The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (970 page)

 
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Judaism
The biblical understanding of heaven is restricted to a cosmology which envisaged a realm or domain above the earth, where (initially) the gods and (subsequently) God and his agents dwell. The Garden of
Eden
is a controlling model, since this is
paradise
lost—but able to be regained. In
kabbalah
, a more elaborate series of heavens was envisaged through the effect of God's emanations. See also
AFTERLIFE
.
Christianity
Heaven is held to be the domain of God and the
angels
, and ultimately of all the redeemed, where they receive their eternal reward. Traditional Catholic doctrine holds that the souls of those who have died in a state of grace, which have been first purged of their stains in
purgatory
, pass to heaven, where they enjoy perfect bliss; but, except for the Virgin
Mary
, these souls still await reunion with their bodies at the general resurrection.
Islam
The Arabic terms are
Janna
, ‘garden’, and
Firdaws
, ‘paradise’. The Qur’
n mentions
jann
t al-na‘
m
‘gardens of delight’ (10. 9);
jann
t ‘Adn
, ‘gardens of Eden’ (19. 62, 61. 12); ‘gardens beneath which rivers flow’ (3. 137, 61. 12). The delights of heaven and the punishments of
hell
(
jahannam
, or
al-n
r
= the fire) are vividly described in early
s
ras
of the Qur’
n.
Some theologians preferred allegorical interpretation for all the descriptions given in Qur‘
n and
ad
th. The
Mu‘tazilites
in particular denied any form of ‘seeing’ All
h; the Ash‘arites (
al-Ash‘ari
) allowed for some form of divine vision, interpreted
bi-l
kayf
, without asking ‘how’.
S
f
s