Roads to Paradise: Eschatology and Concepts of the Hereafter in Islam

Sebastian Günther, Ph.D. (1989), is Professor and Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Göttingen. Germany. He has published extensively on the intellectual history of Islam, including Islamic Ethics as Educational Discourse: Thought and Impact of the Classical Muslim Thinker Miskawayh (d. 1030) (co-ed., Tübingen 2021) and Knowledge and Education in Classical Islam (2 vols., ed., Leiden 2020).Todd Lawson, Ph.D. (1989), is Professor Emeritus of Islamic Thought at the University of Toronto. He has published widely on Quranic exegesis, mysticism, Shi‘ism, and Quranic literary problems. Recent publications include articles such as Friendship, Illumination and the Water of Life (2016), Joycean Modernism in a 19th century Qur’an commentary (2015), The Qur’an and Epic (2014) and the monograph Gnostic Apocalypse in Islam (London 2012).Christian Mauder is Professor of Islamic Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, Department of History and Cultural Studies. He has published several studies on the intellectual, cultural and religious history of Mamluk and Ottoman Egypt, including the monograph Gelehrte Krieger: Die Mamluken als Träger arabischsprachiger Bildung (Hildesheim 2012). His second monograph In the Sultan’s Salon: Learning, Religion and Rulership at the Mamluk Court of Qāniṣawh al-Ghawrī (r. 1501–1516) (Brill 2021) constitutes the first in-depth analysis of an Egyptian court as a transregional center of Islamic intellectual, religious, and political culture at the turn from the late middle to the early modern period.

"In view of the high scholarly quality, it is safe to say that the essential background of death and the afterlife in the Islamic point-of-view is promptly understood and the authors support their arguments convincingly and authoritatively. After a comprehensive introduction by the editors (Vol. I, pp. 1-28) the reader comes in contact with useful information that helps him to form and define Islamic ontological and eschatological ideas. The editors also claim that although the present book is based in scholarly work, it is nevertheless oriented towards a wider readership where academic expertise can contribute a great deal toward a more comprehendsive understanding of current political and religious developments in both the Muslim world and West. Each article contains informative references and detailed bibliography, cited at the end of every chapter. The bibliographical appendix at the end of Volume Two (pp. 1323-1391) facilitate future research on eschatology and concepts of the hereafter of Islam, while a comprehensive index of proper names as well detailed indices of geographical names and toponymes, book titles, scriptural references, topics and keywords provide access to the contents. On the whole, scholars and students will find this two volume work quite valuable. More than a mere work, this book inspires for further research and discussion on eschatology and concepts of the hereafter in Islam." - Angeliki Georgiou Kompocholi, in: Journal of Oriental and African Studies 27 (2018)"...a massive new contribution to the field." - John Hoover, in: Bulletin of the School of African and Oriental Studies, 8 November 2017"Ein umfangreicher bibliographischer Appendix zu Paradies und Hölle im Islam und ausführliche Indizes, über die das zweibändige Werk überhaupt benutzbar wird, schließen die Bände ab. Natürlich ließen sich weitere Titel finden, die nicht aufgenommen wurden. Insgesamt handelt es sich um ein Grundlagenwerk für die weitere Forschung zu eschatologischen Vorstellungen." - Rüdiger Lohlker, in: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 108 (2018)"... the most comprehensive overview of this topic in existence." - George Archer, in: Reading Religion, 22 August 2017"Roads to Paradise maps out a beginning of modern academic research into Muslim eschatology." - Sajjad Rizvi, in: Al-Abhath 64 (2016)

• VOLUME I Foundations and the Formation of a Tradition: Reflections on the Hereafter in the Quran and Islamic Religious ThoughtACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Editors NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND STYLEABBREVIATIONSZUM GELEITJosef van Ess INTRODUCTION Sebastian Günther and Todd LawsonPREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY – CONFERENCE OPENING ADDRESSES“The Paths to Reality are as Diverse as the Souls of Humanity” Tilman Nagel: Paradise LostMahmoud Zakzouk: The Path to Paradise from an Islamic ViewpointPART ONE Paradise, Hell and Afterlife in the Quran and Quranic ExegesisMuhammad Abdel Haleem: Quranic Paradise: How to Get to Paradise and What to Expect ThereAngelika Neuwirth: Paradise as a Quranic Discourse: Late Antique Foundations and Early Quranic DevelopmentsTodd Lawson: Paradise in the Quran and the Music of Apocalypse Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila: Paradise and Nature in the Quran and Pre-Islamic PoetryAsma Afsaruddin: Dying in the Path of God: Reading Martyrdom and Moral Excellence in the QuranSebastian Günther: The Poetics of Islamic Eschatology: Narrative, Personification, and Colors in Muslim DiscoursePART TWO The Pleasures of ParadiseAndrew J. Lane: “Reclining upon Couches in the Shade” (Q 35:56): Quranic Imagery in Rationalist ExegesisAilin Qian: Delights in Paradise: A Comparative Survey of Heavenly Food and Drink in the Quran Maher Jarrar: Strategies for Paradise: Paradise Virgins and UtopiaNerina Rustomji: Beauty in the Garden: Aesthetics and the Wildān, Ghilmān, and ḤūrPART THREE The Afterlife in Sunni Tradition and TheologyAisha Geissinger: “Are Men the Majority in Paradise, or Women?” Constructing Gender and Communal Boundaries in Muslim b. al-Ḥajjāj’s (d. 261/875) Kitāb al-JannaChristian Lange: The ‘Eight Gates of Paradise’ Tradition in Islam: A Genealogical and Structural StudyFeras Hamza: Temporary Hellfire Punishment and the Making of Sunni OrthodoxyNiall Christie: Paradise and Hell in the Kitāb al-Jihād of ʿAlī b. Ṭāhir al-Sulamī (d. 500/1106)Wilferd Madelung: Al-Ghazālī on Resurrection and the Road to ParadiseDorothee Pielow: Sleepless in Paradise: Lying in State between This World and the NextPART FOUR A Wise Man’s Paradise – Eschatology and PhilosophyMichael E. Marmura: Paradise in Islamic Philosophy Thomas Würtz: The Orthodox Conception of the Hereafter: Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī’s (d. 793/1390) Examination of some Muʿtazilī and Philosophical ObjectionsHermann Landolt: ‘Being-Towards-Resurrection:’ Mullā Ṣadrā’s Critique of Suhrawardī’s EschatologyMohammed Rustom: A Philosopher’s Itinerary for the Afterlife: Mullā Ṣadrā on Paths to FelicityPART FIVE The Path beyond this World – Vision and Spiritual Experience of the Hereafter Simon O’Meara: Muslim Visuality and the Visibility of Paradise and the WorldMaryam Moazzen: A Garden beyond the Garden: ʿAyn al-Quḍāt Hamadānī’s Perspective on ParadiseKatja Föllmer: Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Path to God and the Concept of Martyrdom in ʿAṭṭār’s Conference of the BirdsPART SIX Unity in Variety – Shi‘ism and Other Muslim Identities Omid Ghaemmaghami: “And the Earth will Shine with the Light of its Lord” (Q 39:69): Qāʾim and qiyāma in Shi‘i IslamElizabeth Alexandrin: Paradise as the Abode of Pure Knowledge: Reconsidering al-Muʾayyad’s “Isma‘ili Neoplatonism”S.J. Badakhchani: Notions of Paradise in the Isma‘ili Works of Naṣīr al-Dīn ṬūsīJamel A. Velji: Apocalyptic Rhetoric and the Construction of Authority in Medieval Isma‘ilismAlexey A. Khismatulin: Just a Step Away From Paradise: Barzakh in the Ahl-i Ḥaqq TeachingsOrkhan Mir-Kasimov: “Paradise is at the Feet of Mothers:” The Ḥurūfī RoadMohammad Hassan Khalil: Which Road to Paradise? The Controversy of Reincarnation in Islamic Thought