non-muslim afterlife

[toro123]

What happens in the hereafter to a person who dies without hearing the true message of Islam? Even If they have heard of islam, but were raised to believe it was false. What is the islamic teaching in regards to this. will they enter paradise or hell, and be judged by what they knew?

[Imam]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

All Praise be to Allah who is the Lord of the Worlds, and may Endless Blessings be showered upon His Most Beloved and Final Messenger of Islam, Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa aalihi wa Sallam)



First of all, it must be made clear that there are no people, or there are very little people in the world who have not heard of the religion of Islam. Just recieving the message, that there is only one God, and belief that Muhammad is the Messenger (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam) of Islam, and the Final Messenger of Islam, is enough to constitute belief (Iman).


Anyone who believes in this statement is regarded as a Muslim, and as long as he follows, the rules of the Shar'iyyah, what it allows, and what it prohibits, is enough to lead the Islamic way of life. The hereafter, is regarded as that time after you will be ressurected. The Qur'an al kareem speaks of such a ressurection at many stages.


Men shall be taken from their graves, and ressurected from the bone within the spine and taken to a place where they will be asked about there deeds on earth. Those who will have done good deeds, will have their scroll of deeds in their right hand, as those who have done bad deeds, will have their scroll of deeds in the left hand. These will then be placed in a scale, turn by turn, family by family, clan by clan, nation by nation in order to determine how much right was it that each person committed, or how much wrong there was that they had committed in their lives.


Being raised to believe that the Islamic religion is false is not enough to decide whether one shall enter hell or heaven. But what is important, is the beliefs in the religion of Islam, which is a fundamental belief. This shall porevent you from entering hell, as belief in One God, and His Beloved Messenger (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam), shall prevent this from happening.


These beliefs may save you, if you have them, and you safegard them, but if you have an excuse, that you were raised to believe they were false, then surely it was you who was given the freedom of thought, of education, of religion, and freedom of belief, then why did you not use them? Why did you not educate yourself? Why did you not read about them, and decide for yourself that which is true, from that which is false?


People shall enter paradise or hell, dependant on what kind of belief they had, as well as what they knew. Whether they had acted upon what they knew, or merely fell into worldly desire and posession. Because the world is a temporal place for the human soul, whereas the afterlife, is regarded as what is eternal. Islam, believes that there is an eternal life after the worldly life, but it is up to us, to realise what that eternal life is, and how we can gain success.


May Allah the Almighty protect us all from all kinds of worldly desire, and may He make our lives fit for this world, and for the hereafter.



Wallahu A'lamu Biththawaab



M. Waseem Ashrafi