What will life be like after the Day of Resurrection?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Eternal life can be one of two things:

1-      A life of permanent bliss that is beyond imagination. Minds cannot imagine this in terms of its quality or quantity; rather it is as Allaah The Almighty describes in the verse (which means): {And no soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort for eyes as reward for what they used to do.} [Quran 32:17]

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah Allaah The Almighty stated in a Qudsi (Sacred) Hadeeth that He has prepared for His righteous slaves that which no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, and no human heart has ever perceived. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

We ask Allaah The Almighty to make us among those who get to live that life in the Highest Paradise, Al-Firdaws.

Some people who are to live this life of bliss will directly enter Paradise without being touched by the fire of Hell, seeing it or even passing by it, except only to fulfill the oath of Allaah that all people will pass over the Bridge over Hell as referred to in the Quran [19:71]

Others will enter Paradise after they spend some time in Hell; we ask Allaah The Almighty to protect us against that. They are nonobservant believers who declared their Tawheed (monotheism) but disobeyed Allaah. They will first enter Hell because of the sins they committed then, afterwards, Allaah The Almighty will let them out and admit them to Paradise. Allaah The Almighty will do so because of His mercy and vast forgiveness or, in addition to this, in response to others’ intercession. In all cases, whoever enters Paradise, whether or not he entered Hell before, will begin this eternal blissful life.

2-This life is but torture that never ends and no one can bear it. It involves many punishments that a mind cannot imagine. We ask Allaah The Almighty to protect and save us against this.

Whoever wishes to learn the most truthful account of the two kinds of life in the Hereafter should read the Book of Allaah The Almighty with meditation and reflection. Rarely will you find a chapter in the Quran that does not mention - either generally or in detail - the conditions of these two lives.

A person should also refer to the authentic Hadeeths of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, in this regard. Scholars have compiled separate books about this life and included detailed descriptions in their books of Hadeeth and Tafseer (Quranic exegesis).

Allaah Knows best.