As-Sirāt

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As-Sirāt (Arabic: الصراط‎) is, according to Muslim belief, the hair-narrow bridge which every person must pass on the Yawm ad-Din to enter Paradise. It is said that it is as thin as a hair and as sharp as the sharpest knife or sword. Below this path are the fires of Hell, which burn the sinners to make them fall. Those who performed acts of goodness in their lives are transported across the path in speeds according to their deeds leading them to the Hauzu'l-Kausar, the Lake of Abundance.

Muslims who offer the obligatory prayers (Fajr, Dhuhur, Asr, Maghrib, Isha) and recite the Surah Al-Fatiha at least 17 times a day, which is a supplication in which they ask God to guide them through the "straight path", has been called by some scholars^[who?] a precursor to the as-Sirāt.

The Chinvat bridge in Zoroastrianism has many similarities and is a close concept to As-Sirat.

Etymology

Early Muslim writes were uncertain on how to spell this word as it was rendered صراط، سراط and زراط. They were equally uncertain of its gender. It appears ultimately to be the Helenised στράτα of Latin: strata (street) which entered Arabic via Classical Syriac: ܐܣܛܪܛܐ‎.^[1]

Cultural references

American science fiction author Frank Herbert adopted the idea for his novel Dune. In the Orange Catholic Bible, life is described as a journey across the Sirat, with "Paradise on my Right, Hell on my Left, and the Angel of Death Behind".

See also

• Sirat al-Mustaqim
• Chinvat bridge

References

External links

• A dictionary of Islamic terms

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