Editing Islamic eschatology (section)

===Literal or allegorical===
According to scholars Jane I. Smith, Yvonne Y. Haddad,  "the vast majority of believers", understand verses of the Quran on Jannah (and hellfire) "to be real and specific, anticipating them" with joy or terror.<ref name=JISYYHIU1981:84>[[#JISYYHIU1981|Smith & Haddad, ''Islamic Understanding'',  1981]]: p.84</ref>

Besides the material notion of the paradise, descriptions of it are also interpreted as [[allegory|allegories]], whose meaning is the state of joy believers will experience in the afterlife. For some theologians, seeing God is not a question of sight, but of awareness of God's presence.<ref>Cyril Glassé, Huston Smith ''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'' Rowman Altamira 2003 {{ISBN|978-0-759-10190-6}} page 237</ref> Although early Sufis, such as [[Hallaj]], took the descriptions of paradise literal, later Sufi traditions usually stressed out the allegorical meaning.<ref>Jane Dammen McAuliffe ''Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān'' Volume 2 Georgetown University, Washington DC p. 268</ref>

On the issue of Judgement Day, early Muslims debated whether scripture should be interpreted literally or figuratively, and the school of thought that prevailed ([[Ash'ari|Ashʿarī]]) "affirmed that such things as" connected with Judgement day as "the individual records of deeds (including the paper, pen, and ink with which they are inscribed), the bridge, the balance, and the pond" are "realities", and "to be understood in a concrete and literal sense."<ref name=JISYYHIU1981:65>[[#JISYYHIU1981|Smith & Haddad, ''Islamic Understanding'',  1981]]: p.65</ref>