Islamic View on Reincarnation

Question:

Dear Scholar,

What is your view regarding the re-incarnation belief held by the majority of Hindus?

Answer:

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

As Muslims, we do not believe in the re-incarnation. We believe that Allah created Adam and Eve and from them the human race descends generation after generation. In Islam, man has no control over his spirit after death. It is not for him to appear in life after death until the Day of Judgment when Allah resurrects all dead for account. According to Islam, each soul is responsible for its deeds and works. None can bear other people's guilt nor can be saved excepted by his own effort:

"Every soul is a pledge for its own deeds." (Al-Muddathir 74:38)

"And when the trumpet is blown there will be no kinship among them that day, nor will they ask of one another." (Al-Mu'minun 23:101)

Reincarnation (tanasukh) is an un-Islamic idea. It has no place in the Qur’an and Sunnah. In Islam we believe in resurrection, not reincarnation. Thus, there is no such thing as past lives according to Islam. Allah created us from nothing and gave us existence. We have only one life on this earth. After death we will be raised up again on the Day of Judgment. There is no return to this life before the Day of Judgment.

"They taste not death therein, save the first death. And He hath saved them from the doom of hell." (Ad-Dukhan 44:56)

"Are we then not to die. Saving our former death, and are we not to he punished? Lo! this is the supreme triumph. For the like of this, then, let the workers work."  (As-Saffat 37:58-61)

Reference: Islamonline.net and other site