Here's a question about Islam. I'm asking it in behalf of a friend.
Is my friend correct in thinking that Islam does not envision an end to history, a terminal point at which God will rule the earth and death will be abolished for His believers?
This friend's reading of Islam is that it differs in this significant way from both Judaism, which anticipates a Messianic conclusion to history entailing a transportation of the Saved to a heavenly domain, and Christianity, whose eschatology is similar, ie a Kingdom of God will be established on earth, the guilty of all ages and times will be punished and the virtuous will be physically reborn, reclothed, and transported to a heavenly domain to live forever in God's presence.
In Islam, it seems to him, and this is what I'm asking for enlightenment on, the main task of the faithful is to extend the reach of Islam across the entire world, but the conclusion of that task does not carry with it an eschatological climax in which history is ended. Rather, the outcome would be simply a world of normal states guided by Islamic principles, whose citizens would, on the completion of successfully observant lives, enjoy the rewards of the afterlife as they do now. No "end to history" is involved, in other words.
I'd appreciate any elucidating comments, or suggestions for other sites on which I might bring this question to the attention of the knowledgeable.. |
