What happens after death? Answers from the world’s religions

The Hebrew Bible says little about life after death; the dead go down to Sheol, a shadowy place. By the time of the Second Temple, many Jews had come to expect the resurrection of the dead at the end of days, a belief that became central to rabbinic Judaism alongside the hope of olam ha-ba, “the world to come”.

Christianity grew from this hope and centred it on the resurrection of Jesus. Christians believe that at the end of time the dead will be raised and judged, and that those united with Christ will share eternal life with God; many also believe the soul meets God at death.

Islam teaches that every soul will be raised on the Day of Judgement, when each person’s deeds are weighed. The Qur’an describes paradise as a garden with flowing rivers, and hell as fire, while stressing God’s mercy.

Many scholars think Zoroastrianism shaped these ideas. It taught that after death each soul crosses the Chinvat Bridge, which widens for the righteous and narrows to a blade for the wicked. At the end of time, a saviour will raise the dead, evil will be destroyed and the world made new.

For Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, death is a passage to another birth, determined by karma. One may be reborn as a human, an animal, a god or in a hell, but none of these is final.

The true goal lies beyond the cycle: mokshamoksha Liberation from the cycle of rebirth, the highest goal of life in Hinduism and Jainism. Glossary, nirvananirvana Literally “blowing out”: the end of craving and suffering, and release from rebirth, in Buddhism. Glossary or mukti, liberation. Funeral rites in these traditions, such as cremation and the Hindu shraddha offerings to the departed, help the dead on their way and support them in the next stage of their journey.

In Chinese tradition, shaped by Confucian teaching on filial piety, the dead become ancestors who are remembered at home altars and graves. They receive offerings and in turn protect the family. Japanese Buddhists welcome the ancestors home each summer at Obon.

Many African religions hold similar beliefs. Among the Yoruba, the honoured dead continue to watch over their families, and in the Egungun masquerades they return in costume to bless the living. Yoruba thought also allows that ancestors may be reborn within their own family.

Ancient Egyptians believed that after death the heart was weighed against the feather of ma’atma’at Truth, justice and cosmic order in ancient Egypt, upheld by the king and personified as a goddess. Glossary, truth, in the hall of Osiris. A pure heart allowed the dead to live forever in the Field of Reeds; a heavy one was devoured by the monster Ammit. Mummification preserved the body as a home for the kaka The life force of a person in ancient Egyptian belief, which lived on after death and received offerings. Glossary, and spells from the Book of the Dead guided the soul on its journey.