The Last Day is the Day of Resurrection, when Allah raises people for judgment and recompense. Belief in it also encompasses everything authentically revealed about what follows death, including the trial, bliss, and punishment of the grave. Ibn Baz explained this scope in Al-Aqidah al-Sahihah wa Ma Yudadduha. In his explanation of the foundations of faith, Ibn Uthaymin discusses resurrection, judgment, Paradise, and Hell, together with the related matters of the barzakh.

When explaining iman to Jibril, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

«أَنْ تُؤْمِنَ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَتُؤْمِنَ بِالْقَدَرِ خَيْرِهِ وَشَرِّهِ».

Meaning: To believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree, its good and its evil. Sahih Muslim (8).

Belief in the Last Day is therefore a foundation of Islam, not an optional addition. For its relationship to the other pillars, see The Six Pillars of Iman and Their Meanings.

Allah says:

﴿وَأَنَّ السَّاعَةَ آتِيَةٌ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهَا وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَبْعَثُ مَنْ فِي الْقُبُورِ﴾ [Al-Hajj 22:7].

Meaning: The Hour is certainly coming, without doubt, and Allah will raise those who are in the graves.

The barzakh is the state between death and resurrection. Allah mentions a barrier lasting until the day people are raised [Al-Muminun 23:100]. Life in the barzakh differs from worldly life; its conditions need not follow what we ordinarily experience.

We affirm the trial of the grave, meaning the questioning by the two angels, and the bliss and punishment reported in revelation. Anas narrated that after a servant is placed in his grave and his companions leave, two angels ask him what he used to say about Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Allah enables the believer to answer, while the hypocrite and unbeliever cannot give the right answer. Sahih al-Bukhari (1338).

Al-Bara ibn Azib's report explains the questions about a person's Lord, religion, and prophet. Sunan Abi Dawud (4753), graded sahih by al-Albani. Memorizing the answers alone does not secure deliverance: Allah makes firm the believer who has faith and acts upon it.

Allah also describes Pharaoh's people being exposed to the Fire morning and evening, before separately mentioning their admission to the severest punishment when the Hour comes [Ghafir 40:46]. The verse distinguishes punishment before the Resurrection from punishment after it.

This bliss and punishment are real. The soul and body receive what Allah wills in a manner appropriate to the barzakh. Our inability to perceive it does not invalidate authentic revelation. Nor does the expression "punishment of the grave" mean that a person who was not buried is outside the conditions of the barzakh. It does not depend on burial in the earth or on the body remaining intact.

Photographs of a body, the appearance of a grave, and someone's dream do not establish a deceased person's final fate. The supplications, charity, and fulfillment of obligations that benefit the deceased have their own evidence and conditions; see What Benefits the Deceased After Death?.

Allah alone knows when the Hour will occur. No person knows its year or day. Allah instructed His Prophet to explain that its knowledge belongs to his Lord [Al-Araf 7:187].

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, nevertheless told us about signs that precede it. The major signs include the emergence of the Dajjal, the descent of Isa ibn Maryam, the emergence of Yajuj and Majuj, and the sun rising from the west. These appear in the report of Hudhayfah ibn Asid in Sahih Muslim (2901).

A Muslim accepts the signs established by authentic evidence without using them to set dates or confidently identify a contemporary person or event as their fulfillment without proof. Details about these signs and their order must rest on authentic evidence.

The Trumpet will be blown as Allah has revealed. He will bring the dead to life, and people will stand before the Lord of the worlds. Allah says:

﴿وَنُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ فَصَعِقَ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ إِلَّا مَنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ ثُمَّ نُفِخَ فِيهِ أُخْرَى فَإِذَا هُمْ قِيَامٌ يَنْظُرُونَ﴾ [Az-Zumar 39:68].

Meaning: The Trumpet will be blown, and those in the heavens and earth will fall dead, except those Allah wills. It will then be blown again, and they will be standing, looking on.

Resurrection is the actual restoration of people with their souls and bodies. It is neither the survival of souls alone nor reincarnation into different bodies. The One who created a person in the first place can restore that person, even after the body has scattered or become dust.

Allah will gather His creation for the Day of Resurrection, with the terrors described in revelation. We accept these reports even where the manner of an event is beyond our understanding.

Allah will judge His servants for their deeds, and the records of their actions will be presented. Some will receive their record in the right hand; others in the left hand or from behind their backs, as described in Surahs Al-Haqqah and Al-Inshiqaq. Nothing they have done is hidden from Allah, and He wrongs no one.

Not everyone faces the same form of reckoning. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, explained to Aishah that the easy account is the presentation of deeds, distinguishing it from being closely questioned about them. Sahih al-Bukhari (6536). It is also established that some members of this ummah will enter Paradise without reckoning or punishment, as Ibn Abbas reported in Sahih Muslim (220). It is therefore wrong to describe every believer as necessarily facing exhaustive questioning and punishment.

We also believe in the real scales upon which deeds will be weighed. They are not merely a figure of speech for justice, although they manifest Allah's perfect justice. Allah says:

﴿وَنَضَعُ الْمَوَازِينَ الْقِسْطَ لِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ فَلَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا﴾ [Al-Anbiya 21:47, excerpt].

Meaning: We will establish the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, and no soul will be wronged in anything.

Knowing this should make a person take other people's rights seriously. Wrongdoing does not disappear because its perpetrator dismisses it. A Muslim should restore rights and guard speech, earnings, and conduct before meeting Allah with unresolved wrongs.

We affirm the Hawd, the pool granted to our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Whoever drinks from it will never thirst again, as reported by Abdullah ibn Amr in Sahih al-Bukhari (6579).

We also affirm the Sirat, the bridge set over Hell, and the believers' crossing described in the authentic reports. They will differ in their crossing and their deliverance. Abu Said al-Khudri's report describes the bridge and those who pass over it; see Sahih Muslim (183).

It is also established that when believers have been delivered from the Fire, they will be held at a qantarah between Paradise and Hell. Wrongs committed against one another in this life will be settled there. Once they have been purified, they will be permitted to enter Paradise. Sahih al-Bukhari (6535). The promise of Paradise is no permission to violate people's rights.

The order of events in the Hereafter must follow the evidence; we do not place one event before another without proof.

Intercession on the Day of Resurrection is true, but it is never independent of Allah. No one can intercede before Him without His permission. All intercession belongs to Him [Az-Zumar 39:44], and it requires His permission and approval [Al-Baqarah 2:255; Al-Anbiya 21:28].

It includes the greatest intercession, which is unique to our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, for judgment to begin among creation, and his intercession for the people of Paradise to enter it. Intercession also benefits sinful people who died upon tawhid. That form is not exclusive to the Prophet: angels, prophets, and believers intercede as Allah permits. The reports of intercession, including Sahih Muslim (183), establish this.

No one who died upon unbelief will be brought out of Hell through intercession. The Prophet's intercession for his uncle Abu Talib is a special case established by revelation: it reduces his punishment but does not release him from Hell. Sahih al-Bukhari (3885). Ibn Baz explains these categories in his commentary on the chapter on intercession in Kitab al-Tawhid.

A Muslim asks Allah to grant the intercession of His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Affirming intercession does not authorize calling upon the dead or seeking their supernatural aid to obtain it. Supplication is worship and must be directed to Allah.

Paradise is the abode of bliss Allah has prepared for believers, and Hell is the abode of punishment He has prepared for unbelievers. Both have already been created and exist now. They are not merely psychological states or symbols of good and evil. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saw Paradise and Hell and told his Companions about them, as related in the eclipse prayer report in Sahih al-Bukhari (1052).

Paradise and Hell will not cease to exist. The people of Paradise remain there forever, while those who die upon unbelief will remain in Hell forever. The authentic report about death being slaughtered describes the announcement that neither the people of Paradise nor the people of Hell will die. Sahih al-Bukhari (6548).

Someone who dies upon tawhid with unrepented sins below major shirk is under Allah's will: He may forgive that person or punish them. Such a person will not remain in Hell eternally as unbelievers do. Allah says:

﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ﴾ [An-Nisa 4:48, excerpt].

Meaning: Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whomever He wills.

This concerns someone who dies upon shirk without repentance. Allah accepts a person's sincere repentance from shirk before the time for accepting repentance has ended. Being under Allah's will neither makes sin unimportant nor guarantees a sinful believer exemption from punishment.

Entry into Paradise is by Allah's mercy and grace. Righteous deeds are means He has commanded, not a price that makes a servant independent of His mercy. The Prophet explained that deeds alone cannot save a person unless Allah encompasses that person with His mercy. Sahih Muslim (2816). Believers therefore combine obedience with need for Allah, rather than abandoning obedience while wishing for salvation.

Among the greatest joys of Paradise is looking upon Allah's noble Face. Allah says:

﴿وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ ۝ إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ﴾ [Al-Qiyamah 75:22-23].

Meaning: Faces that day will be radiant, looking at their Lord.

Suhayb narrated that the people of Paradise will receive nothing dearer to them than looking upon their Lord, mighty and majestic. Sahih Muslim (181).

Ahl al-Sunnah affirm this actual vision without likening Allah to His creation, claiming to encompass Him, or specifying how it occurs. It is not reduced to seeing His reward or knowing Him inwardly. We do not speculate about its manner beyond revelation.

Knowing that we will stand before Allah means that obedience cannot depend on whether other people are watching. It calls for sincerity, care for obligatory worship, honesty with trusts, and restoring rights that we are still able to restore. It also gives reason to hope for the reward of patience and obedience even when their immediate benefits are not visible.

Fear of judgment should prompt repentance, not despair. The conditions of repentance and restoring rights are explained in How to Repent to Allah Sincerely. Hope in Allah's mercy belongs alongside seeking forgiveness and putting wrongs right; fear of punishment does not justify distrusting His promise.

Preparing for the Hereafter includes fulfilling duties in worship, family life, and dealings with others. It does not mean neglecting those responsibilities or becoming so occupied with predictions about the world's end that present obligations are forgotten.

• The Quran: Al-Hajj (7), Al-Muminun (100), Ghafir (46), Al-Araf (187), Az-Zumar (44, 68), Al-Haqqah (19-25), Al-Inshiqaq (7-12), Al-Anbiya (28, 47), Al-Baqarah (255), An-Nisa (48), and Al-Qiyamah (22-23).
• Sahih al-Bukhari: reports (1052, 1338, 3885, 6535, 6536, 6548, 6579).
• Sahih Muslim: reports (8, 132, 181, 183, 220, 588, 2816, 2901).
• Sunan Abi Dawud (4753), graded sahih by al-Albani.
• Ibn Baz, Al-Aqidah al-Sahihah wa Ma Yudadduha; his commentary on the chapter on intercession in Kitab al-Tawhid; and his answers on the grave's punishment for someone who was not buried and on the manner of the deceased's bliss and punishment.
• Ibn Uthaymin, Nubdhah fi al-Aqidah al-Islamiyyah, also known as Sharh Usul al-Iman, the discussion of belief in the Last Day.