Akhirah: Life After Death

A belief about later that changes now

Akhirah means everything that comes after this life, and it is one of the beliefs Muslims are required to hold. It is easy to revise it as a description of what happens next, learn the words, and lose most of the marks anyway. The reason is that questions on this topic are rarely asking you to describe a future. They are asking what difference the belief makes to a person now. If someone believes that everything they do is known and will be weighed, that is not really a statement about a distant day; it is a statement about this afternoon. So the whole of this module runs in two directions at once. First, what Muslims believe happens after death, in the terms the specification uses. Second, and this is where the marks are, what follows from holding that belief while you are alive. Get the first without the second and you have written a description of somebody else beliefs rather than an answer.

Words for life after death

Five terms this specification uses. Each is described here in plain words rather than quoted, which is what an exam answer should do too.

Match the term to what it names

What Muslims believe follows death

Put the stages in the order Muslims believe they happen. Notice that every one of these is a belief being described, not a claim this module is making.

• A person dies, and this life comes to an end
• The person is in barzakh, waiting, until the appointed day
• On the Day of Judgement every person is raised
• Each person deeds are weighed by God, who is just and merciful
• What follows is Jannah or Jahannam, according to that judgement

Which belief is being expressed

A Muslim says that nothing a person does is ever lost or overlooked. Which belief is being expressed?

• That every person will be raised and their deeds weighed on the Day of Judgement
• That a person waits in barzakh between death and judgement
• That Jannah is a place of peace and closeness to God
• That God is one and has no partner

Believed then, lived now

Set each belief beside what Muslims say follows from holding it. The right-hand column is where evaluation marks are won, and it is the half most answers leave out.

Which two show the belief at work

Select the TWO statements that show belief in Akhirah affecting how a person lives now, rather than only describing what is believed.

• A Muslim acts honestly in private because they believe the deed is known regardless
• A Muslim facing a hard year takes comfort from believing this life is not the whole story
• Muslims believe that every person will be raised on the Day of Judgement
• Barzakh is the state between death and the Day of Judgement

What the evaluation question wants

Evaluation questions on this paper give you a statement and ask how far you agree, and they are marked on whether you can argue a case properly rather than on which case you argue. On this topic there is one move that separates the answers that score from the ones that do not. Do not stop at what is believed. Get to what follows from believing it. If you write that Muslims believe deeds are weighed on the Day of Judgement, you have described a belief. If you write that because deeds are believed to be weighed, a Muslim has reason to act well when nobody is watching, you have shown the belief doing something, and that is the sentence that earns marks. Two other habits carry over from the rest of this topic and still apply. Attribute what you write, so beliefs are stated as beliefs and not as facts. And where Muslims themselves differ, say so, because noticing the difference is worth more than flattening it.

The stages in a sentence

Muslims believe that after death a person is in _____, waiting until the Day of _____, when every person is raised and their deeds are weighed by God, who is believed to be both just and _____. What follows is _____ or Jahannam. Because the belief is that nothing is overlooked, it bears on how a Muslim acts _____, which is the point an evaluation question is looking for.

The answer that never reaches now

Four sentences from student answers. Three connect a belief to how someone lives. Select the ONE that only describes the belief.

• Because Muslims believe deeds are weighed, a Muslim has reason to be honest when nobody would find out.
• Muslims believe that after death a person waits in barzakh until the Day of Judgement.
• Believing this life is not the whole story can make present hardship easier to bear.
• Since God is believed to be merciful, a Muslim who has done wrong has reason to repent rather than give up.

A model evaluation paragraph

A question offers the statement that belief in life after death makes no difference to how a person lives, and asks how far you agree. Here is a paragraph that would score well. Muslims who take Akhirah seriously would disagree, because the belief is not only that something follows this life but that deeds are weighed. If a person believes nothing they do is overlooked, that gives them a reason to act well in situations where no one else would ever know, which is precisely where behaviour is hardest to explain otherwise. It can also be argued that the belief changes how hardship is borne, since a life that is not the whole story is a different thing to endure. On the other side, it could be said that people of many beliefs and none behave well without expecting judgement, so the belief cannot be the only source of good conduct, and Muslims themselves would not claim it is. A reasonable judgement is that the belief does not make behaviour possible but does give it a particular shape and a particular reason. Notice four moves: every belief is attributed, the argument reaches present conduct rather than stopping at description, the opposing case is given properly rather than dismissed, and the judgement follows from what came before it.

Link the belief to the living

Assemble a sentence that gets from a belief to what follows from it.

Advising on an answer

A student is answering an evaluation question about whether belief in Akhirah changes how Muslims live. Take the decisions in order.

• The student opens by listing the terms Akhirah, barzakh, Jannah and Jahannam. Is that a good start?
• They write that after death a person goes to Jannah or Jahannam. How should that be phrased?
• They find that Muslims hold different views about one aspect of the topic. What do they do?
• The answer so far describes the beliefs accurately. What is still missing?

Explain Akhirah and its effect

Explain what Muslims believe about life after death, and assess how far that belief affects the way a Muslim lives. Attribute every belief, and do not quote any religious text.

• Explain what Akhirah means and why it is one of the beliefs Muslims are required to hold
• Describe what Muslims believe happens between death and the Day of Judgement
• Explain what Muslims believe about judgement, and about God being both just and merciful
• Give two ways in which holding this belief might affect how a Muslim acts now
• Give one point on the other side, stated fairly rather than dismissed
• Note one aspect of this topic where Muslims themselves hold different views
• Reach a judgement that follows from the arguments you have set out