Jannah
[3] Belief in the afterlife is one of the six articles of faith in Sunni and Twelver Shi'ism and is a place in which "believers" (Mumin) will enjoy pleasure, while the unbelievers (Kafir) will suffer in Jahannam.
[5]: 165 Most Muslims hold that Jannah and Jahannam co-exist with the temporal world, rather than being created after Judgement Day.
[citation needed] Jannah is found frequently in the Qur'an (2:30, 78:12) and often translated as "Heaven" in the sense of an abode in which believers are rewarded in afterlife.
[15] In contrast to Jannah, the words Jahannam, an-Nār, jaheem, saqar, and other terms are used to refer to the concept of hell.
Although most agree that Muslims will be finally saved – shahids (martyrs) who die in battle, are expected to enter paradise immediately after death[5]: 40 – non-Muslims are another matter.
"Historically, the Ash'ari school of theology was known for having an optimistic perspective on salvation for Muslims,[24] but a very pessimistic view of those who heard about Muhammad and his character, yet rejected him.
[26]: 109 The Muʿtazila school held that free will and individual accountability was necessary for Divine justice, thus rejecting the idea of intercession (Shafa'a) by Muhammad on behalf of sinners.
[29] Modernist scholars Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida rejected the notion that the People of the Book are excluded from Jannah, referring to another verse.
[32] "Third Islamic century traditionalists amplified the eschatological material enormously particularly in areas on where "the Quran is relatively silent" about the nature of Jannah.
[33] Some of the more popular Sunni manuals of eschatology are Kitāb al-rūḥ of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīya and al-Durra al-fākhira ft kashf 'ulūm al-ākhira of Abǖ Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī.
[18]: 65 [34] Other verses give more specific descriptions of the delights of paradise: 'And whoever is in awe of standing before their Lord will have two Gardens ... ˹Both will be˺ with lush branches.
(Q.55:46–76, Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran)[35] Smith and Haddad summarize some of the Quranic pleasures: Choirs of angels will sing in Arabic (the only language used in paradise), the streets will be as familiar as those of the dwellers' own countries, inhabitants will eat and drink 100 times more than earthly bodies could hold and will enjoy it 100 times more, their rooms will have thick carpets and brocade sofas, on Fridays they will go to a market to receive new clothing to enhance their beauty, they will not suffer bodily ailments or be subject to functions such as sleeping, spitting, or excreting; they will be forever young.
[37] They will be passed a cup (Q.88:10–16) full of wine "wherefrom they will get [no] aching of the head” (hangovers) [Q.56:19],[39] and "which leads to no idle talk or sinfulness" (Q.52:23),[Note 1] and every meat (Q.52:22) and trees from which an unceasing supply of fruits grow (Q.36:56–57),[18]: 58 "that looks similar ˹but tastes different˺"; (Q.2:25) adornment with golden and pearl bracelets (Q.35:33) and green garments of fine silk and brocade (Q.18:31); attended upon by [ghulman] (Q.52:24), servant-boys (eternal youths (56:17, 76:19)) like spotless pearls (Q.52:24).
[10][Note 2] Inhabitants will rejoice in the company of any parents, spouses, and children who were admitted to paradise (Q52:21) —conversing and recalling the past.
Large trees whose shades are ever deepening, mountains made of musk, between which rivers flow in valleys of pearl and ruby.
'"[47] Hadith include stories of the saved being served an enormous feast where "God Himself is present to offer to His faithful ones delicacies kneaded into a kind of pancake".
[36] The Quran also states the saved "will have pure spouses," (without indicating gender) (Q2:25, Q4:57), accompanied by any children that did not go to Jahannam (Q52:21), and attended to by servant-boys with the spotless appearance similar to a protected pearls (Q52:24).
"For the most part Islamic theology has not concerned itself with questions about the location and structure of the Garden and the Fire on the understanding that only God knows these particulars.
One conservative Salafi source,[55] quotes as evidence a sahih hadith where Muhammad reassures the mother of a martyr, "O Umm Haarithah, there are gardens in Paradise ... and your son has attained the highest Firdaws”,[56] indicating a hierarchy of levels, but does not how many there are.
[5]: 131 For example, Qu'ran 23:17 states "We created above you seven paths [Ṭarā'iq]" from which is drawn a heaven of seven tiers (which is also "a structure familiar to Middle Eastern cosmogony since the early Babylonian days").
[14] Another school of thought insists Jannah actually has "eight layers or realms" as the Quran gives "eight different names ... for the abode of the blessed".
[58] Still others have proposed that the seven levels suggested by the Qur'an are the seven heavens, above which is the Garden or final abode of felicity, while many see paradise as only one entity with many names.
Two verses of the Quran (Qu'ran 7:40, 39:73) mention "gates" or "doors" (using the plural form) as the entrance of paradise, but say nothing about their number, names or any other characteristics.
As in the case of the levels of Jannah, later sources elaborate, giving names and functions but don't agree on all details (see table to right).
[71] Sidrat al-Muntaha is a Lote tree that marks the end of the seventh heaven, the boundary where no angel or human can pass.
[72][further explanation needed] Muhammad is supposed to have taken a pomegranate from jannah, and shared it with Ali, as recorded by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi.
[5] According to scholars Jane I. Smith, Yvonne Y. Haddad, while there are Muslims of a "philosophical or mystical" bent who interpret descriptions of heaven and hell "metaphorically", "the vast majority of believers", understand verses of the Quran on Jannah (and hellfire) "to be real and specific, anticipating them" with joy or terror,[73] although this view "has generally not insisted that the realities of the next world will be identical with those of this world".
[73] Besides the material notion of the paradise, descriptions of it are also interpreted as allegories, whose meaning is the state of joy believers will experience in the afterlife.
[5]: 166 It was argued that when God commanded Adam to "go down" (ihbit) from the garden, that did not indicate a vertical movement (such as "falling" from a heaven above to earth), but instead was used in the same sense as Moses telling Israelites to "go down to Egypt".
[5]: 167 Most Muslim scholars, however, assert that paradise and hell have been created already and coexists with the contemporary world, taking evidence from the Quran, Muhammad's heavenly journey, and the life in the graves.
