In a minute
All three faiths say that this life is not the whole story and that God will judge with perfect justice and mercy. The raising of the dead is at the heart of what Muslims and Christians believe, and it is affirmed by Jewish tradition. They differ on details: who judges, what the world to come is like, and how much we are told.
Shared ground
- Resurrection. Daniel speaks of those who sleep in the dust awaking, "some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence" (12:2, JPS 1917). Jewish tradition counts resurrection among its principles, and the Mishnah lists denying it among the reasons for losing a share in the world to come (Sanhedrin 10:1). In the Acts of the Apostles, the Pharisees affirm resurrection and the Sadducees deny it (23:8).
- Judgement with justice. Jewish tradition marks a yearly day of judgement at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The Creed says Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.
- Death will not have the last word.
Death swallowed up
He will swallow up death for ever; And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces
Isaiah 25:8 · JPS 1917Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more
Revelation 21:4 · WEBBEEvery soul will taste of death. And ye will be paid on the Day of Resurrection only that which ye have fairly earned.
Qur'an 3:185 · Pickthall- No one is wronged. The Qur'an says: "We set a just balance for the Day of Resurrection so that no soul is wronged in aught. Though it be of the weight of a grain of mustard seed, We bring it" (21:47, Pickthall).
Honest differences
Honest differences
- Judaism. Jewish tradition is the most reticent. Olam ha-ba, "the world to come", can mean a place for souls or a transformed world. Jewish teachers have understood it in different ways. Maimonides stressed the soul's life with God, and also affirmed the resurrection of the dead as a principle of faith. Nachmanides stressed a renewed life of body and soul together. Pirkei Avot 4:16 (Sefaria numbering) offers the image of this world as a vestibule before the banqueting hall. Many modern Jews hold the matter with more questions than answers.
- Christianity. The Judge is Christ: "Before him all the nations will be gathered" (Matthew 25:32, WEBBE); "the resurrection of life ... the resurrection of judgement" (John 5:29, WEBBE). Catholic teaching holds that God predestines no one to hell (CCC 1037). Many Orthodox writers, following Isaac of Syria, speak of the same divine love being joy to those who welcome it and torment to those who refuse it.
- Islam. God alone is the judge, and the Day has an ordered picture: the trumpet, the gathering, the scales, the bridge, Paradise and Hell (see Islam: the Last Day). No human may say that a particular person is bound for Hell.
- Within each faith. Jewish, Christian and Muslim thinkers have each argued about how long punishment lasts and how wide mercy reaches. See How can a loving God punish anyone?.
- Who judges. Christians confess Christ as judge. Muslims hold that God alone judges. Jewish tradition places judgement with God.
In their own words
And whoso doeth good an atom's weight will see it then, And whoso doeth ill an atom's weight will see it then.
Qur'an 99:7-8 · Pickthall
Thy dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise
Isaiah 26:19 · JPS 1917
because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
Acts 17:31 · WEBBE
Read next
- Judaism: Hope
- Christianity: Forgiveness and life everlasting
- Islam: Belief in the Last Day
- Hell and judgement: the big question
If the Qur'an says that whoso doeth good "an atom's weight will see it" (99:7), or Avot speaks of a vestibule before the banquet, what small thing could you do today?
Next: Decree and free will. Back to the overview.