2008 Woodie Awards
Dunner Political Science Societies and Israel Club Host Afterlife Discussion
Ariel Schwartz
Issue date: 5/16/05 Section: News
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On Monday night, May 9, 2005, the Political Science Societies and the Israel Club sponsored a symposium titled "Jewish and Islamic Views of the Afterlife and their effect on the Middle East political landscape." Rabbi Shalom Carmy, assistant professor of Bible, spoke on the topic of the afterlife in Judaism, and Dr. Nerina Rustomji, assistant professor of History and Religon at Bard College, spoke from the Islamic perspective.
"One of the primary purposes of organizing this program," explained Ariel Rosenzveig, President of the Joseph Dunner Political Science Society, "was to bring the Stern and YC Dunner Political Science Societies together. I think this program, and its phenomenal turnout, will only make the two societies more cohesive."
"Bringing someone to our campus with the expertise of Dr. Rustomji to discuss the Islamic perspective on the afterlife helped embody within the audience a newfound understanding of some of the Muslim beliefs surrounding the afterlife," Rosenzveig, who spearheaded the event, explained its uniqueness.
Dr. Rustomji began the symposium by explaining that the Islamic view of the afterlife is both complicated and generally misunderstood. The confusion stems from the cryptic language with which Islamic sources describe the afterlife. The reason for this vagueness, Dr. Rustomji explained, is that it is impossible to properly articulate, or even fathom, what the afterlife is. Therefore, most descriptions are metaphorical, and are forced to use concrete descriptions to describe intangible existences.
In basic Islamic thought there are two models of afterlife: heaven, which is referred to as 'the garden,' and hell, which is referred to as 'the fire.' The garden is an existence consisting of wine, fine silks, women and other physical pleasures. The very vices that Muslims must suppress in this world are their rewards in the world to come. In contrast to the rewarding garden, the fire is described as an "inferno of pain."
"One of the primary purposes of organizing this program," explained Ariel Rosenzveig, President of the Joseph Dunner Political Science Society, "was to bring the Stern and YC Dunner Political Science Societies together. I think this program, and its phenomenal turnout, will only make the two societies more cohesive."
"Bringing someone to our campus with the expertise of Dr. Rustomji to discuss the Islamic perspective on the afterlife helped embody within the audience a newfound understanding of some of the Muslim beliefs surrounding the afterlife," Rosenzveig, who spearheaded the event, explained its uniqueness.
Dr. Rustomji began the symposium by explaining that the Islamic view of the afterlife is both complicated and generally misunderstood. The confusion stems from the cryptic language with which Islamic sources describe the afterlife. The reason for this vagueness, Dr. Rustomji explained, is that it is impossible to properly articulate, or even fathom, what the afterlife is. Therefore, most descriptions are metaphorical, and are forced to use concrete descriptions to describe intangible existences.
In basic Islamic thought there are two models of afterlife: heaven, which is referred to as 'the garden,' and hell, which is referred to as 'the fire.' The garden is an existence consisting of wine, fine silks, women and other physical pleasures. The very vices that Muslims must suppress in this world are their rewards in the world to come. In contrast to the rewarding garden, the fire is described as an "inferno of pain."
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