Heaven

Audio transcript:

>>STEVE ST. GEORGE: Hello I'm Steve St. George. And this is your crash course in Islam. Today we examine heaven. Muslims like people of many faiths believe in an afterlife in heaven and in hell. But there is no original sin in Islam. So everyone has the same potential to get into heaven. In fact Muslims believe a child who dies goes to heaven regardless of the religion of his or her parents. Belief in heaven is an important tenet of Islam. What you may be familiar with when it comes to Muslim heaven is the idea of levels. Muslims do believe there are different levels of heaven. But there is no solid number on just how many there are. Although some Islamic texts do say there are seven. Levels of heaven represent closeness to God. The higher the level the closer to the understanding of Allah. In heaven there will be no suffering, no pain, no sickness. It is often described as a better and brighter version of this world. But some scholars caution there is no way to really describe heaven as it is unknowable for those on this earth. For a crash course in Islam, I'm Steve St. George.

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