The Last Day

This life is not the end. ﴿كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَآئِقَةُ ٱلْمَوْتِ﴾ (“Every soul will taste death”) (3:185), and after death each person enters the life of the grave, the barzakh, which lasts until the Resurrection (23:100). There two angels come to question him; the believer testifies that Muhammad ﷺ is Allah's servant and Messenger, and is shown his place in Paradise (Sahih al-Bukhari 1338).

Then the Hour will come, without doubt, and Allah will raise those in the graves (22:7). The Horn will be blown and all will stand (39:68). People will be gathered for the reckoning, receive their records (69:19-25), and see their deeds weighed on the scales of justice, where not even a mustard seed's weight is overlooked (21:47) and ﴿فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُۥ﴾ (“whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it”) (99:7). The bridge (al-sirat) will be laid over Hell, and the Prophet ﷺ and his community will be the first to cross it (Sahih al-Bukhari 806). Finally, people will reach their lasting home: Paradise, by Allah's mercy, or Hell.

Belief in the Last Day gives life its seriousness and its hope. It reminds us that no injustice goes unanswered and no good deed is lost, so that even two short phrases, "SubhanAllahi wa bihamdihi, SubhanAllahi al-'Azim", are heavy on the scale (Sahih al-Bukhari 6406). It moves the believer to repent, to be patient, and to live each day with the meeting with Allah in mind.