Al-Sirat
Definition
Al-Sirat is the bridge stretching over the Hellfire that every soul must cross on the Day of Judgment. It is described in hadith as thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword, and one's speed in crossing it — or one's falling from it — corresponds to one's deeds in this life. Al-Ghazali uses this image not to produce terror but to produce precision: every act of worship, every moment of sincere dhikr, every instance of genuine compassion is, in effect, practice for that crossing. The one who has made the straight path (al-sirat al-mustaqim) their path in this life will cross the bridge of the afterlife with ease; the one who has wandered from it in this life will find the crossing correspondingly difficult.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
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