Life After Death
Does one directly enter the Day of
Resurrection after death and is one's futurity than decided? Or, does
one pass into a special world in the interval between death and the
Great Day of Judgement? (Evidently only God has the knowledge of the
time of the Great Day of Judgement, even the prophets are unaware of
it.)
According to the Holy Quran and
successive and indisputable reports and narratives from the Holy Prophet
(S.A.W.) and the immaculate Imams (A.S.), no one enters the world of the
Great Day of Judgement right after death because the Great Resurrection
coincides with a series of fundamental revolution and transformations in
all the earthly and celestial bodies such as mountains, seas, the moon,
the sun, the stars and constellations. On the Great of Judgement,
nothing will remain in its usual condition. Moreover, on that day, the
first and last will come together. We see that the world still exists
and will perhaps exist for millions, even billions of years with
billions and billions of people coming afterwards.
Besides, from the Quran's point of
view, no one undergoes an unconscious or senseless state in the interval
between death and the Great Day of Judgement. After death, one enters
another stage of life where one feels everything. One experiences joy,
pleasures, pain, and sorrow. One's enjoyment and suffering has a direct
relation to one's thoughts, morals and deeds in this world. This stage
continues until the Great Day of Judgement when a series of unique
revolutions and transformations will simultaneously take place all over
the universe, from the farthest stars to our earth. This stage or
world, which is an interval and medial stage between the world and the
Resurrection for everyone, will eventually terminate.
Therefore, according to the Holy Quran, the world after death consists
of two stages, that is, one passes through two worlds after death. The
first, called purgatory, is finite, as the present world. The second is
the world of the Great Judgement which is infinite. The following
discussion involves purgatory and the Resurrection.
Purgatory
The word purgatory means barrier. The
Holy Quran interprets the life between death and the Great Day of
Judgement as purgatory.
Until when death overtakes one of them,
he says "Send me back my lord,
send me back. Perhaps I may do good in that which I have left."
By no means! it is mere words that he speaks; and before them is
purgatory until the day they are raised. (23-99-100)
This is the only verse which calls the interval between death and the
Last Judgement, purgatory. Islamic scholars, drawing from the verse,
have designated the stage between death and the Great Day of Judgement
as purgatory. This verse refers to life after death only in so far as
mentioning that some people are repentant after death and ask to be
returned to the world, but are answered in the negative. It explicitly
reveals that, after death, one lives a kind of life which makes one
request to be returned to the world, but his request is not accepted.
There are plenty of verses stating
that one will be living after death and till the Resurrection. During
that period, one will feel intense, converse and hear, feel happy,
suffer and grieve, and will ultimately attain a certain happiness.
There are fifteen verses altogether which depicts in one way or another,
a kind of life proving that one lives a complete life between death and
the Day of Judgement. These verses are classified as follows:
First, there are numerous verses which refer to the conversation
between the virtuous and benevolent or the corrupt, wicked people and
the divine angels immediately after death such as, the following verse:
"Surely (as for) those whom the
angels cause to die while they are unjust to their souls, they shall
say: In what state were you? They shall say: We were weak in the earth.
they shall say: Was not Allah's earth spacious, so that you should have
migrated therein? So these it is whose abode is hell, and it is an evil
resort;" (4:97)
Second, there are verses which, in addition to the above verse, confirm
that after conversation, the angels will tell the virtuous, benevolent
people to enjoy all God's blessings, that is, they will not have to wait
for the Great Day of Judgement. The following two verses express this
point:
The angels will receive the souls of good men saying:
"Peace be with you. Enter
Paradise, and he exclaimed: Wished that my people know how Gracious my
Nourisher has been to me, how highly He has exalted and included me
among His favorite ones." (36:
26-7)
In the verses previous to this one, a discussion between this believer
(from the Yasin family) and his people is stated. He invites them to
obey the Messenger in Antioch (a city), who persuade the people to
worship God devotedly and nothing but Him. He declares his belief in
the Messengers and asks his people to pay attention to his statements
and follow them.
It is said in these verses that he passed away while those people did
not follow him. Experiencing God's forgiveness and generosity in the
other world, he wished his people who were still alive, would be
informed of his happiness. These events obviously happen before the
Great Day of Resurrection when the first and the last shall gather and
no one will remain on earth.
Another point is that, there are
several heavens for the blessed, not just one. That is, there are
various heavens according to the proximity of the believers to God.
Besides, as stated by the Prophet's Household, praise be upon them, some
of these heavens are reserved for purgatory and not for the
Resurrection. Consequently, the word heaven in the above two verses
should not be connected to the Resurrection.
Third, these verses do not imply any
conversation between the angels and man. They speak directly about the
life of blissful, benevolent people, their welfare; and that of the
interval between death and the Resurrection. The following two verses
are of this type.
"You must not think that those
who were slain in the cause of God are dead. They are alive, and
well-provided for by their Nourisher; pleased with His gifts and
rejoicing that those whom they left behind and who have not yet joined
them have nothing to fear or to regret, rejoicing in God's grace and
bounty. "(3:169-170)
"And a grievous scourge fell on
Pharaoh's people. They shall be brought before the Fire, morning and
evening, and when the last Day comes, a voice will cry: 'Let the people
of Pharaoh be sternly punished!"(40:45-46)
This holy verse points out two kinds of torture for Pharaoh's people.
One will be before the Day of Judgement and called, 'severe punishment',
when they will be brought before the Fire twice a day without being put
into it. The other will be after the Day of Judgement, and has been
referred to as << the most severe punishment >>, when at the word of
command, the people will be put into the Fire. The time of punishment
is not clarified for the second one, contrary to the first punishment in
which the words morning and evening are mentioned.
According to the interpretation of
Imam Ali, Commander of the Faithful, praise be to him, of this verse,
the first punishment refers to purgatory where, similar to this world,
there are mornings, evenings, weeks, months, and years, while the second
punishment refers to the Resurrection which is timeless. In the
narratives of the Holy Prophet, and Imam Ali, Commander of the Faithful,
and those of the other Imam (A.S.) plenty of emphasis has been placed on
purgatory and lives of the believers and wrong-doers.
After the Muslims' conquest in the battle of Badr, a group of the
arrogant Quraish tribal chiefs were killed and thrown into a well near
Badr. the Messenger of God addressed the chiefs from the mouth of the
well and said "What God had
promised to us came true, what about you?"
Some of the companions said to the
Messenger of God:"Are
you speaking to the dead!? Do they hear what you say?"The
Messenger said: "They are now
more perceptive than you are."According
to this report and others, although death separates the body and life,
the spirit does not completely cut off its connection with the body with
which it has lived and been united for years.
On the tenth of Moharram, after
performing the morning prayer in assembly with his companions, Imam
Husein (A.S.) while giving a short speech addressed them :
"Have patience and perseverance, death is but a bridge which leads you
from pain and suffering towards happiness, generosity and the vast
heavens."
According to tradition, one's
life is nothing but a sleep, one wakes up the minute one dies. That is,
after death there is a higher and more complete stage of life. In the
same way that a sleeping man has a weaker life in terms of perception
compared with a man who is awake and leads a more complete life, so
man's present life is compared with his life in purgatory where it
becomes more complete.
We should mention two points here:
First, as stated in the narratives and reports by religious
leaders, in purgatory, one will be interrogated and questioned only on
the problems of faith and belief, whereas on Resurrection Day the rest
of the problems will be brought up and dealt with.
Second, the dead will enjoy happiness, comfort and blessings
through their descendants' pious acts intended for them. All sorts of
offerings made on behalf of dead parents, friends, teachers or others,
will be considered as gifts resulting in their happiness. Among them
are permanent offerings such as establishing charitable institutions
which will remain to benefit the people as well as temporary offerings.
The same result comes through prayer, asking for forgiveness, pilgrimage
to Mecca or simply circling the Ka'ba, the House of God at Mecca and
going on other pilgrimages on their behalf.
God forbids, but some children may
greatly disappoint their parents. But after the parents die, the
children may make amends and thus bring about their parents'
contentment. The contrary might also be the case.
The Great Day Of Judgment
The Great Day of Judgement is the
second stage of everlasting life. In contrast to purgatory which
involves the individual and ones' immediate arrival there, the Great Day
of Judgement concerns the whole world. This is an event which concerns
everything and all mankind, an event which embodies the whole world.
The whole universe enters a new stage, life and system.
The Holy Quran informs us of the great
event of the Resurrection. According to this information, this great
event will coincide with the extinction of the stars and the sun, the
drying up of the seas, the leveling of high and low lands, the
disintegration of the mountains, universal quakes, thunder and great,
unique transformations and revolutions. All the world will move towards
destruction, disintegration and everything will be annihilated. Then it
will be reconstructed and revived, continuing and surviving forever with
new rules and systems different from the present ones.
The Resurrection is referred to by
several names and expressions in the Quran, each signifying a special
condition and system ascribed to it. For example, it is called "the Day
of Resurrection", "the Day of Assembly "or "the Day of Encounter "since
the first and the last will have the same stand regardless of their role
in history. It is known as "the Day of Revealing Secrets "or "the Day
of Laying Open One's Deeds "because the innermost being will be
revealed, since it is indestructible and eternal. Another expression
for it is << the Woeful Day "or "the Day of Repentance"as some people
will regret and repent for not having prepared themselves for that
"stage". As it will be the greatest occurrence and the most important
event, it is also called "the Fateful Message".
The Connection Between This World
and the Next World
A very significant, essential subject
pointed out to us by the holy books is the connection between these two
worlds. These are related to each other. In the other world, one will
reap the harvest of one's own deeds in this world. What brings about
eternal happiness for one is a pure, proper, real faith and belief ( a
realistic world view ), correct moral standards, freedom from jealousy,
deceit, fraud, hatred and cheating, as well as benevolent deeds such as
benignity and devotion resulting in the perfection of society and
mankind. On the contrary, what brings a very grievous, unhappy life in
the other world is disbelief, false beliefs, evil morals, selfishness,
egotism, self-conceit, oppression, injustice, hypocrisy, usury, lies,
slander, treachery, backbiting, tale-bearing, sedition, abstention from
praying and worshipping God.
The Messenger of God, peace be upon
him, pointedly expressed this point.
"This world is the farm for the other
world ", ( i.e. what you sow
here, you will reap there ). The quality of your harvest depends on
what you sow. It is impossible to sow barley and reap wheat, to get
flowers from planting thorns or grow dates from colocynth. In the same
manner, having evil thoughts, morals and deeds in this world will not
profit one in the next world.
Manifestations and Eternaliness
Of The Human Being's Deeds And Acquisitions:
According to the verses in the Holy
Quran and the religious leaders' report and narratives, one is eternal
and one's deeds are somehow recorded and preserved forever. One will
find one's past deeds illustrated and manifested on Resurrection Day .
Virtuous deeds and acquisitions will be manifested in beautiful,
attractive, pleasant figures and will be a source of joy and happiness,
while one's evil deeds will be manifested in hideous, loathsome,
terrifying, harmful figures and will be a source of pain, suffering and
torture.
At this stage, three verses from the Holy Quran and two narratives will
be sufficient to illustrate these points:
"The day will surely come when each soul
will be confronted with whatever good or evil it has done. As for its
evil deeds, it will wish they were a long way off. "(3:30)
The fact that man will see his virtuous
deeds as very desirable and pleasant and his evil deeds as terrifying
and disgusting is made explicit in this verse. He would like to escape
or be kept away from them, but that will not be possible. In the other
world, man's manifested, presented deeds will be part of him, thus
inseparable.
"And they shall find their
deeds recorded there. "
The point stressed in this
verse is the same as the previous one.
"On that day mankind will come
out in broken bands to be shown their deeds. Whoever has done an
infinitesimal weight of good shall see it, and whoever has done an
infinitesimal weight of evil shall see it too. "(99:6-8)
Man is eternal. One's deeds and
acquisitions are also recorded and everlasting. In other words, one
will live with deeds and morals acquired in this world. They will be
good or bad assets, and a perpetual good or evil companion for one in
the everlasting world.
It is stated in a narrative that a group of Muslims from a distant land
had the honor of meeting the Messenger of God. They asked for some
advice. The Holy Messenger (s.a.w.) made a few statements, one of which
was :
" Since your deeds and behavior
here will be your living friends and companions there, now it is time
you tried to choose good ones for the other world."
A believer in eternal life always
considers his thoughts, morals, deeds and behavior seriously, knowing
that these will remain and be sent in advance to the other world in the
reserve for his living there.
"And the measure of the deeds
that day will be just; so whom so-ever’s weight be heavy, those are they
who shall be successful. "(7:8)
"And those whose measure of
the deeds is light, those are they whose souls suffer lose for what
they, with Our signs, did behave unjustly. "(7:9)
Weighing in measure literally means of knowing or valuing the correct
weight or measures or worth of a thing. Weighing by God means that
every matter will be dealt with, with perfect justice.
This information was extracted from:
1. Ash-Shaykh As-Sadiq. A Shi’ite Creed. Published by the World
Organization for Islamic Services. Tehran, Iran, 1982. |