This is a simple question I hope is not deleted.
So the afterlife conception is the answer? Much like Christianity, you will go to heaven, and be saved from hell?
Yeah, but in Islam we are held accountable for our actions, we can't simply say we are muslims, and we "believe" and just enter into heaven. The benefits of heaven are infinite, and so only the deserved eneter heaven, and so people who believe have to act upon it and be regular in good deeds. As far as i know in Christianity all you have to do is believe Jesus (PBUH) is the saviour. (Please corect me if i'm wrong)
Heaven is the greatest gift possible. Everything a muslim does in this life should in reality be to please Allah, so that we will be rewarded and enter heaven. It is often hard for us to imagine the greatness of heaven. It is because we are in such a limited world. I heard a story of a frog that might help explain. There was once a small well where a young frog lived and always stayed inside the well and never knew what was outside the well. Then one day an older frog from the outside jumped in and told the younger frog about the big outside world. The young frog asked how big it is and swam round the well once and asked is it bigger than this? The older frog replied it's much bigger. He then swam round it 10 times and asked is it bigger than this. The older frog replied it's much bigger. The young frog swam round 100 times and asked is it biger than this and again the older frog replied much bigger. To this the younger frog said i don't believe you. Similarly when we are in the wombs of our mothers, and at that point someone was to tell us about how big the planet earth is we wouildn't believe them, because as far as we know we only have a limited knowledge of what we can see and understand, and the baby can only see as far as the womb he/she is in. Similarly on earth where there is a limit to everything, limit to knowledge, happiness, food, we are always craving for more. But in heaven everything is infinite. A famous imam, Imam Ghuzali explained how long heaven is. He said if you were to fill the whole world with small mustard seeds, and then ask a bird to come once every 1000 years to collect one, how long would it take that one bird to collect every mustard seed? Well the time in heaven is not close to this as it is infinite. We have everything there we need, never ending happiness, no suffering or trials or hunger or craving to want more. It may seem hard to imagine but we have to remember our mind is limited, we can't even together with all our technology even create a fly, and compared to God he can do anything, he can easily give us never ending happiness and pleasure, there is nothing above God, just look at the amazing planet he has created, you can see the infinite greatness of Allah
Is Islam right for me? I don't have any religion at all.
Of course it's right for us, it's the religion of Allah as it has been said in the revelation God has given us in the Qur'an, and God knows what's best for us and only prescribes things which help us, so naturally it's right for all of us
Ok, to convert to Islam, I would have to give up these?
*Looking at model pics online.
*Eating Junk food
*Playing poker machines
*Watching Horror movies and playing horror games (Resident Evil etc)
*Smoking (cigarettes) **Not sure on this; I don't see anything against it.
Smoking is not a sin.
Looking at model pics is not good, as islam we respect our sisters. Looking at them is disrespectful. Ssiters shouldn't have to believe good looks alone will help them in life and give them attention, it should be whats coming from the inside. No doubt it is our fault in the west where we have almost forced some sisters to do inappropriate things by making it appear as it's normal and it help do well in life
Eating junk food is not haraam. Regarding smoking, scholars of islam have a difference of opinion. A few say it is disliked, and some say it is haraam (forbidden). This is as according to Islam we should not harm ourselves, and smoking harms us. Some people say even having sugar harms us so are you going to say sugar is haraam? The simple answer to this is excess sugar can harm you, a little can't threaten your life, whereas a little smoking even slowly slowly kills you as it destroys passageways in the lungs making it harder for us to breathe and in the end kills us. Even if it is disliked, is it really worth doing it when there is so much at stake- heaven or hell. No doubt it's hard for smokers to quit, i know from close friends, but just imagine the reward Allah will give you for leaving something you like just for his pleasure. So you can also say if you were to eat junk food in excess that would also be haraam according to some scholars as you would in some way be harming yourself