Reincarnation and Islam

1. Yes

Within the Qur'an (5:60) - the foundational text of Islam - the following is stated by the Angel Gabriel as a direct message from Allah / God to the messenger and prophet Muhammad:

Shall I tell you who will receive a worse reward from God? Those whom God has cursed and with whom He has been angry, transforming them into apes and swine, and those who serve the devil.

This makes it clear that, according to Islamic ideology, which is based on the Qur'an, life does not die, but continues on; that God reincarnates beings into - as the Buddhists would have it - all different forms of life, from single celled organisms through to formless aliens and everything in between including apes and swine, based on a individual's actions in a previous life. The latter is referred to as karma within Buddhism.

Confusion reigns somewhat between the meaning of words such as reincarnation and resurrection. The latter is where one dies and miraculously comes back to life. Whilst this can, and does, happen in operating rooms and in real life, it is not the same as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as described in the Bible. In that instance, Jesus had been killed and entombed. His resurrection was nothing short of miraculous.

Reincarnation is, on the other hand, a process whereby one dies and comes back to life in a different body, or a different form, usually with no obvious recollection of that previous life or previous lives. Reincarnation is a process whereby life never ends but is in a continual state of rebirth whereby a individual life is seeking nirvana or a higher state of consciousness ever closer to the Cosmic Consciousness of God.

Within religions such as Christianity, reincarnation has been called a heresy and banned since the 6th century, based on adherrence to theology and church teachings. Prior to that, and during the time that Jesus Christ was on earth, it was a widely held belief amongst Jewish and other communities. Christians are now told, and forced to believe, that rather than karma being taken on board, that upon death there is only punishment through hell or reward through heaven for a life led which adheres, or not, to theological and ideological demands regarding worship and belief.

Islam is obviously very different to Christianity. Or is it? In fact, though it is very anti-Christian, it is also heavily based upon darker Christian and Jewish beliefs. For example, Islam denies that Jesus Christ was God; it states that he did not die on the cross; and it denies that he was resurrected from the dead. That is the general, public stance, but as the above quote reveals, it is not the truth.

According to the aforementioned verse, if you have committed an offence against Allah (i.e. God) and the teachings of his messenger Muhammed, as set out not only in the Qur'an but also the Hadith and biographical texts and on through to Shariah law, or have served the Devil in doing evil, then you will return to life and be transformed by God and reincarnated into a lower form of life such as an ape or pig, or anything other than a higher form of life such as a human, extraterrestrial, or other form unknown to human kind. This is reincarnation, pure and simple. This is also karma, pure and simple, within an Islamic context.

In regards to resurrection, that process in Islam is very much similar to the Christian concept and centres around a single incident on the last day of humanity, known as the Day of Judgement. According to Wikipedia, it is described as follows:

Resurrection in Islam (Yawm al-Qiyamah) is a fundamental article of faith, marking the day when all humanity will be raised from the dead to be judged by Allah based on their earthly deeds. This day of judgment involves physical resurrection of both body and soul, leading to eternal life in either Paradise (Jannah) or Hell (Jahannam).

This is identical to the Christian story apart from one single significant element - in Christianity God returns on this day, and as God comprises the Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ will also be present. In Islam Jesus Christ - who is not God but merely a human man and a lesser prophet - will return to destroy Christianity and kill Jews on the Day of Judgement! This is no small difference, and supports the individual quest by Muhammed to replace Jesus Christ in all ways, firstly by denying his is God and secondly by casting him as the anti-Christ and a mere mortal in the process.

Whether present day Muslims like it or not, reincarnation is a reality in their beloved Islamic ideology. And many do not like that at all.

The fallacy is revealed more fully in the Concept of Rebirth in Islam - Qur'an article, wherein additional verses from the Hadith are referred to in order to support the presence of reincarnation in Islamic ideology. It states, after presenting evidence:

The conclusion is that people take birth, die and are reborn. The concept prevalent in Islam that one is only born once is wrong. It has been proved from Sahih Hadith that birth, death and rebirth happens endlessly (Supreme Knowledge 2023)

Certain sects of Islam actively promote the idea of reincarnation using various Hadith and Qur'an verses and teachings. Therefore, as with Christianity, reincarnation appears to be something which, within Islamic theology and ideology, does not align with the Day of Judgement scenario, but which aligns with those aspects of teachings dealing with the here-and-now, and all things prior to the so-called End-times. As Jewish rabbi Manis Friedman stated back in 2023:

Life can't die ... life does not die.

And by implication, experiential evidence and belief, reincarnation is a normal manifestation of that fact.

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2. No

Reincarnation (transmigration of the soul) is strictly rejected in orthodox Islam, as it contradicts the foundational Quranic doctrine of a single life followed by resurrection and final judgment. Islamic theology dictates that the soul leaves the body at death, enters an intermediate state called Barzakh, and awaits Resurrection Day (Yawm al-Qiyamah), not returning to a new earthly body (arun_san98).

According to this Reddit posting, and in a manner similar to Christian teachings, any claim to the process of resurrection occuring in Islam is rejected. However, as with Christianity, the actuality of its presence is more easily rejected than accepted, due to the fact that the Qur'an and other Islamic texts are full of contradictory statements. As a result, Muslim clerics pick and choose what they want to promote or ignore, and they usually pick the deny in regards to reincarnation, as clearly stated in the following video.

Concept of Reincarnation in Islam, Islam in East, 22 May 2025, YouTube, duration: 2.10 minutes.

As can be seen from this video, the comments by the iman contradict that section of the Qur'an in which reincarnation as an act of karma takes place. But, as noted in the previous Yes section, this does not align with actual Islamic texts and teachings.

The question therefore needs to be asked: Why is the process of reincarnation denied by certain Muslims? The answer can only be explained by the desire on the part of many, based on the aforementioned desire on the part of Muhammed, to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ. Despite his strongly held desire to do so, Muhammad ultimately failed in that task, due to the fact that, for example, the crucifixion is a fact not only of theology but also of history.

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References

arun_san98, Reincarnation in Islam, r/islam, Reddit, 2022.

Friedman, Rabbi Manis, Life Can't Die, Rabbi Manis Friedman, YouTube, 26 April 2023, duration: 57.49 minutes.

Supreme Knowledge, Concept of Rebirth in Islam - Qur'an, Supreme Knowledge, 29 July 2023.

What I discovered about Jesus in Islam shocked me, Give Light, 8 May 2026, YouTube, duration: 9.42 minutes.

Wikipedia, Judgement Day in Islam, Wikipedia, accessed 9 May 2026.

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Last updated: 11 May 2026

Michael Organ, Australia

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