What happens after a person dies?

The sequence taught is: death, the barzakh, the resurrection, the judgement, and the final destination.

Death. Described as a certainty and as the point at which opportunity closes: “Every soul will taste death, and you will only be given your full compensation on the Day of Resurrection. So he who is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained his desire. And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion.” (Qur’an 3:185)

The Qur’an also records the request every person is said to make at that moment, and its refusal: “For such is the state of the disbelievers until, when death comes to one of them, he says, "My Lord, send me back” (Qur’an 23:99)

The barzakh. A period between death and resurrection. The tradition describes the soul being questioned about its Lord, its religion and its prophet, and the grave being made spacious or constricted. It is not treated as the final judgement — that has not happened yet.

The resurrection. Everyone is raised bodily, from the first person to the last, on a day whose timing is known to Allah alone.

The judgement. Deeds are presented, and the account is settled with a fairness the Qur’an insists on repeatedly — nobody is wronged, nobody carries another’s burden, and nothing is overlooked in either direction.

Paradise or the Fire. Described in physical, sensory terms throughout, deliberately — as places, not states of mind.

A few things worth knowing:

• Islam has no doctrine of inherited sin. Nobody arrives already in debt for something an ancestor did.
• Entry to Paradise is by Allah’s mercy, not earned by tally. The Prophet ﷺ included himself in that.
• Muslims pray for their dead, and charity given on their behalf is held to reach them. This is often the first thing a convert wants to know about a parent who has died, and it is worth asking a scholar about specifically.

What is not offered anywhere is a timetable. The certainty is the sequence, not the schedule.