End times philosophies of different religions

Ash Shaikh Mir Asedullah Quadri

In the history of religions, eschatology is a subject that refers to end times of this world, the day of resurrection, the day of judgement and the final destiny of mankind. The end of this world is anticipated by all Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic religions. Apocalypticism is a religious belief that the end of the world is imminent. As per this belief, a sudden intervention of God will result in the destruction of this cosmos and in its place, two entities known as Paradise and Hell will be established. Apocalypticism is also part of modern science, technology, and political discourse in which opinions are offered about the end of the world. We have described beliefs of some important religions in the world in this context and have compared it with the Islamic perspective of end of this world. Since this subject is of significance to every individual in the world, we hope that this research will provide logical explanation to people to know if the world will indeed end at some point, and if so, what is the course of action people need to follow in this context.

An analysis of the soteriological doctrines of world religions

Ash Shaikh Mir Asedullah Quadri

Salvation is an important feature of theology in religions. Philosophers study it as a comparative analysis of different religions about their concepts of salvation. Soteriology is a branch of theology in which religious doctrines of salvation of different religions are discussed. There are over 10,000 religions in the world. Followers of these religions are further divided into innumerable sects and subgroups. All of them talk about salvation of their adherents. In addition, a sizeable population of the world is associated with atheism and agnosticism who offer their own theories. Since most of the religions accept that there is an end to this world and there is a life of human beings beyond their deaths, the aspect of salvation becomes important for every individual in this world. But the problem is, the followers of 10,000+ religions and their innumerable subgroups differ on their concept of Creator and creation in this Cosmos and have adopted different religious and salvation theories. Brief accounts of soteriological theories of some major religions have been provided in this paper to help readers find a logical answer in this context.

The Islamic concept of Resurrection

Ash Shaikh Mir Asedullah Quadri

Life after death is understood differently by different people. The followers of Abrahamic religions consider resurrection as an event that will take place in the end time when this cosmos gets disintegrated. Non-Abrahamic religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism do not subscribe to resurrection as they believe in transmigration of soul from one physical body into another depending upon the deeds of a person until such time the person gets freedom (moksha/nirvana) from the cycle of rebirths. They also believe in reincarnation, in which a person is born again and again as different personalities. There is a sizeable population in the world who subscribe to Atheism and agnosticism and believe that there is no life after death. Since our research is limited to the topic of resurrection, the issues of ‘transmigration of soul’ and ‘reincarnation’ are not discussed in this paper. While discussing the Islamic perspective of Resurrection, we have provided a brief account of resurrection doctrines of Judaism and Christianity as a comparative study. In doing so, we have shed light on the concept of resurrection in Islam and the possible mechanics of it, by means of which, resurrection of the dead could occur on the day of Qiyamah.

The Islamic perspective on the necessity of the day of judgement

Ash Shaikh Mir Asedullah Quadri, Mir Habeebullah Quadri

This paper addresses the important question of the necessity of the day of Judgement from an Islamic perspective. This is a theological question which is correlated with many other important questions in theology and philosophy, namely, the question of free will, the necessity of the existence of evil, and the relationship between God and his sentient creatures (primarily humans). We shall start with an introductory section which briefly overviews some of the necessary terminology to understand the context of the question. Next, we shall address the question of free will, determinism, and existence of evil. Given the vastness of each of these topics, we shall delve into them, purely from the focus of explicating the necessity of the day of judgement. We shall finally address the Islamic perspective on this matter at the very end to make sure that the reader has a complete overview on the subject before delving into the focus of this article. If you (the reader) feel confident enough to skip this necessary albeit detailed preamble, then you are welcome to do so. However, we shall recommend the readers to go through the entire article in detail to build an informed opinion.