and for whom it is then said that they "have not rejected true Islam but only a distorted version of it and they will therefore be judged in the same category as those people who never heard of Islam in the first place." The more complicated question of what will happen, for example, to people of religions other than Judaism and Christianity is significantly more controversial. There is particularly controversy over the meaning of the word "Sabians". The long presence of Islam in South Asia, however, has engendered many debates about the status of Hindus, which has run the whole gamut between a more standard dismissal of Hinduism as shirk, or polytheism, to some Muslims, such as Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan even going so far as to recognize Rama and Krishna as Prophets of Islam not explicitly mentioned in Muslim scripture – thereby making Hindus equivalent to Christians or Jews. Other positions The problem of the unevangelized does not arise in religious or spiritual traditions such as deism, pandeism, and pantheism, which do not include any revelation or require obedience to revealed rules. In deism, some believe that individuals will be judged by one's obedience to natural laws of right and wrong to be obtained by the exercise of reason alone, and so, failure to exercise reason in the effort to make this determination is itself the cause for punishment. In Buddhism, it is believed that all beings, whether evangelized or not, will continue to be reborn until they have achieved Nirvana. However, Buddhist scholars have said that "any suggestion that enlightenment is immediately available to anyone who really wants it, even if he has never heard of Buddhism, is likely to be received with incredulity or even resentment." Dante attempted to answer this question with the first level of Hell in the Divine Comedy, where the virtuous pagans live. They are described as those who lived before the time of Jesus and therefore unable to enter Purgatory or Heaven. Amongst them is Virgil, Dante's guide through Hell and Purgatory. See also 10/40 window Christian views on Hell Harrowing of Hell Invincible ignorance (Catholic theology) Jahannam (Hell in Islam) Limbo Molinism Universal opportunity Vincible ignorance References Further reading Afterlife Catholic theology and doctrine Christian eschatology Evangelical theology Islamic eschatology Jewish eschatology Latter Day Saint concepts of the afterlife Arguments against the existence of God Protestant theology