To Heaven or to Hell: Are Muslims’ Afterlife Hope and Fear Balanced? A Cross-Cultural Study

Abstract

Islamic theology emphasizes the importance of achieving balance (equilibrium) between afterlife hope and fear for spiritual health. This study is a preliminary step to measure this phenomenon among young Muslims. The aim of this study is to examine afterlife expectations balance by developing new survey measures of afterlife hope expectations (AHE) and afterlife fear expectations (AFE). After validating the content of both measures, data were collected from Jordanian university students ( N = 605) and Malaysian university students ( N = 303). Exploratory and confirmatory analyses support the validity of the AHE and AFE. The results from both countries indicate a high level of AHE and a low level of AFE among Muslim youth. Potential implications on spiritual health and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Al-ṣalāt: the Ritual of Rituals in Islam

“…The servants are in a precarious position in a linear drama starting with the double exile of Ādam and Ḥawwāʾ, on the one hand, and Iblīs/Shayṭān, on the other, that will continue until yawn al-qiyāma, the day of reckoning at the end of times when all shall be judged by Allah. It is well attested that the threat of hell and the promise of heaven is very much alive among contemporary Muslims and has been so throughout history (al-Issa et al 2020;Lange 2016;Otterbeck 2010).…”