BY: SARA HUSSAIN

Concept of life after death in Islam:

Muslims believe that the way they live their lives now is the test for where they go in the afterlife (receiving the gift of paradise or not).Muslims believe that if you follow Allahs (God) teachings that they will be able to enter paradise. When a person dies, they are faced with Allah where he decides what your fate is in the afterlife. Muslims believe that Allah judges in three areas: 1) What each persons beliefs or actions were during their life, 2) What each persons action and beliefs towards others 3) How each person lived their life according to the Quran the best they could. A central doctrine of the Quran is the Last Day, on which the world will be destroyed and Allah will raise all people from the dead to be judged. The Last Day is also called the Day of Standing Up, Day of Separation, Day of Reckoning, Day of Awakening, Day of Judgment, The Encompassing Day or The Hour. Until the Day of Judgment, deceased souls remain in their graves awaiting the resurrection. However, they begin to feel immediately a taste of their destiny to come. Those bound for hell will suffer in their graves, while those bound for heaven will be in peace until that time. The resurrection that will take place on the Last Day is physical, and is explained by suggesting that God will re-create the decayed body (17:100: "Could they not see that God who created the heavens and the earth is able to create the like of them"? "Life after death is actually the starting-point of further progress for man. Those in paradise are advancing to higher and higher stages in knowledge and perfection of faith. Hell is meant to purify those in it of the effects of their bad deeds, and so make them fit for further advancement. Its punishment is, therefore, not everlasting."

Concept of life after death in Hinduism

Reincarnation is the Hindu concept that the soul is transferred into another body after death. This is the ever revolving wheel of life, death and rebirth. A persons karma determines kind of the body into which he or she will inhabit in the next life. Through pure acts, thoughts and devotions one can be reborn at a higher level. Likewise bad deeds can cause a person to be reborn at a lower level. The unequal distribution of wealth, prestige,and suffering are seen as the natural result of karma. Hindus think that death is just another part of life. When a person dies his soul exits the body and it then goes into another body (usually) while his physical body rots and decays. Hindus believe that if they do well on earth then they will move up the cycle of power. For example: Two men die, one was a good guy the other wasn't. When the good guy was died he went before the God of Judges and his good deeds outweighed his bad ones so he becomes a more powerful spirit or a minor god. The other man's bad deeds outweighed his good ones, he was then reincarnated as a

cow or another type of livestock. After the he dies. They live on and they both die again and go before the God of Judges. They weigh they're deeds again and they just keep doing that forever.The Hindus believe they are born over and over, as animals, gods, humans and more. Finally, when they have had enough of being re-born they can stop Re-incarnating and remain in a state of happiness called nirvana. The time between incarnations is a terrifying time when their imagination thinks of frightening demons. They think that they have to remain unafraid and pick a new incarnation wisely.

Conclusion:
In Islam, On the Last Day, resurrected humans will be judged by Allah according to their deeds. One's eternal destination depends on balance of good to bad deeds in life. They are either granted admission to Paradise, where they will enjoy spiritual and physical pleasures forever, or condemned to Hell to suffer spiritual and physical torment for eternity. The day of judgment is described as passing over Hell on a narrow bridge in order to enter Paradise. Those who fall, weighted by their bad deeds, will remain in Hell forever while Indian culture focuses on the concept of eternity and cyclicalness. In Hindu belief, there are many references to the idea of eternity. How existence falls into a circle, perhaps inspired by the fact that we born die, and bring another birth to the world. Also, it justifies the caste system. Those who are born rich deserved to be, because they were good in their past life. If they are good, they will be rewarded in new life. Kind of like the concept of heaven, except it's life rather than otherworldly.

http://www.Muslims.org http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/features/death/