Will some people turn to animals after they die?

- I have heard that some people will be transformed into animals after death as a penalty. Will those humans turn to dust like other animals on the Day of Judgment?
- Some poor people will be transformed into animals as a penalty after they die. Will these people eventually go to Hell on the Day of Judgment, or will they turn to dust like other normal animals?

Dear Brother / Sister,

We could not find such information in any verse of the Quran or any sound hadith. Such thoughts are generally fabricated by the people who believe in reincarnation.

In the last verse of the chapter of an-Naba, the statement of the unbelievers “Would that I were (metre) dust!” is included. Tafsir scholars interpret it as “We wish we were animals; we wish we were dust like them so that we would not go to Hell.”

The wishes or requests of “being an animal” mentioned in the verse means “We wish we had been created animals while we were in the world” because there is no reincarnation in the Islamic creed; many verses and sound hadiths indicate that people do not have a home other than Paradise and Hell to go to in the Hereafter.

We think the following verses summarize the issue:

“As for the Righteous, they will be in bliss; And the Wicked - they will be in the Fire.” (al-Infitar, 82/13-14)

It means there is no other place.

Questions on Islam