Islamic Bioethics: Afterlife

The Islamic afterlife (al-ākhirah) refers to the final, everlasting stage of life where Muslims will be rewarded with the Garden (al-jannah) or the Fire (al-nār). Essentially, Muslims will be transformed from their earthly selves into their reformed bodies and experience an eternal phase of life through enhanced bodily experiences and sense perception. In the modern period, the belief in the afterlife affects the issues of human dignity and euthanasia. Belief in the afterlife entails an expectation that death is a transformative passage. Since many of the advents of modern medicine were unknown during the early years of Islamic history, there is room for jurists and theologians to interpret the quality of life and its connection to the afterlife for contemporary Islam.