Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions

Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-345) and indexes.

Machine generated contents note: Introduction; Part I. Textual Foundations: Narrating the Otherworld: 1. The otherworld revealed: paradise and hell in the Qur'an; 2. The growth of the Islamic otherworld: a history of Muslim traditionist eschatology; 3. Hope, fear and entertainment: parenetic and popular Muslim literature on the otherworld; 4. The imagination unbound: two late-medieval Muslim scholars on paradise and hell; Part II. Discourses and Practices: Debating the Otherworld: 5. The otherworld contested: cosmology, soteriology and ontology in Sunni theology and philosophy; 6. Otherworlds apart: Shiʻi visions of paradise and hell; 7. The otherworld within: paradise and hell in Islamic mysticism; 8. Eschatology now: paradise and hell in Muslim topography, architecture and ritual; Epilogue.

"The Muslim afterworld, with its imagery rich in sensual promises, has shaped Western perceptions of Islam for centuries. However, to date, no single study has done justice to the full spectrum of traditions of thinking about the topic in Islamic history. The Muslim hell, in particular, remains a little studied subject. This book, which is based on a wide array of carefully selected Arabic and Persian texts, covers not only the theological and exegetical but also the philosophical, mystical, topographical, architectural and ritual aspects of the Muslim belief in paradise and hell, in both the Sunni and the Shiʻi world. By examining a broad range of sources related to the afterlife, Christian Lange shows that Muslim religious literature, against transcendentalist assumptions to the contrary, often pictures the boundary between this world and the otherworld as being remarkably thin, or even permeable"-- Provided by publisher.