence of the Covenant.

And so, the parade of history begins as each individual soul is born into this world to be tested in his or her fidelity to the agreement made with God. The type of tests we shall undergo are pre-ordained by God. A simple way to understand Muslim views on free-will vs. determinism is to think of today's computer games that act like an interactive movie, such as the popular "Myst". The software programmer has determined what scenes are in the game, but within each scene the player has a limited variety of options that effect how the scenes will play out. Winning the game entails making the right choices from the options that are available. For the Muslim, the right choice in life is choosing submission to the will of God, which is what the word "islam" actually means. Failure entails following Iblis and the shaitans in rebellion against Divine Law.

When Muhammad began preaching, 1400 years ago, his central theme, besides monotheism, was Judgement Day and the afterlife. Over and over again the Qur'an rams home the point that all humanity shall return to and gather before God to be judged with absolute justice tempered by the Divine Mercy. And over and over again the Qur'an responds to the people's ridicule of such an idea: "What?! When we are dead and turned to dust we shall live again? Ancient fables!" And God responds in the Qur'an: "That is easy enough for Me."

The Qur'an describes itself as a "reminder" of this fact. We already know it to be true deep in our souls because of the Covenant we made with God before our life on earth. The purpose of the Qur'an is to remind us of our agreement and that this life is a test-- "a sport and a pastime". Real life for the Muslim is the afterlife.

The Qur'an is also a stern warning of the consequences of the failure to honor our end of the bargain made with God. It is said that the Qur'anic descriptions of Hell, in the original Arabic, were so terrifying that many of the original audience keeled right over! Even in translation one can feel the anxiety and dread of the unbelievers as they wait to be judged. But this stern warning is largely of relevance only to those who, with understanding, refuse belief in God. For those who already believe the Qur'an is Good News. Those who sincerely believe in God, establish regular prayer, and do good works are assured they will be admitted to "a Garden watered by running streams." Human efforts for the Good are not in vain.

During the period of the Crusades Qur'anic descriptions of the afterlife were manipulated for propoganda purposes. This still influences many non-Muslims from Euro-American cultural traditions. Unlike many other religious traditions Islam never categorized the physical realm as bad or sinful. The physical is as much a part of human being as is the spiritual. This holism-- called tawheed-- lends an appealing sensuality to the Muslim view of Heaven, but this same sensuality can be shocking to adherents of other traditions. The Qur'an speaks of delicious foods, rich fabrics, warm fellowship and... get ready... great sex in the afterlife. A hedonist's Paradise? No, not really. As with everything Islamic, human sensuality is understood in light of taqwa-- "God consciousness". This is especially so in Heaven where, as Muhammad said, the righteous shall look upon God's transcendent radiance as they are able to look upon the soft and gentle glow of the moon.

Both the Qur'an and the hadith literature discuss what will happen on the Last Day. For Muslims, the Qur'an is the literal word of God. The hadith literature is the collection of Muhammad's extra-Qur'anic sayings and actions. Both have different levels of acceptance. In general, one needs to be cautious in approaching the hadith literature in that over the centuries they were often fabricated for political purposes. And yet, it is in the hadith literature that we find the foundations for many Muslim beliefs about the Last Day, including the return of Jesus.