what is the Belief in the Last Day in islam

The Last Day is that enormous event when everyone will beresurrected from death to the accounting and reckoning, tobe asked about their deeds: to receive either reward for theirgood deeds, or punishment for their evil deeds. It is called“the Last Day” because it is the final day and the end ofearthly time. This is the day when the people of Paradisewill go to their appointed places in Paradise and those ofHell to the Hellfire.

Four Steps of Age:In Islam all human beings go through four steps of age:

• The age in the womb is where the body acquires its soul. The fetus is imbued with a soul from God. The soul, however, is completely innocent and lacking all worldly knowledge, which is reflected by a baby's helplessness.
• The age in the mortal world is the stage of life from the moment of birth from the womb to the moment of death.
• The age of the grave is the stage after death in the mortal world, where the soul is stored in Barzakh which results in a cold sleep state, awaiting the Day of Judgment.
• The age of the hereafter or rest of eternity is the final stage commencing after the Day of Judgment and all of humanity has received their judgment from God.

Barzakh:

In Islamic eschatology, Barzakh (Arabic: برزخ‎) is the intermediate state in which the soul of the deceased is transferred across the boundaries of the mortal realm into a kind of "cold sleep" where the soul will rest until the Qiyamah (Judgement Day). The term appears in the Qur'anSurah 23, Ayat 100.

Trial of the Grave:

1. The trial of the grave, wherein all will be asked: Who was your Lord? What was your religion? Who was your prophet?
2. b) The grave will be a place of either extreme pain and torment or extreme pleasure and happiness.

Major Signs of the Last Hour:

The major signs are the seven which are thought to occur closer to the supposed Day of Judgment.

• Three huge earthquakes and The smoke and A fire from Yemen
• The appearance of Masih al-Dajjal
• The rise of the Mahdi to restore Islam
• The return of Esa (Jesus) A.S. from heaven in restoring Islam
• The appearance of Ya'joojandMa'jooj (Gog and Magog)
• The appearance of the Dabbat al-Ard (the strange beast)
• The rise of the sun from the west

Allah’s Messenger came to us all of a sudden as we were (busy in a discussion). He asked: “What are you discussing? (The Companions) replied: We are discussing (the subject of) the Last Hour. Thereupon he said: It will not come until you see ten signs. And (in this connection) he made a mention of the ‘smoke’, ‘Dajjal’, the ‘beast’, the ‘rising of the sun from the west’, the ‘descent of Jesus son of Mary’, ‘Gog and Magog’, ‘sinkings of the earth in three places, one in the east, one in the west and one in Arabia’ at the end of which ‘fire would burn forth from Yemen, and would drive people to the place of their assembly’ (i.e., the place where mankind will be assembled for judgment).” (Sahih Muslim)

Minor Signs of the Last Hour:

There are almost 50 minor signs of the Last hour mentioned in narrations. Some of them are mentioned below:

• People would follow a way of life other than mine, and give guidance other than mine.
• When the wicked member of a tribe becomes its ruler, and the most worthless member of a community becomes its leader, and a man is respected through fear of the evil he may do, and leadership is given to people who are unworthy of it, expect the Last Hour
• Before the Last Hour there will be great liars, so beware of them
• Women would dress like men
• Men would dress like women
• A killer would not know why he is killing and the one who is killed would not know why he is being killed
• Women would be dressed and yet be naked
• Women would arrange their hair to look like the hump of a camel
• Religious knowledge would disappear
• Nothing would remain of Islam but the name, and nothing would remain of the Qur’an but the traces (of its writing) (i.e., the Qur’an would not be studied, no one would follow its guidance, it would be recited mechanically etc.); the Masajid (mosques) would be grand structures but would be devoid of guidance; and the Ulama (religious scholars of Islam who represent such people) would be the worst people beneath the sky. From them would emerge Fitnah (trials) and they would be the centers of Fitnah (since they betray Islam)

The scientific clues of the Doomsday:

Scientists can explain how and why the Doomsday would occur.As the Big-bang theory explains how the universe came into existence, the Big Crunch theory explains how the universe will come to an end.Scientists believe from observing the red shift in distinct galaxies that the universe is currentlyexpanding. According to Einstein theory, the universe has a finite volume and finite numberof hydrogen atoms. At some time in the future, no one knows when, the expansion of theuniverse would stop. The galaxies which are now receding from one another will start toapproach towards each other and finally they will star t colliding with each other. As there aremore than 100 billion of galaxies, billions of collisions will occur one after the other - that ishow the scientists believe in the occurrence of the Doomsday. The Holy Quran confirms it. “All that is there will perish, except the Countenance of your Lord, Full of Majesty andBounty and Honor.” (55:26-27)The Big Crunch will be like the Big Bang in reverse.