The Belief in the Last Days

There will be a final day of judgment in which everyone will be summoned before God to account for their deeds. It is quite common within Islam for that Day to be seen as when mercy and justice will meet. Justice is in the retribution, and mercy is when the believer is so close to enter paradise, that God will add to his deeds sufficient added blessings to ensure his or her entry there (e.g., Qur'an 2:281).

The Qur’an refers the day of Judgment as the “final hour” and calls Jesus "the sign of the final hour" (Qur'an 43:61). Only God knows the time of the final hour (Qur'an 7:187; 16:77). Most of Muslims agree with the idea of the coming of Jesus (Isa el Masih) to judge the world and give rewards.

At the resurrection the righteous will think that they have been dead but for a moment (Qur'an 22:5; 50:2, 21; 75:1-4; 17:52). To the unbelievers the resurrection is a fearful thing (Qur'an 83:1-6) since hell fire awaits them.

Discussions Concerning Adventist and Muslim Understanding

Understanding of Salvation and Sin

Adventists teach that the effect of man’s sin has corrupted the world and the human beings who exist in it (Romans 3:9-23; 8:20-22). Sin and salvation are central categories in the theology and spirituality of the Bible. The Qur’an states that Adam and Eve sinned, but according to Islamic belief, they repented and were fully forgiven so that their sin had no repercussions for the rest of the human race (Qur'an 7;19-27).

The Islamic rejection of “original sin” is really the rejection of a “specific understanding” of original sin. Islam rejects the doctrine of original sin which asserts that all human beings inherited the guilt, the culpability of the sin of Adam and Eve. This seems unfair to the Muslim by reasoning that, "Why should we have to accept guilt for someone else’s disobedience?" Adventists would agree! Adam and Eve’s sin brought evil to this earth and to our nature, but we aren’t guilty of their sin!

Because Muslims do not subscribe to belief on the universal and corruptive power of sin, unleashed as a result of our sinful condition, they see no need for salvation for they do not view Adam and Eve act of sin to have affected the entire humanity, particularly, the human nature. According to the Islamic view, a believer is required to: submit to God, follow his directives, live a good life, pleasing God in all that you do. Submit to God and follow His directives. Religion, to the Muslim, does not mean salvation from sin; it means following the right path, or the Shari’a, mapped out by Islamic law. Adventists believe, also, that as people submitted to God, we should follow God’s will, but that salvation is only possible as a gift since we can never perfectly follow God’s perfect path.