البعث
al-Baʿth
Resurrection, when all people are raised to face God’s judgment.
What it means
Al-baʿth means the raising of the dead. At the end of time God will raise all human beings from death to stand before Him for judgment. It is one of the articles of faith, together with belief in God, His angels, His books and His messengers. The Quran affirms that God will resurrect those in the graves (22:7). It answers those who deny resurrection by pointing to creation: the One who made people the first time can make them again. The resurrection is followed by reckoning and the entrance to Paradise or Hell. Belief in al-baʿth gives the believer a reason for accountability.
Often misunderstood as
That the afterlife is a symbol, when the Quran speaks of a real bodily raising for reckoning.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 25, listed as AL BA'TH. The definition is restated here.